The Extent of Multimedia Computer Applications in the Business World
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Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Honors Theses Lee Honors College 1993 The Extent of Multimedia Computer Applications in the Business World Mei Yee Lim Western Michigan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses Part of the Computer Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Lim, Mei Yee, "The Extent of Multimedia Computer Applications in the Business World" (1993). Honors Theses. 1528. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/1528 This Honors Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Lee Honors College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE CARL AND WINIFRED LEE HONORS COLLEGE CERTIFICATE OF ORAL EXAMINATION Mei Yee Lim, having been admitted to the Carl and Winifred Lee Honors College in 1993, has satisfactorily completed the senior oral examination for the Lee Honors College on August 31, 1993. The title of the paper is: "Multimedia Computer Applications in the Business World: Fad or Future Freeway?" ^T^Tiri' Dr. Judy Yaeger Business Information Systems I Mr. Paul Bertoldi Vice-President, Systems Development, I-NET MULTIMEDIA COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN THE BUSINESS WORLD: FAD OR FUTURE FREEWAY? ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have set a goal for myself to complete the Lee Honors College curriculum with the Honors Capstone thesis. This enormous project seemed an insurmountable task which was alittle aggravated by the narrow time constraints that I had to accomplish it. What, how, when, where and why would I have any idea? The first task I did correctly, that is the part which I am most happy about, was to select and discuss with two particular individuals about the possibility of imposing upon them toutilize their nurturing instincts for the initial duration of 6 months on another individual who had her thoughts flailing in every direction that may ormay notlead to her final destination. Who shedme light when therewas despair? Who gave me countless opportunities to interview? Who listened to theexcuseswhen a particular part is notcompleted? Who encouraged me after every milestone? Who set aside time and place for brainstorming sessions and constructive evaluations? Who waited patiently for my temperamental bursts of divine inspirations? Who had thetimeto read my rough drafts, two, three, four times in a week? Who gently nudged me to my senses when I tried to follow Sleeping Beauty's 100-year example? In my deepest thoughts, from the very bottom of my heart, I pray that God shower His blessings upon the two individuals whom I admire. I have the honor of working with the twomembers of my thesis committee. Judy and Paul, please accept my thanks and deep appreciation for your utmost patience and perseverance with me. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to: Dr. Lowell Crow Mr. Dave Witt Mrs. Jean Wyer Mr. Reza Rashidi The staff at the Dean's Office at the Haworth College ofBusiness My friends and colleagues at the University and the Haworth College Computer Laboratories Everybody who have at one time or another, been subjected tomy rants and raves about the project and who have supported meinindeterminate ways and times Miss Wai Guan Loo,my beloved si-fu and roommate through and through. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of Oral Examination i Acknowledgements \\m List of Figures iii List of Tables iv INTRODUCTION 1 Why multimedia? 1 Purpose of thesis 1 CHAPTER ONE - THE BACKGROUND "1 DEFINITION Multimedia is 3 ROOTS The origins 7 PLATFORMS What supports multimedia technology? 10 The set-up of a multimedia system 10 Hardware H The Multimedia PC Standard 11 Software 13 Peripherals 14 | CHAPTER TWO - THE SURVEY Survey Protocol 16 Survey Results 19 Arun-through of the results 19 Question 1- Self-rating offamiliarity level with multimedia 19 Question 2 - Level ofdirect personal experience with multimedia 19 Question 3 - Which areaswouldrespondents like to apply multimedia 20 Question 4 - Current multimedia tools inorganization 21 Question 5 - Implementation plans and thetime frame forthem 21 Question 7 - Prevalence of operating systems 22 Question 8 - Target audience 23 Question 9-Type of businesses that were surveyed 23 Question 10 - Size of company 23 Survey discussion 24 Currentmultimedia vs Currenttoolsin company 24 Size ofcompany vs Audience . 25 Appropriate Areas ofApplications inBusiness vsType ofBusiness 26 Familiarity vs Personal Experience 27 Size ofcompany vsImplementation plans time-frame 27 Audience vsType of Business 28 Operating systems vsCurrent tools incompany 29 Personal experience vs Implementation plans time-frame 30 Chapter three - siiiN of the times Current trends 32 The USENET 35 Current business implementations ofmultimedia 36 Case I- Training - Fred Meyer Inc 36 Case II - Production/Manufacturing - IBM Poughkeepsie Manufacturing 37 Priceconsiderations 38 Future trends .40 Recommended future strategy 40 Education 40 Platforms and operating systems..... 40 Appropriate areas to implement multimedia 40 Developers 41 Target audience 41 CONCLUSION 42 BIBLIOGRAPHY 43 APPENDICES 45 Appendix A Survey Questionnaire 46 Appendix B Survey Cover Letter 47 Appendix C Survey Results Spreadsheet Listing 48 Appendix D OralDefense 54 General . Outline 55 Points of Discussion 56 LIST OF FIGURES Figure I-l The Evolution of Multimedia 7 Figure 1-2 A multimedia workstation 11 Figure 1-3 Types of multimedia software 14 Figure II-1: Percentage responses to the appropriate areas for multimedia 20 in LIST OF TABLES Table I-l: MPC Level 1 specifications as compared to retail specifications 12 Table II-l: Self-rating of familiarity level with multimedia 19 Table II-2: Percentage responses tospecific time periods for multimedia implementation 21 Table II-3: Percentage responses to methods of development 22 Table II-4: Percentage responses to type of businesses 23 Table II-5: Percentage responses ofthose had tools but denied they had multimedia 24 Table II-6: Percentage responses to the relationship between size and audience 25 Table II-7: Percentage responses to the relationship between appropriate areas and type of business 26 Table II-8: Percentage responses tothe relationships between familiarity and personal experience 27 Table 11-9: Percentage responses to therelationship between size and implementation time-frame 28 Table 11-10: Percentage responses tothe relationship between audience and type of business 28 Table 11-11: Percentage responses to therelationship between operating systems and current tools in company 29 Table 11-12: Percentage responses to the relationship between personal experience and implementation time-frame 30 Table III-l: Multimedia SIGS and their total postings 35 Table III-2: Cost-trend analysis of computers from 1981 to 1991 38 IV INTRODUCTION Why multimedia? The world, or at least I, was all agog when touch screens arrived. My initial contact with touch screens was at a science exhibition in Menara MPPJ, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia in July 1987. That particular exhibit, which encouraged visitors toparticipate and to experiment with, was a graphic program. Visitors could use their fingers toselect the drawing tool or the color they want (which is something like the tools on a MacDraw screen on a Macintosh) and use their fingers to move around the screen to draw anything they want. That added tomy fascination with the world of computers and I filed that experiment inmy mind's eye for future reference, which in essence was a phenomenon that I would like to get to the bottom of. This memory was triggered when I was visiting I-Net, a company in Kalamazoo company which specialized inimage processing and developing multimedia applications in partnership with International Business Machines, Inc. (IBM). It got me thinking what the future has in store for this particularly recent technological development and how it can apply to business ventures. Ismultimedia the way tothe future orisit a fad? That was in November 1992 and I brought this curiosity over to the research for my Honors Thesis, a capstone project for theCarlandWinifred LeeHonors College. Purpose of thesis "Multimedia ~ thesynthesis of interactive computers with full-motion video and compact-disk-quality sound ~ may transform the way you use computers. Then again, it may be just a fad, like Pong. Some call multimedia the "next revolution in microcomputers"; others describe its market potential as "dazzling" and "explosive"... Yet, Steve Jobs, the computer pioneer and founder of NeXT, warns that multimedia may becomethe "artificial intelligence" of the 1990s~ that is, a new technology without a commercial home."1 ^ob Lippincott, "Beyond Hype", Byte, (February 1990), p. 215. Intriguing, isit not? This thesis is written with the purpose to find out where multimedia computer applications currently stand in the business community. Itserves to provide the answers as to whether multimedia isjusta fad of expensive playthings tofiddle with on the computer or if it can enhance real-world computer applications starting from now to the future. The author would like to search for the true essence of multimedia, how to recognize it, how to apply some ofits software toconjure up real-world solutions and most importantly, how the business world is linked to it and itcan become a part ofthe business world. The word is multimedia. Are we catching the buzz? Research methodology This project started out on background