Multimedia
Multimedia is a versatile term that encompasses a variety of entertainment and educational experiences, particularly in the realms of software and the Internet. It combines multiple forms of media—including text, audio, images, video, and interactive elements—creating an engaging experience for users. The concept of multimedia has historical roots in artistic movements, such as German composer Richard Wagner's idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, which aimed to unify diverse art forms. With the advent of moving pictures and advancements in technology, the understanding of multimedia evolved, particularly in the late 20th century when the term became associated with digital content.
Today, multimedia is commonly found in applications like interactive games, educational software, and digital presentations. Its applications extend beyond entertainment, also playing a significant role in education and training, where it enhances learning through digital encyclopedias and simulations. Furthermore, multimedia is valuable in increasing accessibility for individuals with visual or auditory impairments and is utilized in scientific research. As technology continues to advance, the definition and applications of multimedia are expected to evolve, with potential implications for traditional educational institutions.
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Multimedia
Multimedia is a broad term that describes various entertainment and educational experiences, particularly those found in software or on the Internet. Multimedia is a portmanteau of multiple and media, in which media refers to any one of a number of means of communication, whether it be print, video, audio, digital, or interactive. Multimedia owes its inception as much to the art world as well as to early computer technology.
Overview
German opera composer Richard Wagner introduced the concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total artwork” in his 1849 essay “The Artwork of the Future.” Wagner sought to unify music, dance, stagecraft, and poetry under one umbrella term and saw the power of such a synthesis as necessary for the arts to truly transform German culture. Just over half a century later, the introduction of moving pictures led Futurist founder F. T. Marinetti to pen the manifesto “The Futurist Cinema,” declaring film the supreme art because of its unification of media forms, using what were then new technologies. In the 1940s, engineer and science administrator Vannevar Bush began to imagine the potential for computers to be personal devices complete with what we now think of as hypertext, and capable of enhancing individuals’ creative thoughts and expressions.
Coinage of the term multimedia has been credited to the artist Bobb Goldsteinn, who used the term in 1966 to describe his work in developing the field of “colour music.” He created a visual jukebox, which synchronized light, film, and slides to “illustrate” music. During the ensuing years, multimedia has been used to describe a number of mixtures of analog media, until the 1990s, when the definition became closely tied to computing.
In its most straightforward, contemporary usage, multimedia describes digital content that combines two or more media forms such as text, photographs, illustrations, audio, video, animation, and interactive elements. Standard usage of the term often applies to things such as video embedded in a webpage, an interactive game, a learning application, or even PowerPoint slideshow. Because of the term’s ambiguity, however, it has also been used to describe things such as illustrated books with the argument that the books combine text and images, therefore qualifying as multimedia. This emphasizes the point that multimedia is used to describe a number of displays, from live stage performances and broadcasts to digital displays.
While its uses in entertainment are numerous and well known, multimedia applications are also prominent in education and training; for instance, in digital encyclopedias, electronic textbooks, learning applications, and training simulations in fields such as medicine and engineering. Multimedia materials are useful in communicating with individuals with visual or auditory impairments and have also been used in scientific research. There is little doubt that what we call “multimedia” will continue to change and evolve as technology advances. Those advances and the nature of those changes, however, are the subject of much speculation. Some of these speculations envision the potential of multimedia applications to be a disruptive force in traditional institutions such as education.
Bibliography
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Clark, Ruth C., and Richard E. Mayer. E-learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning. San Francisco: Wiley, 2011. Print.
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Marinetti, F. T. “The Futurist Cinema.” Critical Writings: New Edition.Ed. Gunter Berghaus, trans. Doug Thompson. New York: Farrar, 2006, 260–65. Print.
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