Unit 4-1 Multimedia Frontiers

After completing this unit, you will be able to:

• Understand how researchers invent new uses for multimedia and use multimedia technology to find new methods for solving problems.
• Consider what kinds of printed books can be or should be replaced by electronic books.
• Know what is meant by the term rural datafication.
• Explore how virtual reality will improve the multimedia user interface.
• Dream about the multimedia possibilities of appliance-based computing.
• Consider whether there are other frontiers of multimedia that ought to be explored.
• Join and participate in the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Reading

Read chapter 14 of the Multimedia Literacy textbook to study the concepts covered by this unit.

Online Activities

A multimedia frontier is a field of technological research and development in which investigators invent new uses for multimedia or determine the extent to which multimedia can solve problems by finding better ways of doing things. The following activities enable you to explore how multimedia is being used to improve and transform publishing, provide better access to networked information, enhance rural communication, simplify the user interface, and extend the network to everyday appliances:

• How much longer will books, magazines, and newspapers continue to be printed on paper? Anyone who has used hypertext knows how printed manuscripts pale by comparison. Printed manuscripts do not contain links that let you expand the text and navigate to related information; hot words that let you trigger explanatory sound tracks, videos, or animations; or full-text Boolean (AND, OR, NOT) searching that lets you locate quickly the material you need. Follow the Multilit Web site links to emerging technologies that are making electronic publishing become a reality. See especially the Microsoft Reader timeline, which predicts that by the year 2020, 90% of all book titles will be sold in electronic rather than paper form, and Webster's Dictionary will have changed its first definition of book to mean, "a substantial piece of writing commonly displayed on a computer or other personal viewing device."
• As described in Chapter 14, many citizens are concerned about how the government will develop policies to regulate the Internet. So many people are concerned about this that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has become one of the most frequently visited sites on the Web. To see for yourself, follow the Multilit Web site link to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and while you are there, decide for yourself whether you want to join the organization. Instructions for joining are provided at the EFF site.
• As you are aware from using this book and its CD, multimedia computers can show any picture, play any sound, and link any word of any document or any part of any picture to any object on your computer. What's missing? A better human interface. We need better ways for users to communicate with multimedia computers. Follow the Multilit Web site link to learn how the Web3D Consortium is working to bring virtual reality to the Web.
• Imagine tiny computers embedded in everyday appliances, such as your microwave oven, refrigerator, dishwasher, telephone, video camera, TV, stove, swimming pool, garage door opener, thermostat, heater, air conditioner, humidifier, and water softener. Now imagine a way to connect these devices to the network so they can communicate and stream data complete with multimedia sound, graphics, and video. Follow the Multilit Web site links to appliance-based computing to see how much progress the computer industry has made toward making this scenario become a reality.
• If you have never seen the movie Lawnmower Man, treat yourself. You can rent it from almost any video store or online video provider. Watching Lawnmower Man will make you wonder whether multimedia computers will ever be able to enable users to experience VR immersion to the extent Jobe Smith (Jeff Fahey) does in the movie.

Assignments

One of the major assignments in this course is the term paper that you will write on a topic of your choosing related to a multimedia trend or issue in your chosen field. The other large assignment in this course is the multimedia application that you will develop and publish to the Web, again on a topic of your choosing. If you are interested in multimedia frontiers, it is possible that the readings in this unit will help you decide upon one of these topics. After you choose your topics, remember to respond to the assignments that ask you to tell your instructor what topics you have chosen:

• A major part of your grade in this course is determined by a term paper that you write on a topic of your choosing related to a multimedia trend or issue in the field of education or communications. Your paper must be about six pages long and contain at least six bibliographic references if you are taking this course for undergraduate credit, or about twelve pages long with at least twelve references for graduate credit. Before you write the paper, you need to have your topic approved. Please tell what your paper is going to be about. Say why you have chosen this topic, tell how you plan to research it, and indicate how the writing of this paper will help you achieve the goals you had for taking this course. Your instructor will respond by writing a comment on this assignment to let you know if your topic is approved.
• The largest part of your grade in this course is determined by the multimedia application that you will create. Your application must have at least seven screens if you are taking this course for undergraduate credit, or at least fourteen screens for graduate credit. Before you develop the application, you need to have your topic approved. Please tell what your application is going to be about. Say why you have chosen this topic, and tell how you plan to design it. Describe your intended audience, tell how they will use your application, and indicate how developing this app will help you achieve the goals you had for taking this course.