Unit 4-2 Emerging Technology

After completing this unit, you will be able to:

• Recognize emerging multimedia technologies.
• Understand the role that MPEG and HDTV will play in the future of digital video.
• See how Intercasting is creating a new form of enhanced TV.
• Realize how holography promises to reduce substantially the size and increase the density of optical storage media.
• Consider the challenge of pen computing and the promise of speech recognition.
• Imagine how ubiquitous Iridium will make the Internet when the wireless satellite network encircles the globe.
• Understand what knowbots can do for you on the Information Superhighway.
• Recognize the extent to which multimedia is an emerging technology, and question whether multimedia is just a fad or an important life skill.

Reading

Read chapter 15 of the Multimedia Literacy textbook to study the concepts covered by this unit.

Online Activities

New technologies follow a cycle that includes invention, prototyping, proof of concept, productizing, and manufacture. Throughout this process the inventions are called emerging technologies. It often takes many years for an emerging technology to achieve widespread use in the marketplace. The following online activities enable you to explore some of the technologies that are emerging:

• HDTV stands for high-definition television. It is being developed to replace NTSC as the television standard for the United States. During the 1990s, the major television studios began recording shows in HDTV so reruns can be broadcast in HDTV when the standard changes. To find out how many television stations are broadcasting in HDTV today, follow the Multilit Web site link to HDTV Group, then choose Links—HDTV Stations.
• Most people think of holograms as 3-D photographs. But holograms can also store huge amounts of data. For example, IBM scientists predict that holographic technology will make it possible to store the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica in a space the size and thickness of a penny. Holographic memory systems can stack data 40 layers deep, as opposed to computer disk and magnetic tape, which line up data on flat, single-layer tracks. The deeper layers can be read by tilting the angle of the laser beam that reads the data. Scientists believe that by 2004, 5 gigabytes of data will fit in 2 cubic centimeters at a cost of 4 cents per megabyte. For technical details, follow the Multilit Web site link to holographic memory design.
• Pen computing is an emerging technology that Apple's handheld Newton computer first brought to public attention back in the twentieth century. The need for a bulky keyboard to input characters was avoided by writing on the screen with a pen. Apple claimed that Newton was trainable, that it could learn to recognize your handwriting. But in practice, Newton trained the user, who ended up learning how to write in a format Newton could understand. Research continues, as does the popularity of the pen. For news and reviews of the latest pen computers, follow the Multilit Web site link to Pen Computing.
• With pen computers crying out for a better handwriting algorithm, speech recognition is rapidly emerging across a broad range of applications and platforms. After you read Chapter 15, follow the Multilit Web site links to learn the latest about speech recognition.
• Bots are software applications programmed to act as intelligent agents that go out on the network to find things or do things for you. You tell a bot what you want, and it worms its way through the Internet, finding all the relevant information, digesting it, and reporting it to you succinctly. The Multilit Web site links to several bot repositories where you will find intelligent agents that can help you find things, shop for the best prices, and conduct research.

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 emerging technologies, 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.

Another assignment related to the reading you do in this unit is the following Teledesic assignment:

• Visit the Teledesic Web site and check on the deployment of the Teledesic satellite network. Have any of the satellites launched yet? What is the latest news about the network?