1. MUMD-290: Multimedia Development Dr. Eric Breimer

2. Chapter 1 of Digital Multimedia, 2nd edition Nigel Chapman & Jenny Chapman Introduction

3. 1 The same story, information, etc can be represented in different media Text, images, sound, moving pictures Can you think of any other form of media besides the ones above? Digital Multimedia 2

4. 1 Taste, Smell, Touch How do you store and transmit these digitally? Taste & Smell are still open problems Touch is already developed 3D printers and faxes http://www.zcorp.com/home.asp

5. 1 Almost all media can be represented digitally as a structured collection of bits Manipulated by programs, stored, transmitted over networks Digital media can be combined into multimedia Besides the Internet (computer networks) what are some other ways to transmit digital media? Digital Multimedia 2

6. 1 Combination of media is actually commonplace (e.g. TV news) and natural – we perceive the world through all our senses at once Novelty of digital multimedia is that all media can be treated as data Programs can manipulate data in response to user input, so digital multimedia can be interactive Interactive Multimedia 3–4

7. 1 Some dates: CD-ROM drives on desktop machines from ~1989 WWW publicly available at start of 1992 Handful of servers; line-based browser HTML allows audio and video to be embedded 1997 Historical Context 4

8. 1 Takes time for conventions about content and consumption to become established: 1895 footage of train arriving at station People had no idea how “film technology” would be used? Analogy, in the early days of the Internet people had no idea that it would be used to share music (Napster, Kazaa, iTunes). Cultural Development 5–6

9. 1 Cultural Development Early film: animations and magic tricks shown as part of vaudeville acts (Novelty only). Meanwhile narrative films started to show up (Content with substance). Film technology turned Playhouses become cinemas Can you think of a similar analogy with respect to Internet technology? i.e., Internet technology turned computers into…

10. 1 Cultural Development In the beginning, Established forms of media are translated into the new technology. Film allows newspapers to be “shown” as newsreels. Can you think of a modern analogy with respect to the web?

11. 1 Novelty vs. Innovation Newsreels were a novelty: Instead of reading a paper you’d get all your news in a 5 minute film. Newsreels are still passive. Internet news feeds (innovation?): Instead of reading a paper, you get all you news on the web. The web is interactive. Content can be customized to your interests (RSS). You can choose to watch the video, read the article, or see the pictures.

12. 1 Multimedia production – display and presentation is the sole purpose Multimedia application – display is driven by computation e.g. Web application presenting data stored in a database Multiple media – user must switch between modalities (read, watch, listen,…) instead of combining them Terminology 6–7

13. 1 Digital multimedia: any combination of two or more media, represented in a digital form, sufficiently well integrated to be presented via a single interface, or manipulated by a single computer program Definition 7

14. 1 Online Uses a network (usually the Internet) to send information from one computer to another Offline Removable storage medium is used to carry the data (CD-ROM, DVD) Other delivery forms? Are we forgetting the obvious? Delivery 8–9

15. 1 Text, images laid out in 2-D arrangement as in book or magazine Pages combined using links (hypermedia) Content itself is static Page-Based Multimedia 10

16. 1 Elements arranged in time Presented in sequence on a timeline Elements may be frames or discrete pages (slideshow) Often incorporates parallelism Parallel elements may be synchronized e.g., Sound clips start when objects appear Time-Based Multimedia 11

17. 1 Film: fixed order of frames defines a single playback sequence Book: physical arrangement of text and pages implies a linear reading order Linearity 10

18. 1 Flash: jumps between frames, controlled by interactivity, permit branching and loops Hypermedia: links between pages permit multiple arbitrary reading orders Non-Linearity 11

19. 1 User input may control a multimedia production But, only choices that are coded into the program are possible Alternatively, user can control events at many points, leading to combinatorial growth in number of possibilities (common in games). e.g. 4 choices at each of 5 points implies 1024 possible sequences, not 20. Where does 1024 come from? Interactivity 13–14

20. 1 Means of presenting choices and accepting user input can vary enormously Often you’ll see interface elements used by mainstream OSs But, you’ll also see Free-form, dynamically changing interfaces (again, common in games) Consider interactive multimedia on the web…what “format” is the media? How does this effect the user interface? User Interfaces 15–16

21. 1 If access to multimedia is the norm, those denied access become marginalized ('digital divide') Access may be limited by lack of: Access to equipment and skills Network infrastructure Literacy and education Physical and cognitive abilities These factors may depend on wealth, geographical location,… Access 17–20

22. 1 Access to production of media highly restricted Books: distributed through publishers, subject to editorial scrutiny; barriers to newcomers Film: very high cost; studios prefer safe bets Music: mostly distributed by few labels controlled by small number of multinationals; hard to break in to the business TV: video production relatively low cost, but access to broadcast rigidly controlled What is the new, non-traditional production outlet? Traditional Media Production 21–23

23. 1 Potentially anyone with Internet access can have their own Web site ISPs provide free Web space Free and inexpensive tools are adequate WWW has potential for revolution in access to the means of production and distribution of digital material Web Site Production 21

24. 1 All sufficiently complex societies seek to control what people may see or hear, either by explicit policing, economic or other means Rapid growth of the Internet and its potential for disseminating unacceptable content has given new impetus to debates about censorship Complicated ethical issues with no enduring conclusion or consensus despite thousands of years of debate Control of Content 24–25

25. 1 WWW is global network, hence material reaches many different societies and cultural and religious groups Many different models of censorship – none, rigid centralized control, self-regulation, … Why is it so difficult (impossible) to censor the WWW? Diversity & Censorship 25–26

26. 1 Diversity & Censorship Unrealistic to expect a single model of censorship to be acceptable everywhere in the world. Difficult to assign responsibility for dissemination of content on Internet Growing too fast…its impossible to police every page, every site, every part of the world.

27. 1 Platform for Internet Content Selection http://www.w3.org/PICS/iacwcv2.htm Attempt to provide a mechanism that supports a diversity of attitudes towards content and censorship Labels attached to each page, providing a rating of its contents PICS only defines standard label format Screening software rejects material deemed unsuitable according to user's criteria Defers the difficult decisions to the user. PICS 27–29

28. 1 Summary Be sure to review key terminology in Chapter 1 Remember we are only studing media that can be stored and transmitted digitally. This is the crux of this course Digital media is Easier to combine, hence multimedia Easier to process (in theory) Easier to make interactive The web is becoming the #1 production outlet for digital multimedia Unlike, radio, TV, publishing, etc, the web is unique: Difficult to censor/regulate Right now, access depends on wealth, location, but that could all change.