Multimedia—An introduction

Multimedia—the combination of text, animated graphics, video, and sound—presents information in a way that is more interesting and easier to grasp than text alone. It has been used for education at all levels, job training, and games and by the entertainment industry. It is becoming more readily available as the price of personal computers and their accessories declines. Multimedia as a human-computer interface was made possible some half-dozen years ago by the rise of affordable digital technology. Previously, multimedia effects were produced by computer-controlled analog devices, like videocassette recorders, projectors, and tape recorders. Digital technology's exponential decline in price and increase in capacity has enabled it to overtake analog technology. The Internet is the breeding ground for multimedia ideas and the delivery vehicle of multimedia objects to a huge audience. This paper reviews the uses of multimedia, the technologies that support it, and the larger architectural and design issues.