On the net: Using WWW multimedia in the foreign language classroom: Is this for me?

This special issue of Language Learning & Technology looks at evaluating multimedia software.Where does the Internet fit into this picture?When we talk about multimedia in the foreign language (FL) classroom, we are often primarily concerned with the use of authentic materials that make the target language culture seem more real to students.Digitizing the images, sound, and video that represent multimedia can facilitate their distribution.However, digitized multimedia files tend to be quite large, and on the net, large files mean slow going.Can we really do multimedia on the World Wide Web? How is the quality?Does it require a fast connection or can a dial-up connection suffice?In this column we look at several web sites that are intended to help FL teachers learn about using and even making multimedia materials, and then explore a few sites that use online multimedia.Please note that several of these sites were, in fact, created by the authors, who teach a course in multimedia development.2. Where can I find information about multimedia and its uses on the Internet?Although many articles exist that deal with the uses of multimedia in a classroom setting, the vast majority of these sources are found in traditional hard copy venues: magazines, newspapers, journal articles, and books.Nevertheless, some authors have noted the irony in this and have placed some