multimedia and telecommunications

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MULTIMEDIA

AND

TELECOMMUNICATIONS,1997-2002:

PERSPECTIVES

AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

Prepared by Students

in the Spring Semester 1997 Class in

Systems Analysis and Evaluation

Lance A. Hayden

Ismael Rangel

John G. Jamieson

Pivi H. Rentz

Heath M. Rezabek

under the direction of

Professor Ronald E. Wyllys

Graduate School of Library and Information Science

The University of Texas at Austin

1997 May 10

Those copyright items (if any) reproduced herein have been copied as fair use for the educational purposefor which the study treated herein was undertaken and is here reported. Except for such otherwise copyright

items, the entire contents of this report are copyright 1997 by Ronald Eugene Wyllys for the benefit of

the GSLIS Foundation, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The University of Texas at

Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1276. Permission to copy, quote, and/or reproduce, and/or use all or any part

of the contents of this report (except those parts that are otherwise copyright) is granted to all persons and

organizations, provided that due acknowledgment is made of the source of the material thus utilized.


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Telephone: 512-471-3969/2742; 800-551-0294

Fax: 512-471-3971

Email:[email protected]

Graduate School of Library and Information Science

Snchez Building 564

The University of Texas at AustinAustin, Texas 78712-1276

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

The Extraordinary Promise of Digitized Imagery

Implications of Digitized Imagery for the Library- and Information-Science Profession

Specific Recommendations for the LIS Profession

The Future

Reference

2OVERVIEW OF THE SYSTEMS-ANALYSIS STUDY

Introduction

Background of the GSLIS Study

3OVERVIEW OF MULTIMEDIA

Introduction Definitions

Multimedia

Hardware

Software

Networks

Other Definitions History

Multimedia Hardware

Software

Networks

Current Trends

Multimedia

Hardware

Software

Visual-Image Formats

Audio-Image Formats

Internet-Related Formats and Terms

NetworksIntranet Technologies

Future Trends

References on Multimedia and Related Topics

Online Resources and Tutorials

Other References

4MULTIMEDIA USE IN LIBRARIES AND OTHER INFORMATION AGENCIES

Introduction
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#EXEC%20SUM%23EXEC%20SUMhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#EXEC%20SUM%23EXEC%20SUMhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20intro%23exec%20sum%20introhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20extraordinary%23exec%20sum%20extraordinaryhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20implications%23exec%20sum%20implicationshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20recommendations%23exec%20sum%20recommendationshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20future%23exec%20sum%20futurehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20reference%23exec%20sum%20referencehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm02.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm02.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm02.html#overview%20introhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm02.html#overview%20backgroundhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20introductionhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitionshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20otherhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20historyhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20futurehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20onlinehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20onlinehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20referenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20introhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#EXEC%20SUM%23EXEC%20SUMhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20intro%23exec%20sum%20introhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20extraordinary%23exec%20sum%20extraordinaryhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20implications%23exec%20sum%20implicationshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20recommendations%23exec%20sum%20recommendationshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20future%23exec%20sum%20futurehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm01.html#exec%20sum%20reference%23exec%20sum%20referencehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm02.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm02.html#overview%20introhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm02.html#overview%20backgroundhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20introductionhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitionshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20otherhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20historyhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20futurehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20onlinehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20onlinehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20referenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20intromailto:[email protected]


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Consequences of Rapid Change in Multimedia Technologies

Current Multimedia Collections and Multimedia Research

The Columbia Digital Library Project

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Digital Libraries Initiative

University of California, Santa Barbara - Project Alexandria Carnegie Mellon University - Informedia Digital Video Library

University of Michigan - Digital Library Project Stanford University Digital Libraries Project

Elsevier's Electronic Subscriptions

ProQuest Digital Dissertations (UMI)

Corbis

SuperJournal Project

Multimedia Technologies and Selection Criteria for Selecting Multimedia Technologies

Creating Digitized Materials

Copyright and Usage Fees

References

5CURRENT AND FUTURE MULTIMEDIA STANDARDS FOR IMAGE FORMATS

Purpose

History

Background The Need for Standards for Digital Images

Definitions

Scanners and Related Hardware

Introduction

Scanners vs. Digital Cameras and Video-Capture Cards

How Scanners Work

Current and Future Trends

Implications for the Future References

6DIGITAL IMAGES AND OPEN STANDARDS>

Definition

What Are Open Standards?

Two Types of Open Standard

History

Current State and Trends

Longevity of Multimedia Formats The Library and Preservation of the Cultural Record

Enterprises and the Longevity of Mission-Critical Data

Hardware and Types of Multimedia Standards

Sound

Images

Video

Hardware and Physical Media

Possible Future Standards and Implications for the Library- and Information-Science Professions A Time of Rapid Change and Opportunity

Extensions of HTML

Java--A Cross-Platform Programming Language

New User Interfaces

References

7NEW TOOLS RELATED TO MULTIMEDIA AND THE WORLD-WIDE WEB

Search Engines
http://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20consequenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20columbiahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20illinoishttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20californiahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20carnegiehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20michiganhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20stanfordhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20elsevierhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20proquesthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20corbishttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20superjournalhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20multimedia%20criteriahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20creatinghttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20copyrighthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20referenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20purposehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20historyhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20historyhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20history%20standardshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20definitionshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20scannershttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20scanners%20introhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20scanners%20vshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20scanners%20howhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20implicationshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20referenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#definitionhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#definitionhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#definition%20twohttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#historyhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#longevityhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#longevity%20libraryhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#longevity%20enterpriseshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#hardware%20soundhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#hardware%20imageshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#hardware%20videohttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#hardware%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#possiblehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#possiblehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#possible%20extensionshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#possible%20javahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#possible%20newhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#referenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm07.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm07.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm07.html#searchhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20consequenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20columbiahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20illinoishttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20californiahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20carnegiehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20michiganhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20stanfordhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20elsevierhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20proquesthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20corbishttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20superjournalhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20multimedia%20criteriahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20creatinghttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20copyrighthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20referenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20purposehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20historyhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20historyhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20history%20standardshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20definitionshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20scannershttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20scanners%20introhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20scanners%20vshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20scanners%20howhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20implicationshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm05.html#current%20referenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#definitionhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#definitionhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#definition%20twohttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#historyhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#longevityhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#longevity%20libraryhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#longevity%20enterpriseshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#hardware%20soundhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#hardware%20imageshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#hardware%20videohttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#hardware%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#possiblehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#possiblehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#possible%20extensionshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#possible%20javahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#possible%20newhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm06.html#referenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm07.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm07.html#search


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Web-Crawling Spiders and Robots

Resource Discovery on the Internet

Continuous-Speech Recognition

8IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EDUCATION IN LIBRARY AND

INFORMATION SCIENCE

Planning for a Course or Courses on Multimedia Topics for Multimedia Courses

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1 Introduction

This report examines the rapidly changing field of multimedia technologies. It attempts to assess

how this field is currently affecting the library- and information-science (LIS) profession, andwhat may be the effects of future multimedia-related technologies on LIS.

Multimedia technologies deal with the recording, storage, and dissemination of information in

the form of visual and audio images. Though this view of the field includes older technologies

such as photography and analog recording of sound, our concern in this report is with theenormous impact of the new digital representations of visual and audio images. The digitization

of these images has enabled computers to handle them in ways closely related to the ways inwhich computers have, for decades, handled digitized text, with the result that textual, visual,

and audio images can now be freely joined within computer-based processes.

1.2 The Extraordinary Promise of Digitized Imagery

The World-Wide Web is the best known example of this joining of digitized, computer-processed

textual, visual, and audio images. But the digitization of all kinds of images has implications thatextend far beyond the Web. Technologies for the digitization of images have undergoneenormous, rapid advancements during the last 15 years, as have technologies for the storage and

display of the images. In the same period computer technologies for processing digitized imageshave undergone enormous, rapid advancements, as have the techniques of telecommunications.

Much of the development during the past 5 years has been due in large part to the explosivelyrapid increase in the popularity of the Internet, which has provided commercial incentives for

rapid development of Internet-related computer and telecommunications technologies. In his

fascinating book, The Road Ahead, Bill Gates writes:

When the Internet really took off, we were surprised, fascinated, and pleased. . . . People

complained about the Internet's irritating deficiencies, but that didn't stop them from using thisexciting new way to communicate. It was too much fun to ignore! All it had taken was for

modems to get fast enough, communications switches to get cheap enough, PC's to get popular

and powerful enough, and there was no turning back. I can't tell you exactly when this point-of-

no-return was reached, but by late 1995 we had crossed the threshold. More users meant more

content and more content mean more users. The Internet had spiraled up in popularity, achieving

critical mass. [1, pp. x-xi]
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Today (1997) we can acquire, process, store, and disseminate digitized images-textual, visual, and

audio-on a scale that was not even dreamed of 20 years ago. We can fit into a shirt pocket an

encyclopedia or an atlas that can display every street address in the United States; via theInternet, even with typical home-telephone connections (viz., 28.8Kbps modems), we can listen to

radio broadcasts from any part of the world or hold telephone conversations with people all overthe globe; we can store gigabytes of information in our home computers; and terabytes (indeed,

probably already petabytes) of information are available to us via the Internet.

Probably within 5 years, certainly within 10 years (2007), we will be able to create and store--and

to transmit and receive in real time--digital, high-definition-television-quality visual, aural, andtextual images using what will then be typical small-office or home-office (SOHO) computers and

typical SOHO Internet connections. Individual authors and movie-makers will be able to sendcopies of their works from their own Internet sites to anyone anywhere, and they will be able to

receive a fee for doing so. Digital libraries will have been developed by individuals and byacademic, public, and commercial organizations to such an extent that via Internet

telecommunications almost any recent book, picture, article, movie, sound recording, or

television broadcast will be available for transmission on demand to any individual who is

interested in viewing the item (and, in many cases, willing to pay a fee to do so).

1.3 Implications of Digitized Imagery for the Library- and Information-Science Profession

The developments just sketched mean that the LIS profession must be prepared to deal withquantities of information on an almost overwhelmingly larger scale. We claim to be the

profession that is best suited to managing information as a whole. We claim that otherprofessions tend to see only the narrower concerns of the technologies alone or are concerned

only with specific types of information, e.g., financial information.

To manage information as a whole in the new information world that is currently developing, LIS

professionals and, especially, LIS students must be knowledgeable about the technologies of

multimedia (viz., the technologies of digitized textual, visual, and aural images) and about therelated technologies of telecommunications.

1.3.1 Specific Recommendations for the LIS Profession

LIS professionals and students should follow the development of standards closely. Wherepossible, they should make sure that the infrastructure, applications, and data standards they use

conform to widely accepted standards and reduce the need for frequent migration. They shouldalso become involved in creating information systems and standards that support backwards

compatibility and other archiving features.

LIS professionals should continue to improve access to multimedia and electronic materials in

general. Setting pointers to useful information collections, including metadata information,helping to design better search tools, and increasing the interoperability of systems by selecting

standards will be more and more important as the amount of electronic information increases.Moreover, as a lot of useful information will be available only transitorily, efforts to archive such

information for future research should be encouraged.

Because digitization does not guarantee the preservation of information, LIS professionals and

students should make sure that digital formats that are becoming obsolete are migrated before it


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is too late or too costly. In order to guarantee cost-effective migration, it may be best to establish

processing centers that specialize in reformatting obsolete materials.

With respect to copyright, LIS professionals should follow the developments carefully and

should participate in shaping future copyright practices. Defending fair use rights and helping to

simplify the system of clearing rights will continue to require a lot of work and continual

alertness.

1.4 The Future

In closing, we quote again from Bill Gates's The Road Ahead:

Some people think that the information highway . . . is simply the current version of the Internet

or the delivery of hundreds of simultaneous channels of television. But today's innovations arejust the beginning. The revolution in communications will take place over several decades and

will be driven by new "applications"-new tools often meeting needs we don't even foresee now.Today's Internet only hints at tomorrow's. [1, p. xiv]

Truly we cannot even imagine today all of the effects of the development of digitized imagery,and of accompanying computer and telecommunications technologies, 20 or 25 years from now.

But students studying library and information science in the next 5 years will probably still beworking as LIS professionals in 2035, or even in 2040. All we say for sure today is that though the

information world will be enormously vaster then than it is today, it will continue to need peoplewho can help to organize 2040's information stores and to help others access them.

1.6 Reference

[1] Gates, Bill; Myhrvold, Nathan; Rinearson, Peter. The Road Ahead. 2d edition. New York, NY:

Penguin; 1996. 332 p. ISBN:0-670-77289-5.


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MULTIMEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS, 1997-2002:

PERSPECTIVES AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

Section 3

Contents of Section 3: OVERVIEW OF MULTIMEDIA Introduction

Definitions

Multimedia

Hardware

Software

Networks

Other Definitions

History

Multimedia

Hardware

Software Networks Current Trends

Multimedia Hardware

SoftwareVisual-Image Formats

Audio-Image FormatsInternet-Related Formats and Terms

Networks

Intranet Technologies

Future Trends

References on Multimedia and Related Topics Online Resources and Tutorials

Other References

3 OVERVIEW OF MULTIMEDIA

3.1 Introduction

The rapid ascent of multimedia technology over the last decade has brought about fundamental

changes to computing, entertainment, and education. The exponential growth of multimediatechnologies and applications has presented our computerized society with opportunities and

challenges that in many cases are unprecedented. Nowhere is this impact felt more acutely thanwith information professionals. Multimedia applications have progressed to the point of sparking

a fundamental paradigm shift in the very concept of information transfer and presentation.

Multimedia technologies face challenges as well. Any technology that enjoys such meteoric rise

and rapid diffusion into the society from which it emerges cannot help but experience growingpains. As a result, the implementation of multimedia is hampered by questions of

interoperability as many diverse vendors and producers attempt to lay claim to the market. It is

stymied by its own rapid growth, with advances in multimedia leapfrogging, and being
http://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20introductionhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitionshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20otherhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20historyhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20futurehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20onlinehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20onlinehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20referenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20introductionhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitionshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20definitions%20otherhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20historyhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20history%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20multimediahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20hardwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20softwarehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20current%20networkshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20futurehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20onlinehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20onlinehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm03.html#multimedia%20references


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leapfrogged by, advances in hardware, storage, and bandwidth of the distributed networks that

allow multimedia applications to be shared and utilized over telecommunications networks. And

the field of multimedia faces social challenges as well, as the technology progresses at a pace thatthe surrounding society has difficulty matching. As a result, many people, including some in the

information field, have given up on understanding multimedia concepts and have turned theirback on participating in the growth of the technology. In the case of information professionals,

most particularly those professionals in the library and information science field, this is a criticalerror.

Whatever the "library of the future" will look like, it is beyond question that it will utilizemultimedia as a significant tool in its operations. Traditionally, librarians have maintained

jurisdiction over this process, keeping the library as we have known it a public entity, offeringaccess to all, regardless of class or ability to pay. We may be witnessing a change to this tradition.

More and more, private industry is entering the library business, not in the collection of books,but rather in the collection of digital information. While these entities often utilize librarians in

their functions, the librarian's social role is being rendered subservient to the corporate policies of

profit. This is a dangerous precedent.

The purpose of this report--and, to a greater extent, of courses that may be developed in the fieldof multimedia--is to provide LIS professionals with some skill in multimedia technologies and

techniques. The hope is that by gaining such knowledge and skills, these professionals may betterand more actively participate in the development of multimedia applications and may take an

active role in the creation of the library of the future, ensuring that it maintains its traditional

social values and principles of egalitarian access.

3.2 Definitions

3.2.1 Multimedia

The technologies that comprise the phenomenon of digital multimedia and the applications thatemploy those technologies are diverse, and end-user understanding and acceptance of these

technologies and applications are equally varied. As the technology progresses, multimediasystems have become more and more ubiquitous and transparent. Indeed, many users today who

would not identify themselves as someone having a use for multimedia technology or equipmentare far more familiar with it than they believe; but they do not consider the applications for

which they use multimedia to be "true multimedia." The very term has generated an aura ofmystique to the non-digital professional.

Multimedia technology is loosely and generally defined as the combined use of several methodsof sensory transmission, employed for the transmittal of information to a receiver. Under this

definition, multimedia technology is old and widely used, comprising television, many printed

materials, performance art, and many educational materials. All of these systems involve the useof multiple sensory formats to facilitate the transmittal of information.

It is in the digital age that the term multimedia has taken on the definition and level of prestige

that it currently enjoys. The advent of digital technologies has increased multimedia capabilities

and potential to unprecedented levels. Digital multimedia are defined as the processes of

employing a variety of digital images, synchronized and perhaps embedded within one another,

or within an application, to present and transmit information. This definition requires a further

sub-definition, in that "images" may be taken to imply visual images. On the contrary, an "image"


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is defined as any type of digitized information. An image may be a sound, a picture, a

representation, or a section of text.

In the recent past, multimedia technology has developed further with the rise of relatively

inexpensive and high-bandwidth networking technologies. These means of mass communication

over long distances gave multimedia systems the ability to escape the CD-ROM and become

"distributed" among many end-users, in many locations, often operating on different platforms.Distributed multimedia, as a technology, deal with combining digital multimedia images andapplications with computer-networking techniques. The result is a form of multimedia that is not

confined to one computer or one storage medium, but rather may be transmitted, shared, andapplied among large numbers of end-users over long distances in real time. To date the World-

Wide Web is the most prominent example of such distributed multimedia. The rise of distributedmultimedia systems presents great opportunity for fields such as entertainment, education,

health care, business, and the military. It also presents challenges in the areas of standardizationand interoperability. Distributed multimedia systems are already being exploited, as evidenced

by the rising popularity of the WWW, intranets, and multimedia groupware.

3.2.2 Hardware

Briefly, hardware may be defined as those physical components and peripherals that comprise acomputer system. Hardware includes processor chips, memory chips, computer boards,

information storage devices, networking devices, displays, input devices, and output devices.Today's digital multimedia applications require hardware platforms of increasing power and

capabilities. Perhaps the most important hardware peripheral in the rise of consumer digitalmultimedia was the CD-ROM drive and the CD-ROM that is its storage medium.

3.2.3 Software

Software is defined as those programs and applications that run on computer systems.

Multimedia software includes operating systems that run the multimedia platforms; drivers thatcontrol peripherals and I/O devices; applications; and data, which term includes the digital

images that are combined to produce multimedia applications and presentations. Applicationprograms can be used in a variety of ways to display, create, and edit digital images. These

applications may support many digital-image formats, as in the case of Adobe Photoshop, or maybe limited to one or a few proprietary formats, as with Apple QuickTime. Multiple formats exist

for audio images, for static visual images, and for animated visual images.

3.2.4 Networks

Networks are defined as computers connected for the purposes of sharing information and/orapplications. Networks can range in size from small peer-to-peer networks connecting only a few

computers, to larger Local-Area Networks (LANs) that operate on client-server architectures, toWide-Area Networks (WANs), large and geographically dispersed networks connecting

thousands or even millions of computers, such as the Internet. These networks may consist of onenetwork, or of networks of networks.

3.2.5 Other Definitions


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The primary definitions necessary to understand networking as it pertains to multimedia are

bandwidth (data rate) and medium (the wiring used for data transmission.)

Bandwidth measures the rate at which data is transmitted through the network. It is often used

as a gauge of speed in the network. As technology has advanced over recent decades, bandwidthof networks has increased. High bandwidth is needed to facilitate distributed multimedia

systems due to the large amounts of data that must be transmitted in image files.

As a hardware term, medium refers to the physical means used for data transmission. Hardware

media include copper wires, fiber-optic cables, and radio-frequency (RF) transmissions. Themedium often directly affects bandwidth and is, therefore, important in the functioning of

distributed multimedia systems.

Another pair of networking definitions concerns the difference between analog and digital signals.

Analog signals are continuous. Digital signals are based on binary code and can have only two

states, 0 and 1. Digital transmission is achieved over analog transmission lines by manipulating

the analog signal, but some transmission media are strictly digital, such as fiber-optic cable and

some RF transmissions (Kagan 168-70).

Many methodologies exist for increasing bandwidth in a transmission system, including

multiplexing and packet-switching. These techniques are not essential for an understanding of

distributed multimedia, but it is essential to understand that they are used to increase bandwidth,

which in turn is essential to the functionality of distributed multimedia.

Networking also includes specific hardware and software applications. Network-hardware

devices include the wiring previously discussed, as well as routers, bridges, modems, security

firewalls, adapter cards, and connectors. Hardware may also include high-capacity computers to

act as servers for networks, large mainframes designed to service client computers, relatively

dumb network computers, or actual dumb terminals.

Software applications used in networking include those programs designed to allow the

networked computers to operate in conjunction with one another. This type of software is

referred to asgroupware (e.g., Lotus Notes). In addition, the Internet--and specifically the World-

Wide Web--utilizes its own software applications to facilitate communications between differentcomputers. Protocols, such as HyperText Transfer Protocol (http), and File Transfer Protocol

(FTP), while not software applications, are standards that allow communication and digital data

to be transferred between computers. Programming languages, including Visual Basic, C++, Java,

Perl, and HyperText Markup Language (HTML) allow the creation of applications that can be

distributed over networked computer systems. Finally, applications such as Web browsers like

Netscape, Apache, and Mosaic allow multimedia data to be accessed across the World-Wide

Web. These types of distributed multimedia are computer-based.

Other forms of digital multimedia include satellite television, cable TV, and advanced features

offered by telephone companies, such as video conferencing and telecommuting systems, which

may or may not be computer-based. And there is always the transfer between end-users of binary

image files that are then utilized through applications residing on the user's computer. While this

form of distributed multimedia is neither real-time nor interactive, it is nonetheless distributed

multimedia.


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3.3 History

3.3.1 Multimedia

The term multimedia became a buzzword in computer-related fields in 1993, but the CD-ROM, the

disc on which most multimedia products are currently delivered, had been around for a number

of years before that; and in fields such as education, multimedia had, for decades, meant the use of

movies, slides, audio recordings, and the like. By the end of 1993 it was estimated there was an

installed base in America of 3.6 million multimedia PCs. The multimedia buyer's average income

was estimated to be $39,000, with women beginning to enter what had been an almost totally

male-dominated market.

There was no shortage of "shovelware," low-quality products, often directly copied over from

print media. However, production values were improving, and budgets for many of the well

known titles were in the $250,000 range. By Christmas 1993, retail prices were in the region of

$59-69.

In 1994, it is estimated that the installed base grew from 3.6 million to 11.4 million multimediaPCs. Another survey by Inteco estimated that in 1994 there were 13.4 million multimedia-capable

computers in the U.S., with 2.7 million in Europe. Inteco predicted that in 1995 there would be 22

million such computers in the U.S., and 9 million in Europe. By Christmas 1994, U.S. retail prices

had dropped to $39-49. Marketing and advertising costs were increasing and were approaching

the costs of development, with the total costs for development and promotion of major titles

reaching the $1 million mark and over.

In August 1995, the downward trend in retail prices continued, as Microsoft introduced new

price points for its products, ranging from $19.99 to $49.99. This meant, for example, that

Microsoft's Wine Guide, released in summer 1995 would cost $29.99 rather than its previous

$45.00.

A U.S. Electronics Industry Association study of consumer attitudes towards multimedia, carried

out in autumn 1994, found that nearly half the respondents were aware of the word

"multimedia." The report also found that 8% of respondents owned multimedia-capable

computers. Extrapolating this figure nationally would mean that there were approximately 7.5

million multimedia-capable computers in American homes. A further 9.5% of respondents

intended to buy such computers over the following 12 months, with 53% of these planning to use

them for entertainment and 55% for school work (WWW--Brief History of Multimedia). Onemarked trait of multimedia history has been the rise and fall of new and proprietary technologies;

these may or may not claim to be the next industry standard but often fall by the wayside as thetechnology and the market move in new directions. Prime examples of these short-lived

technologies include:

Philips Compact Disc Interactive (CD-I), which contained a CD-ROM and a 68000

microprocessor that connected directly to a television set

Tandy Video Information System (VIS) which contained a CD-ROM and a 286

microprocessor and also connected directly to a TV

Kodak Photo-CD which was much like the previous systems and was designed to allow

users to view photographs stored to CD (Dodds, 159-60).


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Volatility has marked the history of commercial multimedia technology, and it is by no means in

the past. We continue to see such volatility in the industry today. It is crucial, therefore, that

students of multimedia put themselves and their professional experiences in the context of theinfancy of the industry. It may take decades for the industry and the technology to stabilize. For

example, while from our present perspective color television appears to have rapidly supplantedblack-and-white television, in fact it took eighteen years for color sets to outsell black-and-white

sets. "Consumers were still buying 5 million BW sets per year thirty years after the introductionof color televisions" (Agnew, 241.) In the case of television, the transfer of technology was

relatively simple. Given the complexity of the multimedia market and the variance of thetechnology and its applications, it is not unthinkable that three or four decades may be necessary

before a standard technology is in place universally across the user base.

3.3.2 Hardware

The ancestors of modern microcomputer-based multimedia existed in what amounted to threebranches, back in the ancient days of the early to mid 1980s. The IBM PC, the Apple Macintosh,

and the Commodore Amiga were each optimized for specific tasks.

Designers of the original PC optimized their hardware and software for scrolling text. Standard

displays were restricted to placing 256 different letters, numbers, and special symbols in a gridthat consisted of 80 characters per row and 25 rows. Some of the special symbols allowed a coarse

form of graphics. In the mid-80's, IBM based the design of a graphical-user-interface softwareproduct on such character graphics, believing that few users would pay for low-resolution color

displays.

The designers of Apple's Macintosh took a different tack. In 1984, the original Mac not only

provided an all-points-addressable screen that could address each screen pixel individually, butalso included hardware and software that gave applications rapid and standard ways to draw

high-resolution graphics as well as many different text fonts. While the imaging was good, color

was limited to black and white. Commodore's original 1985 Amiga A1000 and its followers weredesigned to present video on interlaced television screens. These computers included hardwareto support filling regions with color, and moving sprites over a fixed background (Agnew 239.)

As the IBM PC and compatible clones grew to dominate the microcomputer market, Macintoshbecame recognized as the leader in multimedia computing, retaining a solid market share.

Commodore found its niche in the film and video industries and for the most part dropped fromthe consumer scene. PC manufacturers and software producers gradually realized the necessity

of competing with the Apple interface and multimedia capabilities, and the Multimedia PC

Marketing Council was formed.

In 1990, the Multimedia PC Marketing Council published a standard for PC multimedia

platforms as an extension of the basic desktop-computer system. This standard, MPC Level One,dictated that a system must meet the following requirements to be considered a Level 1 system:

16 MHZ 386SX or compatible microprocessor

2MB of RAM

30MB hard disk

one 3.5-inch high-density diskette drive

a single-speed CD-ROM drive with a 150KB-per-second data-transfer rate


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8-bit sound board

VGA-compatible display adapter

color VGA-compatible monitor

a 101-key keyboard

a two-button mouse

standard serial and parallel ports

a MIDI port

a joystick port (for an added input device)

support for either Microsoft Windows version 3.0, with Multimedia Extensions, or for

Windows version 3.1

These standards were updated in 1993, when the MPC published the Level 2 specifications.According to the 1993 standards, a Level 2 computer must have:

25MHz 486SX Microprocessor

at least 4MB RAM (8MB recommended)

160MB hard disk

3.5-inch diskette drive double-speed CD-ROM drive with a 300KB/sec transfer rate

16-bit sound board

SVGA color monitor

Level One specifications for input devices, I/O ports, and system software (Larson, 37).

3.3.3 Software

In 1994, the worldwide multimedia CD-ROM title market grew by 227%, according to the

research firm Dataquest. They estimated that there were 53.9 million CD-ROM titles shipped,

compared to 16.5 million shipped in 1993. However, the practice of "bundling" had to be

considered. Bundling means that a number of CD-ROMS are shipped free with a multimedia PC;

while this practice boosts unit sales figures, it carries a very low profit margin.

"Games, reference books, and education titles were the big hits of 1994," according to Dataquest.

"Along with the battle for retail shelf space, the profit margin squeeze is choking developers as

the average factory selling price of CD-ROM titles has sunk to an all-time low of $11 a copy."

Retail space was very much a problem for multimedia in 1994. Many shops were only beginning

to allow space for multimedia titles, and these spaces were usually taken up by the very large

companies such as Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Dorling Kindersley (see section 3.6). The fact

that CD-ROMs had no standard packaging also hindered the growth in retail space.

In 1994, Microsoft led the worldwide CD-ROM title market with a 15.4% share. Apple sold the

most multimedia computers, the market being up some 312% over 1993, at 10.3 million

shipments (WWW--Brief History of Multimedia).

3.3.4 Networks

The history of telecommunications networking is beyond the scope of this report. Suffice it to say

that continuous progress has been made up to the point of facilitating distributed digital

multimedia. The history of networked media and multimedia, both in analog and digital forms,


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consists of highly episodic advances in several directions, including: the ability to make copies of

distributed items and distribute those items across large areas; the simplification of the creation

process, so that amateurs can create items for distribution to other users; and the development offast access to the content of items. The end result was to increase the degree of interactivity across

these networked systems and applications (Agnew 81).

The breakup of the AT&T monopoly and the introduction of competition to thetelecommunications industry in the U.S. is an important aspect of multimedia history. Newadvances in land-based telecommunications and wireless technology, the advent of cable

television and later direct-broadcast television, and the creation of online computer services andprivate networking services all contributed to increased bandwidth and the gradual introduction

of the benefits of such bandwidth to the public.

3.4 Current Trends

3.4.1 Multimedia

Current trends in multimedia run along three tracks: stand-alone, distributed, and hybrid. Stand-alone multimedia in the form of storage-driven multimedia systems (i.e., the CD-ROM based

application) are popular and continue to hold market share. Distributed multimedia are best seen

in the World-Wide Web and the online-information services such as America Online, in the sense

that the multimedia is accessed directly and is interactive across great distances. Hybrid systems

are those applications that merge or attempt to merge both previous tracks. We are currentlyseeing many software applications, particularly the latest office-suite productivity software, that

offers Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) functions that include not only traditional stand-alone objects such as pictures, or even audio, but even the ability to link to WWW and Internet

sites. Also these applications, and others such as Microsoft FrontPage, allow end-users to collectcommercial multimedia applications via networks with little or no formal expertise; indeed, end-

users can similarly distribute the multimedia applications that they themselves have created.

The merging of distributed networks such as the World-Wide Web has made possible

information access that was previously unheard of. One primary focus for the library andinformation science professional is the current creation of digital libraries. These electronic

depositories can be accessed through a variety of interfaces, but the World-Wide Web hasprovided an optimum platform-independent interface.

Projects such as the Corbis digital-image library and George Lucas's announced intention tobegin producing completely digital films are indicative of this trend. Even the Gutenberg Project,

which has maintained a decidedly monomedia format, has been the focus of privatizationattempts that would undoubtedly have led to an enhancement of the Project's collection via a

multimedia interface (and most likely a fee). This trend illustrates not only the potential for wide

access to materials, but also the possibility of the privatization of libraries, the social and culturalramifications of which must be examined in depth.

3.4.2 Hardware

Current hardware has greatly improved even upon the 1993 MPC-2 standard for multimediaPCs. In addition, PCs have gained ground on Apple-brand computers, and are arguably on a par

with these traditional multimedia platforms in capabilities and strengths. How the emergence of


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Apple-clone computers will affect this situation and the PC multimedia market share remains to

be seen.

In 1995, the MPC-3 standard was published. It delineates the following specifications for MPC-3:

75MHz Pentium processor

8MB RAM

540MB hard disk

one 3.5-inch high-density diskette drive

quad-speed CD-ROM drive with a 600KB-per-second data transfer rate

16-bit, wave-table, MIDI sound card

MPEG-1 hardware or software, capable of 30 frames-per-second, 352 by 240 pixels, 15

bits per pixel

otherwise compliant with MPC-2 specifications (Agnew, 226).

Current machines have surpassed even this level, with storage space now measured in 1-4gigabytes standard on most PCs, 16-32 MB RAM, and up to a 200MHz clock speed on the

Pentium chip.

A recent hardware improvement intended to have a direct impact on the multimedia computer

was the introduction by Intel of the MMX technology. The technology is implemented at themicroprocessor level, and is designed to enhance multimedia performance on the Pentium PC

chip.

The MMX Pentium processor was re-engineered to include three primary architectural design

enhancements. The enhancements included 57 new instructions specifically designed tomanipulate and process video, audio, and graphical data more efficiently. These instructions are

oriented to the highly parallel, repetitive sequences often found in multimedia operations.

Today's multimedia and communication applications often use repetitive loops that, whileoccupying 10 percent or less of the overall application code, can account for up to 90 percent ofthe execution time. A second enhancement is the addition of a process called Single Instruction

Multiple Data (SIMD), which enables one instruction to perform the same function on multiplepieces of data. This allows the chip to reduce compute-intensive loops common with video,

audio, graphics, and animation. The third enhancement is the addition of doubled on-chip cache

size, from 16KB to 32KB. This enhancement allows more instructions and data to be stored on the

chip, reducing the number of times the processor has to access slower, off-chip memory areas for

information.

The Pentium MMX advertises a better, smoother and more realistic multimedia experience, while

retaining complete compatibility with Intel processor-based PCs, existing operating systems and

application software (WWW-Intel Homepage). In fact, the MMX technology may function onlywith software applications specifically designed to utilize the enhanced features of the chip.

Another current technology that holds important possibilities for the future is the emergence of

inexpensive and relatively high-quality digital cameras. These digital-image-input systems allow

a user to take either static pictures or dynamic movies (in some cases both) in immediate digital

storage, eliminating the need for film and its processing. In many cases these images can then be

transferred directly to multimedia platforms or the Internet, or used for even real-time display on


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a system. Many of the traditional camera companies are offering digital cameras that function

much like traditional cameras. Kodak, Polaroid, and Canon all offer such digital cameras. Storage

is either to a disk or to a storage medium on board the camera, from which the images may betransferred to disk.

One of the most popular digital cameras goes beyond just photographs. The Connectix

QuickCam and the Color QuickCam offer a user the ability to input either static photographs orto use the QuickCam as a digital-video camera. The output can be stored or displayed in real-time. The marketing direction Connectix is taking for the QuickCam is towards inexpensive

video-conferencing and bundling the QuickCam into Microsoft's and other software developers'conferencing packages. The QuickCam offers decent resolutions and in video mode allows a

sufficient frame-per-second speed to give the illusion of motion, although it is still choppy.Usable with either Macintosh or Windows computers, the QuickCam supports the Windows AVI

movie format and the BMP and TIFF image formats.

3.4.3 Software

The following is a summary of current file formats used for digital images:

3.4.3.1 Visual-Image Formats

PCX - This format has been around for a long time, but is becoming less common. Many changes

have been made to the format to keep it up to date, including the addition of more colors and

higher resolutions, but it is still being replaced by more modern formats. It is not supported by

default in Windows, and some Windows software provides no support for the format.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) - This format has also existed for some time, but the latest

versions of the format specifications make it a capable format. The format is common in the

desktop-publishing world, and almost all software packages support it. Recent versions of TIFF

allow for image compression, and the format is handy for moving large files between computers.

BMP (Bitmap) - This format came into use with Windows 3.1. The format is uncompressed and

can be quite large. For this reason, BMP is seldom used for large or high-resolution images. It has

an advantage, however, in that it is widely supported in the Windows environment.

DIB (Device Independent Bitmap) - Another format popularized by Windows. This format,

which is similar to BMP, allows files to be displayed on a variety of devices. DIB is used mostly

by programmers who must display images on a variety of devices.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) - A compressed image format developed by CompuServe, an

online-information service. This format is widely supported, and several shareware viewers and

converters for it exist as well.

EPS (Encapsulated PostScript File) - Originating in desktop publishing, the EPS format is

common for a certain type of image, stored using PostScript code. While converting to EPS is

difficult and often impractical, EPS may be converted to other formats. Most programs are

incapable of displaying an image from an EPS file, as such files are intended to be sent to a

printer that supports PostScript.


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WMF (Windows Metafile Format) - This format, associated with Windows, is not commonly

used.

TGA (Targa) - This was the first popular format for high-resolution (24-bit) images. The name

comes from the original Targa board, the first true-color video board. Most video-capture boards

support TGA, as do most high-end paint programs.

CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) - This format was designed as a "standard" and then

splintered into sub-standards.

HPGL (Hewlett Packard Graphics Language) - This file format is used for output to plotters,

although some other hardware devices support it as an emulation. The format is far less common

than it once was, although certain fields, such as CAD, use it frequently.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) - This format was designed for maximum image

compression. JPEG uses lossy compression, which refers to a compression scheme that actually

loses some of the data needed to reconstruct the image. The rationale behind lossy compression is

that the human eye does not miss the lost information (Wodaski, 169-71).

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) - An extensible file format for the lossless, portable, well

compressed storage of raster images. PNG provides a patent-free replacement for GIF and can

also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-color, gray-scale, and true-color images are

supported, plus an optional alpha channel. Sample depths range from 1 to 16 bits. PNG is

designed to work well in online-viewing applications, such as the World-Wide Web, so it is fully

streamable with a progressive display option (WWW - PNG homepage).

3.4.3.2 Audio-Image Formats

Waveform Sound Files - A waveform file stores the data needed to reconstruct the waveform that

produces a sound. The sound is stored and digitized through sampling, by which the sound isbroken into small pieces and digitized. The .WAV format is the most common format; it is the

only waveform format supported by Windows. Other waveform extensions include .VOC, .SND,

and .MOD.

Non-Waveform Files - These files, also known as MIDI files, store instructions instead of

waveform data. For example, the file might store notes and their durations. MIDI files use

synthesized instruments stored on the MIDI-capable sound card to produce notes. MIDI files are

normally used to store musical information only, and carry the extension .MID (Wodaski, 20-21).

3.4.3.3 Internet-Related Formats and Terms

Also affecting the current trends in multimedia are World-Wide Web viewing technology and thefollowing tools. These tools are used to enhance distributed digital multimedia through the Web,

which is currently the most widely used format for distributed multimedia:

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) - An Internet protocol for the World-Wide Web that

provides a means for Web clients and servers to communicate with one another. Closely related

to the internet protocol TCP/IP. Exchanges Web information in four parts: connection, request,

response, and close.


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HyperText Markup Language (HTML) - HTML is a dialect and subset of SGML, the Standard

Generalized Markup Language. HTML is used to describe the structure of a Web document's

content as well as behavioral characteristics. HTML is understood by all Web browsers (Tittel, 21-25).

Java - An interpreted, object-oriented programming language from Sun Microsystems. Used for

creating small pieces of applications (applets), which are embedded in HTML files and run onend-user devices equipped with Java-enabled browsers.

ActiveX - Microsoft's answer to Java. ActiveX allows the running of embedded applications

within Web pages. "ActiveX technology resembles plug-ins. Plug-ins are separate programs that

extend the capabilities of your browser. ActiveX augments the use of plug-ins by simplifying the

installation process. When a new object is encountered, ActiveX determines if your system hasthe system programs needed to run it and if it does not, downloads the program (with your

consent), and automatically installs and configures the particular program" (WWW, Microsoft).

QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality) - A multimedia tool from Apple Computers designed to allow

the use of cursor keys for directional movement and to pick up objects. QTVR allows a creator totake pictures in several directions from a fixed center, to capture and refine the images, and to

stitch the images together by morphing edges, to get 360-degree three-dimensional (3-D) effects.These effects are then converted into a compressed QTVR movie format.

VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) - A development language from Silicon Graphicswhich can be used as an extension to HTML and is a markup format for nonproprietary platform

3-D programming.

Real Audio - Created by Progressive Networks, this tool allows live transmission of audio with

real-time encoding. The software then uses 9.6Kbps to transmit high-quality audio, compressedfrom 1.2Mbps.

StreamWorks - Software tool from Xing which permits live transmission with real-time audio

encoding, and varying transmission rates from 9.6Kbps to T1 speed. StreamWorks also provides

video transmission at 28.8Kbps for two to three frames per second, CD quality at ISDN linespeed, and NTSC quality at T1 line speed. StreamWorks supports MPEG with proprietary

extensions (Agnew, 232-33).

3.4.4 Networks

Current trends in networking include the broad-based attempts to both standardize and

commercialize the Internet and the World-Wide Web. To get a feel for this trend, we should

examine the nature of online-information services. America Online, Prodigy, and CompuServe

offer such standardized services. The price for the convenience and relative stability of theservices provided is a subscription fee for their use. The Internet has traditionally been a model offree exchange of information, but we are also seeing a concerted effort being made by private

industry to exploit the market they see in the World-Wide Web. All the major long-distancecompanies have set up Internet Service Provider (ISP) services for customers, and we are seeing a

trend towards more and more fee-based Web sites and services.


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While a persuasive argument may be made that there is nothing wrong with charging a fee for

the value-added services these corporate sites provide, from the perspective of library and

information science this trend merits examination. As the World-Wide Web becomes more andmore intertwined with multimedia platforms, tools, and services, we may soon witness a

necessity for any digital libraries to charge fees in order to remain competitive, if such support isnot forthcoming from government or other public sources. In addition, some LIS professionals

may feel that the very concept of the library is threatened as private industry embraces librariesin for-profit ventures (or, at the very least, in non-profit ventures with a decidedly corporate

agenda).

3.4.4.1 Intranet Technologies

One current technological trend of networking is the development of intranet technologies. Anextension of traditional Local Area Network (LAN) technology, the intranet is designed to utilize

TCP/IP internet protocols to provide organizations with an internal micro-Internet and micro-WWW. The advantage of intranets is that they collect and distribute information within an

organization much more cheaply and efficiently than traditional LANs, as well as being easier toset up, customize, and maintain.

Using intranet technology allows an organization to choose between a wide variety of software,computers, and operating systems. Users get most of the information they access through a Web

browser such as Netscape. This enables organization members to distribute information, collectreports and data internally, participate in conferences, and access important documentation

easily and uniformly. Of course, groupware and database applications are still necessary to servethese functions, but the intranet provides the same reliable, multimedia-oriented, user-access

interface that exists on the World-Wide Web.

Some current intranet-management software includes:

Corel Office for Java Netscape Intranet Server package

Microsoft Internet Information Server

Infodata's Virtual File Cabinet

Frontier Technology's Intranet Genie

Novell IntranetWare for Small Business (Rizzo, 25-29).

3.5 Future Trends

Future trends in multimedia technology will increasingly revolve around distributed-multimedia

systems, cross-platform user interfaces, and networking architectures and bandwidth. While

storage costs, processing costs, and ever more powerful application costs will decrease, the true

strength of multimedia technology will be seen in how it adapts to networked environments.

We will begin to see a convergence of traditionally separate media such as personal computers,

video, television, cellular telecommunications, LANs, and mail. Over the next five to seven years

many of the controlling entities of these media will begin to see the possibility that technology

offers for branching out into other media. Partnerships will follow, and eventually services will

begin to be bundled into (one hopes) standardized packages, which may become accessible

through multiple platforms. It may, for instance, become easy to watch CNN or a movie in a


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small window of your desktop computer while you work, and equally simple to work on a

spreadsheet or write email in a small window of your television while you watch a pay-per-view

movie.

Multimedia technology will be greatly affected by emerging paradigms in the hard-science side

of computing and networking. Object-oriented programming languages and operating systems,

and distributed client-server technologies will begin to provide more powerful and flexibleoptions to end-users of multimedia systems. Group collaboration will be made possible on awider scale across wider distances. Multimedia objects will grow "smarter," able to interact with

and act on other objects. We see the infancy of this phenomenon in the dynamic and interactiveWebsites using Java and ActiveX. Storage will take on a new personality as object-oriented

databases emerge that can handle multimedia information, organize it, and make it searchable.

The near future of multimedia will include not just an upward spiking of the technology, but an

outward diffusion of the technology into multi-user environments. Given the way the WWW has

become the Internet for many users, it is not pushing matters to say that the future of multimedia

is networking, and the future of networking is multimedia.

3.6 References on Multimedia and Related Topics

3.6.1 Online Resources and Tutorials

http://www.isoc.org/internet-history

This is an online tutorial of the history of the Internet, divided into the following categories:

Introduction

Origins of the InternetThe Initial Internetting Concepts

Proving the IdeasTransition to Widespread Infrastructure

The Role of DocumentationFormation of the Broad Community

Commercialization of the TechnologyHistory of the Future

FootnotesTimeline

References

Authors

This site is very useful for those students who need a quick tutorial on the Internet.

http://fas.sfu.ca/cs/undergrad/CourseMaterials/CMPT479/material/notes/contents.html

This site is an outline of an undergraduate course in multimedia at Simon Frasier University,

British Columbia, Canada. The course covers the history of multimedia, multimedia issues,

applications and data, as well as networking and distributed-multimedia systems. This site

provides a comprehensive overview of a comprehensive course and is one of the best all-around

multimedia-education sites I found.
http://www.isoc.org/internet-historyhttp://fas.sfu.ca/cs/undergrad/CourseMaterials/CMPT479/material/notes/contents.htmlhttp://www.isoc.org/internet-historyhttp://fas.sfu.ca/cs/undergrad/CourseMaterials/CMPT479/material/notes/contents.html


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http://www.zakros.com/packer.html

This is the homepage of Randall Packer, former director of multimedia studies at San Francisco

State University, now lecturing at the University of California, Berkeley. The site gives the

syllabus of his History of Multimedia course, which focuses on art and socio-cultural history

rather than simply the technology and practical applications of multimedia technology.

http://www.jacksonesd.k12.or.us/soscmm/multimedia.course

This Web page gives a syllabus and information on the Multimedia in Education course at

Southern Oregon State College. The site also provides a good set of links to other resources.

http://www.jacksonesd.k12.or.us/soscmm/multimedia.course

This site is a collection of object-oriented multimedia models, including:

Damsel Dynamic Multimedia Specification Language

MET++ Multimedia Application FrameworkLMDM Layered Multimedia Data Model

MME the object-oriented Multimedia Toolkit

PREMO Presentation Environment for Multimedia Objects

MHEG Multimedia and Hypermedia Expert Group (MHEG-5, MHEG-6)

OMF Open Media Framework

The site provides very technical, development-oriented links and is probably beyond the scope of

those not familiar with multimedia technology.

http://nctWeb.com/studio

The Tapeless Studio - The Magazine of Audio Recording on the PC. This site is a commercialonline magazine on all things relating to digital audio in multimedia.

http://www.fokus.gmd.de/ovma/glue

Site of the Berkom GLUE (Global User Environment) Project, which envisages the development

of a multimedia-presentation environment, combining client and server components. Multimediainformation is interchanged utilizing the MHEG 5 standard.

http://www.eeb.ele.tue.nl/midi/index.html

Web site of the MIDI homepage. This site provides complete reference materials for new and

experienced MIDI users.

http://www.eeb.ele.tue.nl/midi/index.html

This site is home of Open Sound System (OSS), the first attempt at unifying the digital-audioarchitecture for UNIX. OSS is a set of device drivers that provide a uniform API across all the

major UNIX architectures. It supports Sound Blaster-compatible sound cards, which can be
http://www.zakros.com/packer.htmlhttp://www.jacksonesd.k12.or.us/soscmm/multimedia.coursehttp://www.jacksonesd.k12.or.us/soscmm/multimedia.coursehttp://nctweb.com/studiohttp://www.eeb.ele.tue.nl/midi/index.htmlhttp://www.eeb.ele.tue.nl/midi/index.htmlhttp://www.zakros.com/packer.htmlhttp://www.jacksonesd.k12.or.us/soscmm/multimedia.coursehttp://www.jacksonesd.k12.or.us/soscmm/multimedia.coursehttp://nctweb.com/studiohttp://www.eeb.ele.tue.nl/midi/index.htmlhttp://www.eeb.ele.tue.nl/midi/index.html


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plugged into any UNIX workstation supporting the ISA or EISA bus architecture. OSS also

supports workstations with on-board digital-audio hardware.

http://www.ima.org/cp/dvd/index.html

Site of the Interactive Multimedia Association's DVD initiative, designed to inform and promote

DVD technology to the public. "Anticipating the impending launch of DVD and DVD-ROM, theIMA is developing a multipoint program to support the orderly and profitable market

introduction of this new medium. This program has three main objectives:

"1. Facilitate the successful introduction of DVD and DVD-ROM into the marketplace.

"2. Promote widespread consumer and developer confidence in the new medium.

"3. Provide a legal 'safe haven' for member companies to cooperate and collaborate."

http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Faculty/bsmith/mmsyl.htm

This site is an online guide to multimedia educational applications, including books and journals,

online resources, and seminars.

http://cuiwww.unige.ch/OSG/MultimediaInfo/Info/cd.html

This site provides users with an excellent overview of CD technologies, from CD-DA to Video-

CD, and describes the place of each format in the development of the technology.

http://www.multimediator.com

A comprehensive Canadian multimedia guide, providing users with online tutorials,

development tools, and links to other resources.

http://cuiwww.unige.ch/OSG/MultimediaInfo/mmsurvey/standards.html

This excellent site gives the user a listing of multimedia standards and links to further pagesgiving detailed specifications of each standard. It is an excellent resource for doing cross-

standard comparisons.

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/authoring/mm.html

A site devoted to multimedia authoring tools and resources directed primarily at Apple

computer users.

http://www.imtc.org

Site of the International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium, Inc. (IMTC). The mission of

IMTC is to bring together all organizations involved in the development of interactive,

multimedia-teleconferencing products and services to help create and promote the adoption of

industry-wide interoperability standards.
http://www.ima.org/cp/dvd/index.htmlhttp://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Faculty/bsmith/mmsyl.htmhttp://cuiwww.unige.ch/OSG/MultimediaInfo/Info/cd.htmlhttp://www.multimediator.com/http://cuiwww.unige.ch/OSG/MultimediaInfo/mmsurvey/standards.htmlhttp://cuiwww.unige.ch/OSG/MultimediaInfo/mmsurvey/standards.htmlhttp://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/authoring/mm.htmlhttp://www.imtc.org/http://www.ima.org/cp/dvd/index.htmlhttp://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Faculty/bsmith/mmsyl.htmhttp://cuiwww.unige.ch/OSG/MultimediaInfo/Info/cd.htmlhttp://www.multimediator.com/http://cuiwww.unige.ch/OSG/MultimediaInfo/mmsurvey/standards.htmlhttp://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/authoring/mm.htmlhttp://www.imtc.org/


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http://www.quickcam.com

This site provides information on the QuickCam.

3.6.2 Other References

Agnew, Palmer W.; Kellerman, Anne. Distributed Multimedia. Addison-Wesley: Reading, MA,

1996.

"Brief History of Multimedia." Online. World-Wide Web. 15 February 1997. Available from:

http://www.nua.ie/internet/Ireland/MultimediaHistory.html

Desmarais, Norman. Multimedia on the PC. McGraw-Hill: New York, 1994.

Dodds, Philip V. W. Digital Multimedia Cross Industry Guide. Focal Press: Boston, 1995.

Kagan, Richard S. "Integrated Voice/Data Networks." In: Bartee, Thomas, ed. Data

Communications, Networks, and Systems. Carmel, Indiana: SAMS, 1992. 153.

Larson, Jennifer. "What is Multimedia?" PC Novice, June 1994: 34-37.

Rizzo, John. "Intranet 101." Computer Currents, March 1997: 25-29.

Tittel, Ed; James, Steve. HTML For Dummies. IDG Books: Foster City, CA, 1996.

Wodaski, Ron. Multimedia Madness! SAMS: Indianapolis, 1994.

MULTIMEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS, 1997-2002:

PERSPECTIVES AND RECOMMENDATIONS.Section 4

Contents of Section 4: MULTIMEDIA USE IN LIBRARIES AND OTHER

INFORMATION AGENCIES Introduction Consequences of Rapid Change in Multimedia Technologies

Current Multimedia Collections and Multimedia Research

The Columbia Digital Library Project University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Digital Libraries Initiative

University of California, Santa Barbara - Project Alexandria

Carnegie Mellon University - Informedia Digital Video Library University of Michigan - Digital Library Project Stanford University Digital Libraries Project

Elsevier's Electronic Subscriptions

ProQuest Digital Dissertations (UMI) Corbis

SuperJournal Project

Multimedia Technologies and Selection
http://www.quickcam.com/http://www.nua.ie/internet/Ireland/MultimediaHistory.htmlhttp://www.nua.ie/internet/Ireland/MultimediaHistory.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20introhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20consequenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20columbiahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20illinoishttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20californiahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20carnegiehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20michiganhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20stanfordhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20elsevierhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20proquesthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20corbishttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20superjournalhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20multimediahttp://www.quickcam.com/http://www.nua.ie/internet/Ireland/MultimediaHistory.htmlhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20introhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20consequenceshttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20currenthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20columbiahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20illinoishttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20californiahttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20carnegiehttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20michiganhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20stanfordhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20elsevierhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20proquesthttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20corbishttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20current%20superjournalhttp://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/multmed/mm04.html#use%20multimedia


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Criteria for Selecting Multimedia Technologies

Creating Digitized Materials

Copyright and Usage Fees References

4 MULTIMEDIA USE IN LIBRARIES AND OTHER INFORMATIONAGENCIES

4.1 Introduction

In recent years, there has been rapid development of multimedia systems and applications. A

large part of the collections of libraries and information agencies are still in single-medium

format (books, periodicals, audiocassettes, audio CDs, videocassettes, microforms, maps, etc.);

but collection developers have recognized the usefulness of multimedia and have started

collecting multimedia CDs, linking up to multimedia Web sites, and digitizing some of their own

collections. The introduction of multimedia has brought a number of problem issues, the solving

of which will determine the level of future use of this new format. These issues include: theselection of multimedia products; the search for and retrieval of non-textual information; thecataloging of multimedia resources; metadata; copyright; licensing; costs; the migration of digital

information; and the permanent preservation of digital resources. The aim of this section of ourreport is to explore what is being done to overcome these problems and how the use of

multimedia is likely to develop in the near future.

4.2 Consequences of Rapid Change in Multimedia Technologies

Libraries and information agencies are using various technologies to offer access to electronicmaterials. CD-ROMs, dial-up online systems, the Internet, and tapes loaded on the library's

computer are the most used current options. New technologies may make some of these options

obsolete; but new technologies may also fail, never catching on because of insufficient consumerdemand. CD-ROMs, which have been almost synonymous with interactive multimedia, arefacing the fiercest competition. While videodiscs and laserdiscs have not been able to replace CD-

ROMs, the new DVD (Digital Video Disc, or Digital Versatile Disk, depending [in part] on theuser's marketing goals) technology is currently being advertis

multimedia and telecommunications

Documents