MUMD-290: Multimedia
DevelopmentDr. Eric Breimer
Chapter 1 ofDigital Multimedia, 2nd edition
Nigel Chapman & Jenny Chapman
Introduction
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
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
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
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
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
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
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…
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?
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
1
• Flash: jumps between frames, controlled by interactivity, permit branching and loops
• Hypermedia: links between pages permit multiple arbitrary reading orders
Non-Linearity
11
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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.