Multimedia Communications Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

It may be surprising for many but the history of the term 'multimedia' reaches back to the early 1970s, when computers were still huge, unfriendly devices, which required air-conditioned environments and costed fortunes. The term... more

It may be surprising for many but the history of the term 'multimedia' reaches back to the early 1970s, when computers were still huge, unfriendly devices, which required air-conditioned environments and costed fortunes. The term referred, however, not to the computer applications but to the resource kits typically combined of pupils' booklets, teachers' guides, film strips, audio tapes, and photographic slides. Such products certainly offered multiple media packed within one box, but still fragmented. To integrate them was a difficult task for teachers and the result was often confusing for pupils. Most schools found, thus, multimedia kits rather trouble than advantage (Feldman 1997). Despite the failure of that remote introduction of multimedia it has been developing fast since then and has become a fact indeed not only in the field of education. It seems, therefore, to be useful to examine an evolving definition of the term 'multimedia' as used in different contexts during the last several years: Year 1992 " Multimedia is a class of computer-driven interactive communication systems which create, store, transmit , and retrieve textual, graphic, and auditory networks of information. Embedded in the above definition are three elements: the computer, graphics and networks, which when combined provide a new and powerful technology. " (Gayeski, 1992) Year 1995 " Media: drawings, photographs, written text, slides, overhead projections, video, computer images, computer animations, spoken word, music, etc. Multi-media: the conflation of a wide range of separate media into one suitable computing environment. Hyper-media: an integrated presentation involving an interactive cross-referenced sequence of multi-media. " (Maver and Petric, 1995) 152 eCAADe 20 [design e-ducation] Education and Curricula, Traditional and Education Areas. Session 04 This paper seeks to illustrate the meaning of multimedia, and more significantly, the importance of implementation of the technology in architectural education and practice as it is today. In order to achieve this, the paper presents an analysis examining the evolution of the definition of multimedia, and then, attempts a classification of multimedia applications in architecture. For the first time, such a classification was created in 1995. It is timely, then, seven years later and in the context of a dramatic advancement in the field, to take stock of how multime-dia technology is impacting the sphere of architectural education and practice and to suggest an updated classification.