Chapter One 1. Introduction To Multimedia: 1.1. Definition of Multimedia, History of Multimedia

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CHAPTER ONE

1. Introduction to Multimedia

After the end of this chapter students will be able to:


 define multimedia
 explain the elements of multimedia
 categorize the types of multimedia
 Describe the multimedia systems basic characteristics
 Identify different multimedia applications and importance
 Understand the trends of multimedia technologies and issues
 Aware of multimedia business and legal issues

1.1. Definition of multimedia, History of multimedia


Definition of multimedia

Multimedia is any combination of text, art, sound, animation, and video delivered to you by
computer or other electronic or digitally manipulated means.
Multi: more than one
Medium (singular): middle, intermediary, mean
Media (plural): means for conveying information
Media in the press, newspaper, radio and TV context - mass media
Media in communications: cables, satellite, network – transmission media
Media in computer storage: floppy, CD, DVD, HD, USB – storage media
Media in HCI context: text, image, audio, video, – interaction media
Multimedia is, as described previously, a woven combination of digitally manipulated text,
photographs, graphic art, sound, animation, and video elements. When you allow an end user—
also known as the viewer of a multimedia project—to control what and when the elements are
delivered, it is called interactive multimedia. When you provide a structure of linked elements
through which the user can navigate, interactive multimedia becomes hypermedia.
The people who weave multimedia into meaningful tapestries are called multimedia developers.
The software vehicle, the messages, and the content presented on a computer, television screen,
PDA (personal digital assistant), or mobile phone together constitute a multimedia project. If
the project is to be shipped or sold to consumers or end users, typically delivered as a download
on the Internet but also on a CD-ROM or DVD in a box or sleeve, with or without instructions, it

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ONE
is a multimedia title. Your project may also be a page or site on the World Wide Web, where
you can weave the elements of multimedia into documents with HTML (Hypertext Markup
Language) or DHTML (Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language) or XML (eXtensible Markup
Language) and play rich media files created in such programs as Adobe’s Flash, LiveMotion, or
Apple’s QuickTime by installing plug-ins into a browser application such as Internet Explorer,
Safari, Google Chrome, or Firefox. Browsers are software programs or tools for viewing content
on the Web.
History of multimedia
1. Newspaper: perhaps the first mass communication medium uses text, graphics, and images.
2. Motion pictures: conceived of in 1830’s in order to observe motion too rapid for perception
by the human eye.
3. Wireless radio transmission: Guglielmo Marconi, at Pontecchio, Italy, in 1895.
4. Television: the new medium for the 20th century, established video as a commonly available
medium and has since changed the world of mass communications.
5. The connection between computers and ideas about multimedia covers what is
actually only a short period:
1945 – Vannevar Bush wrote a landmark article describing what amounts to a hypermedia
system called Memex.
1960 – Ted Nelson coined the term hypertext.
1967 – Nicholas Negroponte formed the Architecture Machine Group.
1968 – Douglas Engelbart demonstrated the On-Line System (NLS), another very early
hypertext program.
1969 – Nelson and van Dam at Brown University created an early hypertext editor called
FRESS.
1976 – The MIT Architecture Machine Group proposed a project entitled Multiple Media
— resulted in the Aspen Movie Map, the first hypermedia videodisk, in 1978.
1985 – Negroponte and Wiesner co-founded the MIT Media Lab.
1989 – Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web
1990 – Kristina Hooper Woolsey headed the Apple Multimedia Lab.
1991 – MPEG-1 was approved as an international standard for digital video — led to the newer
standards, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and further MPEGs in the 1990s.

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Introduction to Multimedia
1991 – The introduction of PDAs in 1991 began a new period in the use of computers in
multimedia.
1992 – JPEG was accepted as the international standard for digital image compression — led to
the new JPEG2000 standard.
1992 – The first MBone audio multicast on the Net was made.
1993 – The University of Illinois National Center for Supercomputing Applications produced
NCSA Mosaic—the first full-fledged
1994 – Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen created the Netscape program.
1995 – The JAVA language was created for platform-independent application development.
1996 – DVD video was introduced; high quality full-length movies were distributed on a single
disk.
1998 – XML 1.0 was announced as a W3C Recommendation.
1998 – Hand-held MP3 devices first made inroads into consumerist tastes in the fall of 1998,
with the introduction of devices holding 32MB of flash memory.
2000 – WWW size was estimated at over 1 billion pages.
2000-present  explosion of multimedia technology

1.2. Multimedia building blocks/elements


The different building blocks of Multimedia are Text, Images and graphics, Audio, Video, and
Animation. Any multimedia application consists any or all of them. Let us learn about each one
of them.
• Text - ASCII/Unicode, HTML, Postscript, PDF
• Audio – Sound, music, speech, structured audio (e.g. MIDI)
• Still Image - Facsimile, photo, scanned image, photographs, drawings, maps and slides
• Video (Moving Images) – Movie, a sequence of pictures
• Graphics – Computer produced image
 Animation – A sequence of graphics images

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Introduction to Multimedia
AUDIO
TEXT

GRAPHIC
Video
Animation

1. Text: Text and symbols are very important for communication in any medium. With the
recent explosion of the Internet and World Wide Web, text has become more the important
than ever. Web is HTML (Hypertext Markup language) originally designed to display simple
text documents on computer screens, with occasional graphic images thrown in as
illustrations.
Text Used in contents, menus, navigational buttons. ASCII/Unicode, HTML, Postscript, PDF are
an example of text file. Example of text file format:
.TXT
.DOCX and so on

Words and symbols in any form, spoken or written, are the most common system of
communication. They deliver the most widely understood meaning to the greatest number of
people. Most academic related text such as journals, e-magazines are available in the Web
Browser readable form.

Fonts and Faces


A typeface is family of graphic characters that usually includes many type sizes and styles. A
font is a collection of characters of a single size and style belonging to a particular typeface
family. Typical font styles are bold face and italic. Other style attributes such as underlining and
outlining of characters, may be added at the users choice. The size of a text is usually measured
in points.
Character set and alphabets:

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Introduction to Multimedia
The American standard code for information interchange (ASCII) is the 7 bit character coding
system most commonly used by computer systems in the United States and abroad. ASCII
assigns a number of values to 128 characters, including both lower and uppercase letters,
punctuation marks, Arabic numbers and math symbols. 32 control characters are also included.
These control characters are used for device control messages, such as carriage return, line feed,
tab and form feed.
Unicode
Unicode makes use of 16-bit architecture for multilingual text and character encoding. Unicode
uses about 65,000 characters from all known languages and alphabets in the world. Several
languages share a set of symbols that have a historically related derivation; the shared symbols of
each language are unified into collections of symbols (Called scripts). A single script can work
for tens or even hundreds of languages. Microsoft, Apple, Sun, Netscape, IBM, Xerox and
Novell are participating in the development of this standard and Microsoft and Apple have
incorporated Unicode into their operating system.

2. Images: Images whether represented analog or digital plays a vital role in multimedia. It is
expressed in the form of still picture, painting or a photograph taken through a digital
camera.

Images are the important element of a multimedia project or a web site. In order to make a
multimedia presentation look elegant and complete, it is necessary to spend ample amount of time
to design the graphics and the layouts. Competent, computer literate skills in graphic art and design
are vital to the success of a multimedia project.
Common image file format
 .png
 .jpeg
 .bmp

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Introduction to Multimedia
3. Audio: Audio can be produced by vibration, as perceived by the sense of hearing. In
multimedia, audio could come in the form of speech, sound effects and also music score. All
types of sound including music, spoken voice, sound effects. Audio Can be recorded using a
microphone or MIDI instrument, captured from CDs, or downloaded from the Internet
Sound is the terminology used in the analog form, and the digitized form of sound is called as
audio. Digital audio is created when a sound wave is converted into numbers – a process
referred to as digitizing. It is possible to digitize sound from a microphone, a synthesizer,
existing tape recordings, live radio and television broadcasts, and popular CDs. You can
digitize sounds from a natural source or prerecorded. Digitized sound is sampled sound. Even
the fraction of a second, a sample of sound is taken and stored as digital information in bits
and bytes. The quality of this digital recording depends upon how often the samples are
taken.
Common Audio File Formats
 *.WAV for Windows Systems, . MIDI files – used by north Macintosh and Windows
 *.WMA –windows media player
 *.MP3 – MP3 audio
 *.RA – Real Player , *.VOC – VOC Sound , *.AIFF sound format for Macintosh sound
files and *.OGG – Ogg Vorbis
4. Video: Digital video has supplanted analog video as the method of choice for making video
for multimedia use. Video in multimedia are used to portray real time moving pictures in a
multimedia project. Video also takes a lot of storage space. So plan carefully before you are
going to use it.
Common video file formats includes: .avi, .mp2, .mp4, .mov, .rm, .wmv
5. Animation: Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2 -D artwork or model
positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to
the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number
of ways. The illusion of motion created by the consecutive display of images of static
elements. In multimedia, animation is used to further enhance / enriched the experience of
the user to further understand the information conveyed to them. Animation is a series of
graphical images displayed in succession to simulate movement.

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Introduction to Multimedia
Animation File Formats
 .gif
 Flash-- *.fla, *.swf
Multimedia Formats
File Format Type of File Filename Extension

Sun Systems sound Audio .au

Windows sound Audio .wav

Audio interchange Audio .aiff, .aifc

RealAudio audio stream .ra, .ram

CompuServe GIF Graphics .gif

JPEG Graphics .jpg, .jpeg

Windows Bitmap Graphics .bmp

QuickTime Video .mov, .moov, .qt etc

Activity 1.1:
What is file extension and discuss the different type of file extension?
Which multimedia element requires high storage space? What could we do to overcome storage
space problem?
Define big data
How to acquire, and produce text, image, audio, animation and video in multimedia projects?
1.3. Types of Multimedia and Multimedia System

Types of Multimedia
Media are divided into two types in respect to time in their representation space:

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Introduction to Multimedia
1. Time independent (discrete): Information is expressed only in its individual value. E.g.: text,
image, etc.
2. Time dependent (continuous): Information is expressed not only it’s individual value, but
also by the time of its occurrences. E.g.: sound and video.
Captured Versus Synthesized Media
• Captured media refers to information types captured from the real world (e.g.
Still pictures, moving pictures, and sound).
• Synthesized media refers to information types synthesized by the computers (e.g.
Text, graphics and computer animation).
Multimedia may be broadly divided into linear and non-linear categories. Linear active content
progresses without any navigation control for the viewer such as a cinema presentation. Non-
linear content offers user interactivity to control progress as used with a computer game or used
in self-paced computer based training. Non-linear content is also known as hypermedia content.
Multimedia presentations can be live or recorded. A recorded presentation may allow
interactivity via a navigation system. A live multimedia presentation may allow interactivity via
interaction with the presenter or performer.
1) Linear multimedia
2) Non-Linear multimedia:
 Interactive multimedia
 Hyperactive multimedia(Hypermedia)
 Multimedia is linear, when it is not interactive and the users just sit and watch as if it is a
movie.
 Multimedia is nonlinear, when the users are given the navigational control and can browse
the contents at will.
 Multimedia is interactive when the end-user is allowed to control what and when the
elements are delivered.
 Interactive Multimedia is Hypermedia, when the end-user is provided with the structure of
linked elements through which he/she can navigate.
Linear VS Non-Linear
 A Multimedia Project is identified as Linear when:
 It is not interactive
 User has no control over the content that is being showed to them.

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Introduction to Multimedia
 Example: A movie. A non-interactive lecture / demo show
NON-LINEAR
 A Multimedia Project is identified as Non-Linear when:
 It is interactive
 Users have control over the content that is being showed to them.
 Users are given navigational control
 Example: Games, Courseware amd Interactive CD
Multimedia System

A Multimedia System is a system capable of processing multimedia data and applications.


A Multimedia System is characterized by the processing, storage, generation, manipulation and
rendition of Multimedia information.
A multimedia system is characterized by
 computer-controlled,
 integrated production,
 manipulation,
 Storage and communication of independent information, which is encoded at least
through a continuous (time-dependent) and a discrete (time-independent) medium.
Characteristics of multimedia system
1. They must be computer-controlled.
 User is able to view, hear, and see using a Multimedia PC System.
2. They are integrated.
 At least one discrete and one continuous media combined for information presentation
and sharing.
3. The information they handle must be represented digitally.
 Consists of various form of media i.e. text, graphics, audio, video, and animations;
created, stored, processed, and transmitted digitally.
4. The interface to the final user may permit interactivity.
 User is able to navigate, interact, create, and Communicate

1.4. Multimedia Applications and Importance


Multimedia finds its application in various areas including, but not limited to, advertisements,
art, education, entertainment, engineering, medicine, mathematics, business, scientific research
and spatial, temporal applications. A few application areas of multimedia are listed below:
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Introduction to Multimedia
Examples of Multimedia Applications
 Residential services
o Video-On-Demand
o Video phone, A/V conferencing
o Home shopping
 Business services
o Corporate education
o E-business
 Education
o Digital libraries
o Distance learning
o E-learning
 Science and technology
o Virtual environment
o Scientific visualization, prototyping
 Entertainment
o Games
o Interactive TV
o Post production of movie and music
 Medicine, Web applications, etc.

Use of Multimedia in information centers


The development of information technology (IT) is enormous of global in its
magnitude; pervasiveness and usefulness because of its most distinguish features of
dramatic decrease in cost, size and tremendous increase in processing speed storage and
communication capabilities. The conventional libraries confined within a physical space are
slowly transforming into digital information resources centers and effective library services.
Many big libraries of the world such as Library of Congress, British Library are building their
collection in multimedia technology form in order to make the teaching learning process more
effective. The collection includes historical books, pamphlets, photographs, folk songs, movies
and geographical sources and these are converting into multimedia CD-ROMs. Primarily,
multimedia technology enabled a single user to interact with several applications: it was not
possible to provide viewing and interactive capability to a number of users simultaneously and
on demand. Multimedia networking has provided the ability to disseminate information to a wide
range of users in educational institutions, libraries, etc. in order to inform and train large number
of users in uniform and consistent manner.

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Introduction to Multimedia
Multimedia Library Reference and General Collection Vast collection of information in the
form of optical storage devices such as CDROMs, DVDs, etc. is available in digital format and
can be presented in multimedia formats. The users can view any subject at any time, based on
their information needs.
 The reference and general collection consists of
 Encyclopedias
 Dictionaries, Directories
 Year Books
 Electronic Books
 Reference Manuals
 E-journals, Electronic Newspapers
Instruction / Training Multimedia systems were initially very expensive to develop, early users
of training systems reported overall benefits from the use of the technology. The savings n
training costs are achieved. Various libraries have started using multimedia as a tool to train their
staff. Libraries and information centers especially in the era of digital libraries may have all the
content in various multimedia files. In the digital age of production, the collecting landscape
continues to swiftly change and libraries need to adjust accordingly. Audiovisual and multimedia
works continue to be part of the collecting fold and regardless of their original format require
libraries to focus specifically on managing their permanence and accessibility.

Librarians develop collections in alignment with their organizational goals. In doing


so, they should be aware of content available and often, originally created, on
audiovisual and multimedia formats.
In an era of digital information, electronic technology, WWW's growing popularity and the
tremendous growth of CD-ROM products, digital libraries offer a huge range of multimedia
information, everything from movies, speeches, images and photos to sounds, text and beyond.
The amounts of online, CD-ROMs and other digital sources of information are exploding and
infrastructure for accessing material improves almost daily. In building the next generation of
digital libraries, multimedia and artificial intelligence will play several important roles.
Digital libraries are electronic libraries in which large numbers of geographically distributed
users can access the contents of large and diverse repositories of electronic objects ± networked
text, images, maps, sounds, videos, catalogues of merchandise, scientific, business and
government data sets ± they also include hypertext, hypermedia and multimedia compositions.
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Introduction to Multimedia
Multimedia in education
According to Dr. Albert Mehrabian, a specialist in interpersonal communication at the
University of California, says:

Multimedia allows for seeing, hearing and doing (multi-sensory system)


 Multimedia enhances the way we learn and understand about things.
 Integration of multiple media such as text, audio, video, graphics and animation together
multiply the impact of the message.
Multimedia is used in many applications today. It has become integrated in all aspects of one’s
life. It improves the way people relate with electronic information. Today it has been widely
used in the education sector. Teachers use multimedia in different ways for different levels of
students. The different ways one can use it are for individualized instruction, collaborative
learning, computerized assessments and Multimedia presentations. Technologies allow us to
overcome limitations of time, distance, and physical capability, but they only empower us when
they can be gracefully used by large, productive segments of our society. For example we see
that open and distance learning is one area where many are taking advantage of the content and
the courses that are delivered to the students. Some of the new concepts that are used by
educationists are podcasting, webinars, learning management systems and many more.
There are studies showing that learners who learn using Multimedia material have more retention
of the concepts taught versus traditional modes of instruction and the student involvement was
higher. It has also shown that learner’s comprehension also increased with the concepts being
taught with Multimedia material. The using and designing of Multimedia material by the learners
also develop many skills. List some of the major thinking skills that learners learn and use as
multimedia designers.
 Project Management Skills
 Research Skills
 Organization and Representation Skills
 Presentation Skills
 Reflection Skills
Multimedia activities encourage students to work in groups, express their knowledge in multiple
ways, solve problems, revise their own work, and construct knowledge. The advantages of
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integrating multimedia in the classroom are many. Multimedia also helps in increasing learning
effectiveness and is more attractive over traditional, lecture-based learning methods. It also
offers system portability and frees the teacher from routine tasks.
Activity 1.2:
Discuss the role of multimedia in gallery, archives, library, museums and exhibitions

1.4.1. Multimedia Software evaluation criteria


Now let us consider the Components (Hardware and Software) required for a multimedia system:
Capture devices: Video Camera, Video Recorder, Audio Microphone, Keyboards, mice,
graphics tablets, 3D input devices, tactile sensors, VR devices. Digitizing Hardware
Storage Devices: Hard disks, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROM, etc
Communication Networks: Local Networks, Intranets, Internet, Multimedia or other special
high speed networks.
Computer Systems: Multimedia Desktop machines, Workstations,
Display Devices: CD-quality speakers, HDTV, SVGA, Hi-Res monitors, Color printers etc
Software Tools: user friendly tools needed to handle media, design and develop applications,
deliver media. Choosing Authoring System and software based on:
 Target playback system
 Desired features
 Development timeline
 Budget
 Developer’s expertise

1.4.2. Challenges of Multimedia Computing


Developing a successful multimedia system is non-trivial.
 Memory space requirement: multimedia data need a lot of space to store
– At least 256MB main memory; More than 50 GB secondary storage; TB’s of tertiary
storage
 Data transmission bandwidth: Multimedia needs very high bandwidth to transmit.
– Faster network (up to 25Mbs per video stream) with very high bandwidth to transmit
 Complexity of multimedia data management: Multimedia needs more complex and more
efficient algorithms, say for

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Introduction to Multimedia
– Automatically analyzing, indexing and organizing information in audio, image and
video is much harder than from text. They involve many different research issues.
 Hardware platforms: Multimedia data need efficient hardware platforms
– Better CPU, graphics card, video card, sound card
1.4.3. Rapid prototyping and Development cycle
Rapid Prototype - a model of the finished program with sample designs for approval. Rapid
prototyping (RP) is an iterative, fast-paced development methodology first introduced in the late
1980s by the industrial fabricator 3D Systems (Palm, 2002). At that time, RP was a specialized
process for producing three-dimensional models, working prototypes and small
runs of parts from drawings created on CAD (computer aided design) systems. Rapid
prototyping has been adopted worldwide. The hundreds of diverse solutions now span both
industrial and consumer applications, from manufacturing to software, from nanotechnology to
biotechnology, from user interface design to gaming, and instructional systems design.
Prototype allows seeing all the design ideas and solutions in action. Prototype helps us to
 do the storyboards and flowchart work
 separates good and bad ideas
 Gives real-world feedback and Allows making changes before development starts
A prototype is a partially developed product that enables customers and developers to examine
some aspect of a proposed system and decide if it is suitable for a finished product.
 For a project, we developed a prototype user interface
 Potential users and domain experts reviewed the prototype
 Review panel summarized findings and made recommendations
 We then developed an alpha version of the interface
 Allow time for prototypes and improved versions
 Multimedia authoring tools facilitate prototyping
Activity 1.3

Discuss multimedia development processes?

1.5. The Business of Multimedia


Business applications for multimedia include presentations, training, marketing, advertising,
product demos, simulations, databases, catalogs, instant messaging, and networked
communications. Voice mail and video conferencing are provided on many local and wide area
networks (LANs and WANs) using distributed networks and Internet protocols. As companies
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Introduction to Multimedia
and businesses catch on to the power of multimedia, the cost of installing multimedia capability
decreases, meaning that more applications can be developed both in-house and by third parties,
which allow businesses to run more smoothly and effectively. These advances are changing the
very way business is transacted by affirming that the use of multimedia offers a significant
contribution to the bottom line while also advertising the public image of the business as an
investor in technology. Multimedia marketing includes Public relations, press releases, press kits,
trade shows, Promotions, Advertising, Meetings, presentations and negotiations and Product
demonstrations.
Activity 1.4
Discuss the role multimedia in business and use of social network such as Facebook and YouTube for
business.

Prepare a business plan to create multimedia production company and design logo with help of
multimedia production tools.

1.6. Multimedia Intellectual property and legal issues


Electronic rights—the rights to publish a work in a computer-based storage and delivery
medium such as a CD-ROM or on the Web. Since the late 1980s, investors in the multimedia
marketplace have been quietly purchasing electronic rights (the right to reproduce works in
electronic form) to the basic building blocks of content—including films, videos,
photographic collections, and textual information bases.
Copyright covers literary works (such as novels, poems and plays), films, music, artistic works
(e.g., drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures) and architectural design. Rights related to
copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in
their recordings and broadcasters in their radio and television programs.
Copyright protection applies to ―original works of authorship field in any tangible medium of
expression.‖ before you can use someone else’s work in your multimedia project, you must first
obtain permission from the owner of the copyright. If you do not do this, you may find yourself
being sued for copyright infringement (unauthorized use of copyrighted material).

Public domain means either that the work was never copyrighted in the first place or its
copyright protection has expired over time and not been renewed; you can use public domain
material without a license.

Warning! If you negotiate ownership or rights to someone else’s content, be sure to get the
advice of a skilled copyright and contracts attorney

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The Ethiopian copyright and neighboring right protection proclamation also allows exception for
some exemption for copyright products for the sake of the public benefit and enhance research
and development like Reproduction for Personal Purposes, Quotation, Reproduction for
Teaching, Reproduction by Libraries, Archives and Similar Institutions, Reproduction,
Broadcasting and other Communication to the Public for informatory purposes , Reproduction
and Adaptation of computer program, and Private performance free of charge. Copy right
enforced and the proclamation allows civil, border, and criminal remedies against copyright
infringement.

Activity 1.5:
Why a multimedia production company and website development company require
intellectual property lower or attorney?
What is expected if individuals and company breaks the copyright law in Ethiopian
context?

Reading Materials

[1] TUFAIL A. SHAIKH, "USE OF MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY IN LIBRARIES," , 2011, pp. 1-9.

[2] Tay Vaughan, Multimedia:Making It Work, 8th ed.: McGraw-Hill, 2011.

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2. Chapter Two
2.1. Multimedia development process, skill set and development team
After the end of this chapter students will be able to:
 Discuss the multimedia development basic stages
 Discuss the intangible elements needed to make good multimedia: creativity,
organization, and communication skill
 Identify the typical members of a multimedia project team and describe the skills that
they need for their work
 Understand the importance of selecting and managing a team in order to produce
successful multimedia projects
2.1.1. Multimedia development process

Multimedia development Process

Multimedia development is a project-based process. Well-developed plan for multimedia product


will save time, money and multiple modifications. The rule of thumb for development is 80% for
planning and 20% for production.

Figure 2.1-1: Planning vs. Production

Here are the four basic stages in a multimedia project:

Figure 2.1-2: stages in a multimedia project


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Two
1. Planning and costing

A project always begins with an idea or a need that you then refine by outlining its messages and
objectives. Identify how you will make each message and objective work within your authoring
system. Before you begin developing, plan out the writing skills, graphic art, music, video, and
other multimedia expertise that you will require. Develop a creative ―look and feel‖ (what a
user sees on a screen and how he or she interacts with it), as well as a structure and a
navigational system that will allow the viewer to visit the messages and content. Estimate the
time you’ll need to do all the elements, and then prepare a budget. Work up a short prototype
or proof-of-concept, a simple, working example to demonstrate whether or not your idea is
feasible. The ease with which you can create materials with today’s production and authoring
tools tempts new developers to immediately move into production—jumping in before planning.
This often results in false starts and wasted time and, in the long run, higher development cost.
The more time you spend getting a handle on your project by defining its content and structure in
the beginning, the faster you can later build it, and the less reworking and rearranging will be
required midstream. Think it through before you start! Your creative ideas and trials will grow
into screens and buttons (or the look and feel), and your proof-of-concept will help you test
whether your ideas will work. You may discover that by breaking the rules, you can invent
something terrific!
In planning and costing stage:
 Determine the scope of a multimedia project
 Determine the messages and objectives of the project
 Target Audience identification based on age, gender, income range, language, nationality,
disability, and computer literacy
 Schedule the phases, tasks, and work items required to complete a project
 Estimate the cost, timeline, and tasks required to complete a project
 Prepare a budget
 Write and structure the elements of a multimedia project proposal
 Develop a creative ―look and feel‖ (what a user sees on a screen and how he or she
interacts with it), as well as a structure and a navigational system that will allow the
viewer to visit the messages and content.

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development process, skill set and development team
Activity
List the tools used for multimedia production/project planning and costing?
Hint:
 Idea analysis tools
 Budgeting tools
 Scheduling tools
 Estimation tools
2. Designing and producing:

Perform each of the planned tasks to create a finished product. During this stage, there may be
many feedback cycles with a client until the client is happy. The best products are often the result
of continuing feedback and modifications implemented throughout the production process.

In designing and production stage:


 The structure and user interface are designed, implemented and continuously
refined.
 Multimedia elements (text, graphics, animation, sound, and video) are created.
 Content is added.
 Scripts are added.
 The product is revised, based on the continuous feedback received from the client.
Designing
the design part of your project is where your knowledge and skill with computers; your talent in
graphic arts, video, and music; and your ability to conceptualize logical pathways through
information are all focused to create the real thing. Design is thinking, choosing, making, and
doing. It is shaping, smoothing, reworking, polishing, testing, and editing. When you design your
project, your ideas and concepts are moved one step closer to reality. Competence in the design
phase is what separates amateurs from professionals in the making of multimedia.
Depending on the scope of your project and the size and style of your team, you can take two
approaches to creating an original interactive multimedia design. You can spend great effort on
the storyboards, or graphic outlines, describing the project in exact detail—using words and

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development process, skill set and development team
sketches for each and every screen image, sound, and navigational choice, right down to specific
colors and shades, text content, attributes and fonts, button shapes, styles, responses, and voice
inflections. (This approach is particularly well suited for teams that can build prototypes quickly
and then rapidly convert them into finished goods.) Or you can use less-detailed storyboards as a
rough schematic guide, allowing you to exert less design sweat up front and expend more effort
actually rendering the product at a workstation.
Production is the phase when your multimedia project is actually rendered. During this phase
you will contend with important and continuous organizing tasks.

3. Testing:
Test your programs to make sure that they meet the objectives of your project, work properly on
the intended delivery platforms, and meet the needs of your client or end user. It is important to
test and review a project to ensure that: – the product is bug-free, accurate, and operationally and
visually on target.
Alpha and beta testing process
Alpha Testing:
Alpha testing usually conducted in-house and restricted to the development team. Alpha testing
is the first phase of project testing. The alpha testing group usually consists of colleagues’ friends
and those who are known to the organization.
An alpha release is the first working draft of a project and is only for internal circulation. Alpha
testing is usually done in-house by team members.
Beta Testing:
Beta testing is the final functional test before release to get feedback from as wide as variety of
potential users as possible. The beta testing group should be representative of real users and
should not include persons who have been involved in the project’s production. Beta testers must
have no preconceived ideas. Beta testing is done with a wider array of testers. Beta testers should
be representative of real users and who were not involved with the actual production.

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development process, skill set and development team
Figure 2.1-3: Testing Stage

After the "bugs" are fixed, the final version of the program is released to the general public. Once
the application is tested and revised, it enters the packaging stage. It could be burned into a CD-
ROM or published on the internet as a website.

Publishing to Gold
Terms that are used to indicate the version status of the project: –
Bronze: close to being finished
Release candidate: approach a gold master
Gold master: nothing is left to change or correct; ready for mass production
4. Delivering: Package and deliver the project to the end user.
If you completed multimedia project will be delivered to consumers or to a client who will install
the project on many computers you will need to prepare your files so they can be easily
transferred from your media to the user’s platform.
It is important to provide well-written documentation about the installation process so that users
have a clear step-by-step procedure to follow. The documentation must include a discussion of
potential problems and constraints related to the full range of your target platforms.
Delivering the project on an optical disc (e.g.: CD-ROM, DVD-ROM) is the most popular
method among multimedia developers. Multimedia can also be delivered on the Web by hosting
the pages on a web server.
Activity
Briefly discuss the need of documentation in multimedia.

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development process, skill set and development team
2.1.2. Multimedia skill set and development team

Activity
What you need for good multimedia production?
Hint: For good multimedia production we need
 intangibles such as creativity, organization and communication
 Hardware
 Software
 Multimedia authoring tools
What You Need: The Intangibles
You need hardware, software, and good ideas to make multimedia. To make good multimedia,
you need talent and skill. You also need to stay organized, because as the construction work gets
under way, all the little bits and pieces of multimedia content. You will need time and money
(for consumable resources such as CD-R blanks and other memory or digital storage, for
telephoning and postage, and possibly for paying for special services and time, yours included),
and you will need to budget these precious commodities.
You may also need the help of other people. Multimedia development of any scale greater than
the most basic level is inherently a team effort: artwork is performed by graphic artists, video
shoots by video producers, sound editing by audio producers, and programming by
programmers.
Creativity
before beginning a multimedia project, you must first develop a sense of its scope and content.
The most precious asset you can bring to the multimedia workshop is your creativity. The
evolution of multimedia is evident when you look at some of the first multimedia projects done
on computers and compare them to today’s titles. Taking inspiration from earlier experiments,
developers modify and add their own creative touches for designing their own unique
multimedia projects. It is very difficult to learn creativity. Some people might say it’s
impossible—and that you have to be born with it. But, like traditional artists who work in paint,
marble, or bronze, the better you know your medium, the better able you are to express your
creativity. In the case of multimedia, this means you need to know your hardware and software
fist. Once you’re proficient with the hardware and software tools, you might ask yourself, ―What
can I build that will look great, sound great, and knock the socks of the viewer?‖

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development process, skill set and development team
Organization
it’s essential that you develop an organized outline and a plan that rationally details the skills,
time, budget, tools, and resources you will need for a project. These should be in place before
you start to render graphics, sounds, and other components, and a protocol should be established
for naming the files so you can organize them for quick retrieval when you need them. These
files—called assets—should continue to be monitored throughout the project’s execution.
Communication
Many multimedia applications are developed in workgroups comprising instructional designers,
writers, graphic artists, programmers, and musicians located in the same office space or building.
The workgroup members’ computers are typically connected on a local area network (LAN). The
client’s computers, however, may be thousands of miles distant, requiring other methods for
good communication. Communication among workgroup members and with the client is
essential to the efficient and accurate completion of your project. If your client and you are both
connected to the Internet, a combination of Skype video and voice telephone, e-mail, and the File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) may be the most cost-effective and efficient solution for both creative
development and project management. In the workplace, use quality equipment and software for
your communications setup. The cost—in both time and money—of stable and fast networking
will be returned to you.

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development process, skill set and development team
Table 2.1-1: Multimedia Development Toolkit/Requirement

No Hardware Software Multimedia Helpful


authoring tools accessories
1 Platforms: Text Editing Software Card based Screen-Grabber
 Macintosh  word processor  HyperCard Burner Software
 Windows PC o Microsoft Format
Word converters
 OCR Software  Total video
2 Input: Image Editing Software Time based converter
 Scanners  Photoshop,  Macromedia Players:
 Barcode readers  Fireworks, and Flash  Shockwave
 Digital and web cameras Painter  Adobe
 Microphone…  Gimp
Flash
3 Output: Audio Editing Software Icon Based
Player
 monitor  Audacity  Macromedia
 speakers  mp3DirectCut Author ware
 Projector…  Ulead
4 Storage: Video Editing Software
 Primary Memory, Flash  Ulead video
Memory, studio
 Hard disk,  Pinnacle
 CD-ROM, or DVD,  Ulead Corel
 Cloud Storage  Adobe premiere
5 Communication Animation Editing
 Modem Software
 DSL  Animate
6  Flash
Multimedia web and
programming
 web browser
o Dreamweaver

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development process, skill set and development team
To produce good multimedia, you will need a similar diverse range of skills—detailed
knowledge of computers, text, graphic arts, sound, and video. These skills, the multimedia skill
set, may be available in a single individual or, more likely, in a composite of individuals working
as a team.
The Team
Activity
Formulate a multimedia two team for video production company and web Development
Company
 List the responsibility and skill required by multimedia production team for video
production, Tutor-CD and multimedia web development
Successful multimedia projects begin with selecting ―team players.‖ But selection is only the
beginning of a team-building process that must continue through a project’s duration. Team
building refers to activities that help a group and its members function at optimal levels of
performance by creating a work culture that incorporates the styles of its members. You should
encourage communication styles that are fluid and inclusive, and you should develop models for
decision making that respect individual talents, expertise, and personalities.
A typical team for developing multimedia for DVD or the Web consists of people who bring
various abilities to the table. Often, individual members of multimedia production teams wear
several hats: graphic designers may also do interface design, scanning, and image processing. A
project manager or producer may also be the video producer or scriptwriter. Depending upon the
scope and content of your project and the mix of people required, according to Wes Baker, a
professor at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, a multimedia production team may
require as many as 18 discrete roles, including:
 Executive Producer
 Producer/Project Manager
 Creative Director/Multimedia Designer
 Art Director/Visual Designer, Artist
 Interface Designer
 Game Designer
 Subject Matter Expert
 Instructional Designer/Training Specialist
 Scriptwriter

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development process, skill set and development team
 Animator (2-D/3-D)
 Sound Producer
 Music Composer
 Video Producer
 Multimedia Programmer
 HTML Coder
 Lawyer/Media Acquisition
 Marketing Director
Table 2.1-2: Multimedia Development Team and Skillsets

NO POSITION/TEAM RESPONSIBILITY SKILL


1 Project Manager  define, coordinate and  Possess knowledge of the basic

facilitate the production of principles of multimedia


the multimedia project authoring
 Make schedules; decide the  Skilled proposal writer
budget of the project.  Good negotiator
 Interact with team and clients.  Conversant with relevant legal
 Provides resolution to issue
development and production  Good communication skill
problems.  Budget management skill
 Motivate people and should  Experience in human resource
be detail oriented and overall business management

2 Interface Designer  Creating a software device  Creativity


that organizes content.
 It allows users to access or
modify content, and presents
that content on the screen.
 Building a user-friendly
interface.
3 Lawyer/Media
Acquisition
Reading Materials
[1] TUFAIL A. SHAIKH, "USE OF MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY IN LIBRARIES," , 2011, pp. 1-9.
[2] Tay Vaughan, Multimedia:Making It Work, 8th ed.: McGraw-Hill, 2011.
[3] Rajneesh Agrawal, MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS. New Delhi: EXCEL BOOKS PRIVATE LIMITED, 2013.

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development process, skill set and development team
Chapter Three
3. Multimedia Authoring and User Interface Design
3.1. Multimedia Authoring
Multimedia authoring tools provide the important framework you need for organizing and
editing the elements of your multimedia project, including graphics, sounds, animations, and
video clips. Authoring tools are used for designing interactivity and the user interface, for
presenting your project on screen, and for assembling diverse multimedia elements into a single,
cohesive product.
With multimedia authoring software, you can make
 Video productions, Animations, Games,
 Interactive web sites, Demo disks and guided tours,
 Presentations, Kiosk applications, Interactive training,
 Simulations, prototypes, and technical visualizations
Multimedia authoring software combines text, graphics, animation, audio, and video into an
application. Multimedia is widely used in video games, electronic newspapers and magazines,
electronic books and references, simulations, virtual reality, and computer-based training.
Why Multimedia Authoring
Authoring tools simplify the complex tasks of creating interactive multimedia
 Reduce time needed to develop an application
 Increase productivity
 Reusability of content
Popular multimedia authoring software includes
 Macromedia AuthorWare,
 Macromedia Director, and
 Macromedia Flash.

3.2. Multimedia Authoring Metaphors

Each multimedia project you undertake will have its own underlying structure and purpose and
will require different features and functions. E-learning modules such as those seen on PDAs,
MP3 players, and intra-college networks may include web-based teaching materials, multimedia
CD-ROMs or web sites, discussion boards, collaborative software, wikis, simulations, games,
electric voting systems, blogs, computer-aided assessment, simulations, animation, blogs,

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Authoring and User Interface Design
learning management software, and e-mail. This is also referred to as distance learning or
blended learning, where online learning is mixed with face-to-face learning.
Authoring is the process of creating multimedia applications. Most authoring programs use one
of several authoring metaphors, also known as authoring paradigms: Some common authoring
metaphors are as follows:
 Scripting language metaphor: OpenScript
 Slide show metaphor: PowerPoint, ImageQ
 Hierarchical metaphor:
 Iconic/flow-control metaphor: Authorware
 Frames metaphor:
 Card metaphor: SuperCard, HyperCard by Apple
 Cast/score/scripting metaphor:

Card-based
In these authoring systems, elements are organized as pages of a book or a stack of cards. Card-
and page-based systems allow you to play audio, video and animations.

Some examples of card- and page-based systems include:


 HyperCard (Macintosh), SuperCard (Macintosh)
 ToolBook (Windows), Visual BASIC (Windows
Icon-based
Icon- or object-based, event-driven tools are authoring systems, wherein multimedia elements
and interaction cues (events) are organized as objects in a structural framework or process. Icon-
or object-based, event-driven tools simplify the organization of your project and typically display
flow diagrams of activities along branching paths. In complicated navigational structures, this
charting is particularly useful during development. Icon-based, event-driven tools provide a
visual programming approach to organizing and presenting multimedia. First you build a
structure or flowchart of events, tasks, and decisions, by dragging appropriate icons from a
library. Those icons can include menu choices, graphic images, sounds, and computations. The
flowchart graphically depicts the project’s logic. When the structure is built, you can add your
content: text, graphics, animation, sounds, and video movies. Then, to refine your project, you
edit your logical structure by rearranging and fie-tuning the icons and their properties. With icon-
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Authoring and User Interface Design
based authoring tools, non-technical multimedia authors can build sophisticated applications
without scripting.
Some examples of icon-based systems include:
 Authorware Professional (Windows)
 IconAuthor (Windows)
Icon-based, event-driven systems are suited to a wide range of applications and offer a high level
of support when developing packages with complex navigation structures.

Time-based
Time based authoring tools are the most common of multimedia authoring tools. In these
authoring systems, elements are organized along a time line. Example: Animation Works
Interactive.
Time-based tools are authoring systems, wherein elements and events are organized along a
timeline with resolutions as high as or higher than 1/30 second. Time-based tools are best to use
when you have a message with a beginning and an end.
Time Based Authoring Programs use a movie metaphor. Like a movie on videotape, you start the
multimedia title and it until some action causes it to pause or stop. These programs also allow for
branching to different parts of the movie, and any amount of user control and interactivity may
be built in. Time Based Authoring Programs are good for creating animations.
Flash is a time-based development environment. Flash, however, is also particularly focused on
delivery of rich multimedia content to the Web. With the Flash Player plug-in installed in more
than 95 percent of the world’s browsers, Flash delivers far more than simple static HTML pages.

Choosing an Authoring Tool

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Authoring and User Interface Design
Important to select an authoring tool that best suits project needs. There are a number of factors
that will narrow the range of choice:
 the hardware available for development and delivery
 the nature of the multimedia project
 Budget and price
 The market penetration of the tool.
 Desired features
 Development timeline and Developer’s expertise
Multimedia authoring selection Features
Feature Description
Editing The elements of multimedia need to be created, edited and converted to standard
file formats and the specialized applications provide these capabilities.
Organizing The organization, design and production process for multimedia involves
storyboarding and flowcharting.
Programming The more commands and functions provided in the scripting language, the more
powerful the authoring system.
Interactivity Interactivity empowers the end users of your project by letting them control the
content and flow of information.
Performance Complex multimedia projects require extra synchronization of events.
Tuning
Playback Your authoring system should let you build a segment or part of your project and
then quickly test it as if the user were actually using it.
Delivery If you are going to distribute your project widely, you should distribute it in the
run-time version.
Cross- look for tools that provide a compatible authoring system
Platform
Internet Support of web delivery with special plug-in or embedding Java, JavaScript or
Playability other code structures in the HTML document.

3.3. User Interface Design

The user interface is the system which helps users communicates with the computer
system and/or the application system.
Types of User Interfaces
There are several types of user interfaces:
 Natural-language interfaces, Question-and-answer interfaces
 A menu interface

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Authoring and User Interface Design
 Form-fill interfaces
 Command-language interfaces and Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)
UI design is an iterative process involving close liaisons between users and designers. The 3
core activities in this process are:
User analysis. Understand what the users will do with the system;
System prototyping. Develop a series of prototypes for experiment;
Interface evaluation. Experiment with these prototypes with users.
Multimedia User Interface
Navigational structures: A few basic structures for multimedia projects will cover most cases:
linear navigation, hierarchical navigation, nonlinear navigation, and composite navigation.
Linear: Users navigate sequentially, from one frame or bite of information to another. Linear
structure is a Sequential navigation (sequence of step by step procedures). They usually go
Forward or Backward. E.g. slides and video presentation
Hierarchical: Hierarchical also called ―linear with branching,‖ since users navigate along the
branches of a tree structure that is shaped by the natural logic of the content. Structured
through menus and the user makes a choice that leads to another menu.
Nonlinear: Users navigate freely through the content of the project, unbound by predetermined
routes. E.g. website
Composite: Users may navigate freely (nonlinearly) but are occasionally constrained to linear
presentations of movies or critical information and/or to data that is most logically organized in a
hierarchy.

Figure 3-1: basic structures for multimedia projects


Storyboard: Storyboarding is literally building a story or sample page on paper that describes

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Authoring and User Interface Design
roughly the layout. This is a process lifted from other media development including movie
making, cartoon animation and marketing. A visual representation of the different frames, or
screens that will be included in your production. The storyboard page is used to describe specific
frame of time within a multimedia presentation. It can contain the formatting, layout of the
content, layout of the navigational controls, interactivity information and useful comments.
Sample page is drawn on paper to describe the rough layout Used to describe specific frame
within a project.

Figure 3-2: Storyboarding Example


Multimedia User interface Components
Hot Spots, Hyperlinks, and Buttons
Most multimedia authoring systems allow you to make any part of the screen, or any object, into
a hot spot. When users hover over or click a hot spot at that location, something happens, which
makes multimedia not just interactive, but also exciting. Hot spots can be given more specific
names based upon either their function or form. For example, if clicking the hot spot connects
the user to another part of the document or program or to a different program or web site, it is
referred to as a link or hyperlink.
If the hot spot is a graphic image designed to look like a push button or toggle switch, it is called
a button, more formally defied as a meaningful graphic image that you click or ―touch‖ to make
something happen. Hot spots can be text or graphic images. Most authoring systems provide a
tool for creating text buttons of various styles (radio buttons, check boxes, or labeled push
buttons, for example), as well as graphic buttons.
Buttons - A graphic image that is a hotspot is called a button.
Icons: Icons are graphic objects designed specifically to be meaningful as buttons and are
usually small (although size is, in theory, not a determining factor). Icons are fundamental
graphic objects symbolic of an activity or concept: Your navigation design must provide buttons
that make sense, so their actions will be intuitively understood by means of their icon or graphic
representation, or via text cues. Icons are fundamental graphic objects symbolic of an activity or

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Authoring and User Interface Design
concept. For example the small house symbols on the button at the top of the browser stand for
home page. Various types of icons such as home page symbol are used for interactive devices in
multimedia and web.

Figure 3-3: Microsoft Office ICONS

3.4. User Interface design and guidelines


The user interface of your multimedia product is a blend of its graphic elements and its
navigation system. If your messages and content are disorganized and difficult to find, or if users
become disoriented or bored, your project may fail. Poor graphics can cause boredom. Poor
navigational aids can make viewers feel lost and unconnected to the content; or, worse, viewers
may sail right of the edge and just give up and quit the program.
User Interface Design Considerations
According [1] There are three factors that should be considered for the design of a successful
user interface; development factors, visibility factors and acceptance factors. Development
factors help by improving visual communication. These include: platform constraints, tool kits
and component libraries, support for rapid prototyping, and customizability. Visibility factors
take into account human factors and express a strong visual identity. These include: human
abilities, product identity, clear conceptual model, and multiple representations. Included as
acceptance factors are an installed base, corporate politics, international markets, and
documentation and training.
Visible language refers to all of the graphical techniques used to communicate the message or
context. These include:
Layout: formats, proportions, and grids; 2-D and 3-D
Organization Typography: selection of typefaces and typesetting, including variable
width and fixed width
Color and Texture: color, texture and light that convey complex information and
pictorial reality
Imagery: signs, icons and symbols, from the photographically real to the abstract
Animation: a dynamic or kinetic display; very important for video-related imagery

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Authoring and User Interface Design
Sequencing: the overall approach to visual storytelling
Sound: abstract, vocal, concrete, or musical cues
Visual identity: the additional, unique rules that lend overall consistency to a user
interface. The overall decisions as to how the corporation or the product line expresses
itself in visible language.
According Suzanne Martin Principles of User Interface Design There are three fundamental
principles involved in the use of the visible language.
Organize: provide the user with a clear and consistent conceptual structure
Economize: do the most with the least amount of cues Communicate: match the presentation to
the capabilities of the user.
Organize: Consistency, screen layout, relationships and navigability are important concepts of
organization.

Figure 3-4: Organization Example


Consistency: There are four views of consistency: internal consistency, external consistency,
real-world consistency, and when not to be consistent. Real-world consistency means
conventions should be made consistent with real-world experiences, observations and
perceptions of the user.

Figure 3-5: Real-World Consistency


Economize
Four major points to be considered: simplicity, clarity, distinctiveness, and emphasis.
Simplicity: Simplicity includes only the elements that are most important for communication. It
should also be as unobtrusive as possible
Clarity: All components should be designed so their meaning is not ambiguous

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Authoring and User Interface Design
Figure 3-6: Ambiguous and Clear Icons
Distinctiveness: The important properties of the necessary elements should be distinguishable.
Emphasis: The most important elements should be easily perceived. Non-critical elements should
be de-emphasized and clutter should be minimized so as not to hide critical information.
Communicate
The GUI must keep in balance legibility, readability, typography, symbolism, multiple views,
and color or texture in order to communicate successfully.
User Interface Design Major Principles

Figure 3-7: User Interface Design Principles


User Guidance
The user guidance system is integrated with the user interface to help users when they need
information about the system or when they make some kind of error. Includes
 System messages, including error messages
 Documentation provided for users
 On-line help
Help system use
 Multiple entry points should be provided and user should be able to get help from
different places
 The help system should indicate where the user is positioned

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Authoring and User Interface Design
 Navigation and traversal facilities must be provided

Error Message Guidelines


 Speak the user’s language
 Give constructive advice for recovering from the error
 Indicate negative consequences of the error (e.g., possibly corrupted files)
 Give an audible or visual cue
 Don’t make the user feel guilty!

User interface evaluation


 Some evaluation of a user interface design should be carried out to assess its usability.
 Full scale evaluation is very expensive and impractical for most systems.
 Ideally, an interface should be evaluated against a usability specification. However, it is
rare for such specifications to be produced.
Simple evaluation techniques
 Questionnaires for user feedback.
 Video recording of system use and subsequent tape evaluation.
 Instrumentation of code to collect information about facility use and user errors.
 The provision of code in the software to collect on-line user feedback
User documentation
As well as on-line information, paper documentation should be supplied with a system
Documentation should be designed for a range of users from inexperienced to experienced As
well as manuals, other easy-to-use documentation such as a quick reference card may be
provided.
Document types
 Functional description: Brief description of what the system can do
 Introductory manual: Presents an informal introduction to the system
 System reference manual: Describes all system facilities in detail
 System installation manual: Describes how to install the system
 System administrator’s manual: Describes how to manage the system when it is in use.
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Authoring and User Interface Design
User interface Usability Attributes

Attribute Description

Learnability How long does it take a new user to become productive with the system?

Speed of How well does the system response match the user’s work practice?
operation

Robustness How tolerant is the system of user error?

Recoverability How good is the system at recovering from user errors?

Adaptability How closely is the system tied to a single model of work?

Activity:
 Differentiate between GUI and CLI.
Discuss the different types of user interface
Prepare a usability testing for one website using lieckert Scale. E.g. Mekelle University
Website
Discuss the main points in Ethiopian governmental website development guideline and
standard developed by Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT)
see in [2]
Reading Material
[1] Suzanne Martin. (https://www.cs.wpi.edu) Effective Visual Communication for Graphical
User Interfaces.
[2] "Web Site Standards and Guidelines," Ethiopian Information and Communication
Technology, Guideline 2007.
[3] TUFAIL A. SHAIKH, "USE OF MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY IN LIBRARIES," , 2011,
pp. 1-9.
[4] Tay Vaughan, Multimedia:Making It Work, 8th ed.: McGraw-Hill, 2011.
[5] Rajneesh Agrawal, MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS. New Delhi: EXCEL BOOKS PRIVATE
LIMITED, 2013.
[6] Ze-Nian Li and Mark S. Drew, Fundemetals of Multimedia.: Pearsoll Education, Inc., 2004.
[7] Ian Sommerville, "Software Engineering," in Software Engineering, 6th, Ed., 2000, ch. 15.

COMPILED BY TEKLEWEYNI GEDAY DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SCIENCE | Multimedia 37


Authoring and User Interface Design

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