Know anything about the Middle East and who has ruled the area over the last 3500+ years? Almost everyone is the answer... No wonder it's such a hotbed. Here's a quick history lesson: http://www.mapsofwar. com/
Good Web Design
If you're at all interested in website design and what the best sites look like, take a look at the Top 40 of Designs: http://designcharts.com/
Collecting (methods of digitising: digital cameras,scanners, video cameras, microphones, downloading from web)
Organising (script and storyboard: linear layout, hierarchical layout, non-linear layout and combination layout)
Processing (Integration of Data {importing collected data into applications and presentations}, Compression and Decompression {compression of sound Mp3, of images into jpeg or GIF format, video formats such as MPEG {1,2,3,4}, hypermedia {linking of data through use of hypertext, web format, HTML} )
A multimedia system is a system which combines different types of media such as text, web pages, hyperlinks, audio, video and graphics. The use of multimedia gives the user a more full experience than a single media such as text. The result of a multimedia system will include some kind of multimedia presentation.
Multimedia systems are information systems that combine a variety of different media types, including text, hypertext, audio, images and video. Professional multimedia systems, especially at the time of creation, involve many participants with a wide breadth of experience.
The creation of multimedia systems encompasses each of the information processes.
Multimedia primarily focus' on the information process of displaying, however, it also investigates a number of the other elements involved, including processing, organising, storing and retrieving and collecting.
By the end of this unit, and after successfully completing all of the exercises a student should be able to:
H1.1 applies and explains an understanding of the nature and function of information technologies to a specific practical situation
H1.2 explains and justifies the way in which information systems relate to information processes in a specific context
H2.1 analyses and describes a system in terms of the information processes involved
H2.2 develops and explains solutions for an identified need which address all of the information processes
H3.1 evaluates and discusses the effect of information systems on the individual, society and the environment
H3.2 demonstrates and explains ethical practice in the use of information systems, technologies and processes
H4.1 proposes and justifies ways in which information systems will meet emerging needs
H5.1 justifies the selection and use of appropriate resources and tools to effectively develop and manage projects
H5.2 assesses the ethical implications of selecting and using specific resources and tools, recommends and justifies the choices
H6.1 analyses situations, identifies needs, proposes and then develops solutions
H6.2 selects, justifies and applies methodical approaches to planning, designing or implementing solutions
H7.1 implements and explains effective management techniques
H7.2 uses methods to thoroughly document the development of individual and team projects.
Outcomes as per HSC IPT Syllabus June 2009 for 2010 exam(Option strand Multimedia (p 52)
Use the HSC IPT Syllabus and draw a mindmap of the topic. Note any new terms.
Think of ways that you use multimedia everyday. Make a list. Would that list have included all the same things 5 years ago, 10 years ago? How do you think the list will change in the next year, 3 years, 5 years? Do you think the rate at which new multimedia technologies are being introduced is accelerating? Justify your response.
multimedia, consists of information presented in various forms, including text, numerical, audio and so the creation of this material occurs in an integrated environment. using, items from different sources, such as sound and video. It will often include some kind of hypermedia. The hypermedia may contain clickable links or may be disguised as a menu such as at the start of a DVD.
As the information is presented in various formats, multimedia enhances user experience and makes it easier and faster to grasp information. Presenting information in various formats is nothing new, but multimedia generally implies presenting information in various digital formats. It is also used in visual arts to describe works created using more than one medium.
Multimedia finds its application in various areas including, but not limited to, art, education, entertainment, engineering, medicine, mathematics, and scientific research. In education, multimedia is used to produce computer-based training courses (popularly called CBTs) and reference books like encyclopedias and almanacs. A CBT lets the user go through a series of presentations, text about a particular topic, and associated illustrations in various information formats."
~ From Wikipedia~
Activity 2
In your own words write a brief definition for multimedia.
Multimedia by its nature cannot be in printed form. Why is this? Does this mean that you cannot print a multimedia page?
Describe a minimal multimedia system and justify your points.
What are 3 different careers for people who work in multimedia?
Text refers to any typed material. Text includes numbers and characters whose meaning must be read to gain meaning. It may be typed in through a word processor but is also often typed into the multimedia software.
Numbers: Numerals which allow calculations. Includes currency
Hypertext is a term created by Ted Nelson to describe non-linear writing in which you follow linked paths through a world of textual documents. The most common use of hypertext is found in the links on World Wide Web pages. (See HTML, URL)
Audio: sound which has been digitised.
Images (Graphics)
Images are pictures, graphic elemts which are displayed on the screen. They maybe of two type:
Bit-mapped graphics (also known as raster images) A bit-mapped image is one composed of pixels. This means that there is a relationship betwen the graphic on the screen and the bits in memory. Bit-mapped images can also be called raster images and would normally be composed in a paint program.
Bitmap images come from paint style programs and are the format used for digital photos. Bitmap images can be very large but can be compressed down to a small file size. Bitmaps pixelate when they are enlarged. Pixelation refers to that block and grainy look that photos and images get when they are enlarged to much. Jpegs are one example of raster images.
Below is a high resolution image of coral in Fiji.
If we zoom in the coral begins to pixelate.
If we continue to zoom we can actually begin to see the pixels which compose the image.
The images below show the pixels that create an X shape. The one on the right has a higher resolution that the one on the left. How can we be sure of this?
Vector graphics: which are made of objects such as straight lines, curves or shapes. It is created through a mathematical formula.
Animation: animation begins with a still images which is then given the illusion of movement is the movement of a graphic. It is the result of making a sequence of drawing called frames and showing them rapidly one after another. Animation maybe cel (also called cell) based or path based. (See cel-based animation, path-based animation, also see animation processing)
videoCombines pictures and sound displayed over time. It is important to know that here are differences between an animation and a video. An animation begins with a still images which is then given the illusion of movement but a video records a continuous event such as a rock concert where movement and sound are of course a natural part of life; and very much so at a rock concert where a person's eardrums may be moving as much as anyone on stage.
images have proven a very powerful means of communicating messages, and can evoke a strong response from the user or viewer. However, video, like sound, is very processor and memory hungry. It also requires special hardware and software to enable it to be recorded and, to a lesser extent, played back.
Piped/ streamed video is an effective method of displaying video footage on a computer screen. It involves a suitable video card to receive and translate the video data into a form that can be displayed on the screen. However, the computer has no control over the displayed signal.
Activity 3
Describe the difference between text and numbers. Can a number be text?
What is hyper text?
What is the difference between an image and animation?
What is the difference between animation and video?
What is the difference between bit maped graphics and vector graphics?
Describe the two types of animation and give examples.
Have a play with the image of the shell and try to explain how the image was made and whether it is a video or animation. If you decide it is an animation then state which type and justify your response.
What is hypertext and where would you find hypertext used?
What are 5 differences between text and multimedia?
Explain the term hyperlink.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of bit-mapped (raster) images?
Key Words differences,display mode, interactive,dynamic, data structues
There are large differences between print and multimedia and advantages and disadvantages associated with both.
THE MODE OF DISPLAY: Print media is limited to hard copy such as books, newspapers, magazines and posters while multimedia addresses a number of senses and can be used on computers, mobile phones, PC/TV combinations and a host of other diverse applications.
THE INTERACTIVER NATURE OF MULTIMEDIA: Interactivity means that the user is able to make an immediate response to what is happening and modify the processes. This means that multimedia is more than just a one way communication. Effectively, there is communication between the user and the application.
THE DYNAMIC NATURE OF MULTIMEDIA:. Once a book is published it cannot change, it is static. An interactive multimedia product can change depending on actions taken by both the author and the user. The multimedia author can easily and cheaply change the multimedia presentation whereas this is an expensive exercise for the traditional author. 'Smart' products can change the way they work based on characteristics the program 'learns' about the user.
DATA STRUCTURE: Computers give us many different ways of accessing data and multimedia systems need to be structured so the user can easily find the required data. Structures include: A hierarchical structure or it can be sorted into an order such as alphabetical.
INDEXING: We are familiar with the indexes provided in many reference books but these indexes are always very selective. An interactive multimedia product can index every occurrence of every word.
Ease of Distribution: Unlike print media which requires printing presses, ink, paper, a willing publisher, distribution networks in stores, advertising to sell, sales staff to sell the book and a whole lot of money to cover all of these costs multimedia just requires a computer, a person to create the material and a distribution media whether that be over the internet, disc or a combination. Clearly it is much simpler and cheaper to produce most multimedia then it is to produce books. However it would be simplistic to say that it is always easier. Movies such as Avatar are multimedia productions which require far more expenditure than any book and probably far more staff, but this is a particular example.
Authority of Document: Books are often granted more authority than a website. A website may have very little checking and editing by a third party whereas most books will have many people who read through the manuscripts and check sources. However this is not always the case. there have been many books published which have very doubtful facts and authority.
Activity 4
List advantages and disadvantages of print Vs multimedia
Imagine an example of a paper based textbook versus an electronci source such as this one. List the processes the author of a paper based book goes through and compare that to updating a website. What about if errors are found. How does the paper based textbbok fix errors as compared to electronic?
Describe methods used to make electronic media more interactive?
Do you personally prefer electronic or paper based? Why? Examine your reasons.
How should the authority of a book or website be checked? What criteria can be used?
Key Words multimedia,graphics card, speed, large storage, fast computer, RAM, CD drive, DVD drive, AGP, PCI, PCI Express, Firewire, USB, frame buffer, bit depth,
Multimedia technologies continue to develop, and are thus still in an evolutionary process. However below is an indication of what you would need to do some basic multimedia.
RAM: 256 meg minimum
SPEED: 1 GHz
STORAGE: Depending on the work your doing you may require anything from a 10 gb available space upwards
The above specifications are only for minimal graphics work. If video editing or heavy graphics is required than you will need to at least double the minimal RAM and speed of the processor. The amount of RAM, ROM and hard drive space that a computer can utilise is a limiting factor in its multimedia capabilities. This is due to the high storage requirements demanded by high quality images and sound files.
Graphics and multimedia require more memory than most other programs and so have special demands when it comes to storage. The current image on the screen is stored in a temporary register called the frame buffer.
Image Size
Think of the formula as a basic 3 dimensional cube. The formula basically consists of width x height x depth (bit depth). This gives the size in bits and then the rest of the formula converts it to a measurement of kilobytes.
Image File Size (As a Function of Volume)
To work out the volume of a cube you multiply height x width x depth. The file size of an image is really the volume of that image and as such the formula for image size is just the same as the volume formula.
Video Processing (Video Image Size)
Animation is a useful tool and the web would be a much more ordinary place without some kind of animations. File size is important for efficient download speeds on the web. As such it is important that file size for animations is as low as possible.
To work out file size for an animation is just an extension of the above image file size formula. The difference this time is that we need to multiply the image formula by the number of frames in the animation. While most animations are probably going to use 12 frames or more imagine a small animation as set out below.
Animation File Size = Image File Size x Number of frames
Bit Depth (Bits Per Pixel)
Number of Colours or Tones
Where do # of Colours Come From?
1
2
21=2
2
4
22=4
3
8
23=8
4
16
24=16
6
64
26=64
8
256
28=256
16
65 536
216=65 536
24
16 777 216
224= 16 777 216
32
4 294 967 296
232= 4 294 967 296
Audio Storage
The real world that we live in has an infinite variation of sounds. The real world is analog. For the sound to be used in a computer it must be digitised. To do this we need an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). This function is normally built into a sound card.
The method used to digitise sound is called sampling. When a sound file is sampled we take a slice of sound at discrete intervals. The more often this slice is recorded the better the quality. Imagine you are in an experiment and have been asked to listen to a conversation. In this experiment you can only listen for two seconds at a time before the sound is cut off. The more often the sound is turned on the more of the conversation you pick up. In fact if we were able to turn the sound back on really quickly you would miss very little of the conversation. This is the way sampling works and the number of slices taken during a period of time is called the sample rate. The higher the sample rate the better the quality of the sound being recorded. So the larger the sample rate the better the quality because more data has been retained and the larger the file size. (as clear as mud I hear you say). Lets have a look at a table with sample rates.
Sample Rate(the larger the number the more often the sound is sample in a fixed timeframe)
Quality and Use
11 KHz
low sample rate but good for speech
22 KHz
satisfactory music playback
32 KHz
broadcast quality
44 KHz
Commercial audio CD quality
48KHz
digital audio tape
(Left) The more often a sound slice is recorded during digitisation the better quality the sound will be
A multimedia system includes a huge range of products and the people involved in that range. Multimedia may include a range from web pages to Animated movies. It may include e-books or Flash animations. People involved maybe photographers using Photoshop or 3D animation artists using Lightwave or Maya. The animation may have used set designers using animatronics. However there are 4 broad categories:
Content Providers: These people produce text and technical information for others to use.
System Designers: Organise the computer system/ multimedia system used to produce the final product
Project Managers: The people who choose this line of work will ensure that each team is on task and that the overall product will be finished within a defined time period and on budget.
Technical Staff: This is the section where our animators and all those with the mulimedia technical skills fall into. Without the staff with the specific technical knowledge the product cannot even begin.
Look at the list of multimedia careers and research 3 of them in great detail. Put your research into a Powerpoint.
Present your research to the class in a 3-5 minute presentation.
Where is an institution near you which teaches careers in multimedia? What prerequisites do you need to study there? What qualifications do you come out with? What types of jobs can you get with those qualifications?
Application of multimedia: Multimedia systems may be designed for a mass audience or for a specific target audience. Major areas include: education, leisure and entertainment information. It is possible to combine a number of these areas into one application. Educational games, or edutainment software, for example, consist of programs that look like games but are designed to teach in an entertaining manner. Each of the above examples deals with the presentation of information in a variety of forms. The significant advantage of multimedia is its interactive nature, which gives control to the participant, rather than the designer.
References
Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal Design for Learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
Schwartz, J.E., & Beichner, R.J. (1999). Essentials of educational technology. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Sierra-Fernandez, J. L., & Perales-Palacios, F. J. (2003). The effect of instruction with computer simulation as a research tool on open-ended problem-solving in a Spanish classroom of 16-year-olds. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 22(2), 119-140.
Stohl, H., & Tarr, J. E. (2002). Developing notions of inference using probability simulation tools. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 21(3), 319-337.
Tierney, R. J., Kieffer, R., Whalin, K., Desai, L., Moss, A. G., Harris, J. E., et al. (1997). Assessing the impact of hypertext on learners' architecture of literacy learning spaces in different disciplines: follow-up studies. Reading Online(1096-1232). Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.readingonline.org/research/impact.
Make a list of places where you come across multimedia in your everyday life.
Describe one example in detail and explain how it has affected your life or the lives of others. Does technology like this affect our culture? Is the influence positive or negative?
The variety of presentation methods makes multimedia useful in getting new ideas across for all age groups. Multimedia removes the limitation of forcing everyone to move at the same pace by providing an interactive approach to learning with more advanced users moving ahead.Government and businesses also use interactive multimedia programs to train staff. This type of training is not constrained by time and can be programmed to meet individual needs.
the "Reader Rabbit" series is an educational multimedia program whichs provides interactive assistance in developing reading skills. Participants include school students, teachers, parents and siblings. The direct users (students) control activities as they make choices from a menu.
Data includes text, images and video combined to produce structured activities.
The information technology required is a multimedia computerr with a CD-Rom, sufficient RAM and processing speed.
Sources
Click here for "Creating instructional multimedia solutions: practical guidelines for the ... By Peter Fenrich" Excellent online resource
Electronic games, 3D adventure games, sporting games and interactive movies are extremely popular forms of multimedia applications. The key to their popularity lies in their interactive nature. The new generation of games provide ingenious levels of interactivity and realism to captivate the user of the product. The attraction of this type of application is realism, fast action and user input through peripherals such as mouse, track-pad, keyboard and joystick. Computer-based games have led to many developments in interactive computing. This type of application requires a high level of graphics computing power and hence the impetus to develop more efficient algorithms for display movement and more powerful graphics cards.
Multimedia has been successfully used to provide guidance through the use of information centres in locations such as museums, airports, shopping precincts and libraries.
An information centre or kiosk allows the user to search for specific information in his or her own language without the need to approach a stranger. Location details, product availability, arrivals and departures, opening and closing times and so on are all examples of information that can be presented in this format. Touch screens are often an integral part of an information centre because they reduce the technology literacy requirements normally associated with the use of computers.
Virtual reality is a computer-generated artificial reality that projects a person into a sensation of three dimensional space. Virtual reality is becoming more popular in arcade type games such as Atlantis. You may have even tried to tee off on a virtual golf driving range or driven a virtual reality racecar. A far more important use of virtual reality is a simulator. A simulator is a device that represents the behaviour of physical or abstract systems. Simulators are used very effectively in training applications for aeroplane pilots or bus drivers to help them deal with various real-life situations in a safe environment. The medical area has also seen increases in the' application of simulation technology. For example, surgeons can rehearse a particular operation on a 'digital' patient, and some phobias, such as a fear of crowds, can be treated. One ethical issue for implementors of virtual reality equipment is how to keep users from suffering uncomfortable effects from using virtual reality systems. Known as cyber-sickness or simulator sickness, symptoms include eyestrain, nausea and confusion and even visual or audio flashback for some users.
Activity 8
Research simulations and create a PowerPoint or audio recording on one type of simulation and describe how it is being used to train people.
Turn your presentation into a podcast for use on the web.
Key Words hard drive, CD ROM, digital versatile disc (DVD), bandwidth, plug and play, firewire, USB, broadband, convergence
Technological advances have continued to influence the development of multimedia including: accessibility, communication speeds, compression rates, CDROM, DVD and firewire technologies. Ease of access to the Internet and World Wide Web has made it very easy for large numbers of people to access multimedia systems stored as a series of linked web pages.
There are 3 main categories and 5 technologies that will be discussed here:
Multimedia is very memory hungry but with the explosion in memory storage capacity this is becoming less and less of an issue. However it is important to note that without the large increase in storage capacity multimedia would still be difficult to use.
CD-Rom, which stands for compact disk-read only memory, is an optical disk format that is used to hold prerecorded text, graphics and sound. In this type of disk the content is recorded during manufacture and then read many times by the purchaser. Initially, a CD-Rom drive was only a single speed drive, with the ability to access data at 150 kilobytes per second. Through improved technology it is now possible to purchase drives that are 40 or 60 times (40x, 60x) this speed. The faster the drive spins, the more quickly it is able to deliver information to the processor. Each CD-Rom disk can store up to 783 megabytes of information. The development of this technology effectively began the multimedia revolution due to the sudden availability of high capacity random access data storage.
DVD (digital versatile disk) is an optical disk technology that is expected to rapidly replace the CD-Rom disk (as well as the audio compact disc) over the next few years.Increased storage means increased flexibility for multimedia developers. A DVD holds 4.7 gigabyte of information on one of its two sides, or enough for a 133-minute movie. With two layers on each of its two sides, it can hold up to 17 gigabytes of video, audio, or other information. Compared to the current CD-Rom disk of the same physical size, holding 700 megabytes, this is more than 28 times as much information!
FireWire is essentially a new way to connect different pieces of equipment, such as digital videos and hard drives, so they can share information rapidly and easily. Originally created by Apple, and standardised in 1995 as the specification IEEE-1394, it is a technology that:
allows fast transfer of data (up to 400 Mbps)
allows many devices to be connected simultaneously on the bus network
is hot pluggable.
provides power through the cable
allows plug and play
has low cabling costs
has increased data transfer rates through the use of a fairly inexpensive option.
This has expanded the possible applications of multimedia into more powerful and data intensive areas
Improvement in communication speed (or bandwidth) through technologies such as cable, ADSL and satellite have made the presentation of multimedia content via the Internet a viable option increasing download speeds that used to frustrate many Internet users, particularly for pages that incorporate graphics, sound and video. Compression and animation technologies such as MP3, QuickTime, Flash, Shockwave, Java and JavaScript enhance the interactive nature of the World Wide Web.
Activity 9
Make a list of new multimedia advances in technology and research one of them in more detail. Name and describe the advance. When was the advance developed? Why was it developed and what impact will this advance have on multimedia systems?
Describe hard drive storage options. Place this information in a table.
How much memory does a movie file take?
Why do we need larger storage options for a multimedia system?
What are current bandwidth speeds? What is a slow bandwidth and cost? What is a medium priced bandwidth (speed and cost)? What is maximum bandwidth speed which might be hoped for and price? Put this information in a table.
It is important when designing multimedia that all elements be in harmony and that images and graphics be optimized for fast and efficient use of bandwidth.
There are 3 aspects to optimization:
the basic coding of the page,
scripts that are used on the page,
and images. (large can have the most significant impact on load times)
Image Types
There are many image formats in use on web sites but the three most common are GIF, JPEG, and Flash content. Our focus is on GIF and JPEG.
The gif format only uses 8-bit colour (256 colours) but it is a 'lossless' format and so detail is not reduced. Gif images are the best way to render artwork such as line drawings, charts and maps, particularly if the number of colours can be reduced. However GIFs will give a larger file size if the picture has too many colours. For an image with a large number of colours a jpeg is preferrable.
Jpeg images use 24-bit colour (16,777,216 colours) but the compression algorithm is lossy. This means that resolution on a computer screen is lost on compression , this may not be noticeable but a hardcopy image would show the degradation. Jpeg images are used for photographs (screen but not good printed). A reasonable quality photo in jpeg is commonly around 20-30 Kb where the equivalent in gif could be 100-300 Kb. With jpeg files the quality required is set when the image is saved
Each image format has strengths and weaknesses. GIF or Graphics Interchange Format was developed by CompuServe before the Internet days as a way to share images on the CompuServe bulletin boards. Due to limitations with screen resolutions and color depths at the time, GIF images were only able to show 256 colors, more colors were imitated by Dithering, a process of tricking the eye into seeing one color by using 2 or more sets of color dots spaced closely together.
A chessboard with black and white squares becomes a grey blob when viewed from a distance even though close up we can see each black or white square. This is the concept behind dithering.Our eyes merge the black and white squeares together. On a computer screen these black and white squares would be called pixels awhile the number of black and white suares would be called the resolution. The more squares the better the definition of the image. Unfortunately if there are too many colours to be dithered the file size becomes very large.
The JPEG file format is newer and can handle up to 16 millïon colors. The initial problem is that JPEG images do contain many more colors, and each color requires coding for display, possibly making larger file sizes. The compressionb rate of a JPEG is easily changed at the time it is saved. It is possible to get a good balance between resolution and compression rate. Lower compression rates will still give a quality print. As the compression rate increases the image on the screen will not seem to vary much but the print quality will degrade quickly as the compression rate is increased.
Improving Load Times
The main way to make an image load faster is to make the file size smaller. This can be accomplished by either:
making the dimensions of the image smaller, or
decrease the amount of coding that is required to display the image.
The easiest way to reduce an image's file size is to reduce the image's physical dimensions. Make the picture smaller. The smaller the image, the smaller the file size. If we reduce the image size by one half to 40 pixels by 40 pixels we then have 40x40 or 1600 pixels. So reducing the image size in half reduces the file size to one fourth of the original.
The First Principle of Image File Size Reduction: Use the smallest image dimensions that will work with your layout. And likewise the fewer images on the page, the fewer image pixels, therefore the smaller the page size.
GIF and JPEG image formats use different methods of saving image information and so tend to be better at showing some types of images and worse at showing others.
GIF images, since they are limited to 256 colors per image, are better at displaying images with large solid blocks of color and images with very small physical dimensions. The images look flatter and don't have the depth of colour of a JPEG. The GIF format will produce smaller file sizes than JPEG for these types of images.
JPEG images are better at showing gradients or subtle changes from one color to another. Therefore JPEGs reproduce photographs very well, or any other image with gradations. This means that the JPEG format will produce smaller file sizes for photo style images than the GIF format will.
Second Principle of Image File Size Reduction: Choose the correct image format for the type of image you are using. Most web pages will contain a combination of GIF and JPEG images.
Decreasing the coding is called image compression. Both GIF and JPEG images can be compressed but the process is different. In GIF images we try to limit the number of colors, in a JPEG image we use software algorithms to remove redundant information from the file.
Whenever we compress a file we will losë some image quality. We have to reach a balance between a small file size and acceptable image quality.
Third Principle of Image File Size Reduction: Find the least acceptable level of image quality. Most images can handle some compression with very little quality loss, and all images can stand more image quality loss and still be acceptable. You need to be able to decide how much decline in image quality is acceptable, but remember the lower the quality the fast the image load.
GIF images can usually be reduced from 256 colors to 128 colors or less, the fewer colors used the smaller the file size. JPEG images can almost always be reduced to a quality setting of 80% and frequently can be reduced down to as little as 15-30%. So when you use a higher compression level (smaller number) the file size will be reduced. Try smaller and smaller settings until you find the smallest setting that still displays an acceptable quality.
The fastest loading page will have no images and the slowest loading page will be completely filled with high resolution images.
Calculating Image Size
<><><><><><><>
Calculating image size is different to calculating tones. Lets continue with the example from the tones page. If the 640 x 400 image was changed to an image with 16 (2^4) tones then each pixel would require 4 bits. Thus the image would require 1,024,000 (640 x 400 x 4) bits to be stored. This translates to 500 (4,096,000 / 8 =1024 Kb of memory space.
Activity 10
Explain why time spent on design is money well spent.
Why is load time important for web masters?
What is image optimization and why is important for web sites?
What are the 3 types of optimization?
Explain the 3 principles of optimization.
Why is it important for web masters to find the "least acceptable level of image quality"? Why not just go for the best quality?
What is the difference between hardware and software?
When the syllabus speaks about a system what is it referring to?
How has internet changed within the last couple of years? What is the impact of internet on multimedia and what is the impact of the changes over the last couple of years?
Display devices, also called screens, monitors or CRTs, are output devices
Display screens are of two types:
Cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) produce an image by firing a beam of electrons onto the inside of a phosphorous coated glass screen.
Flat panel displays are made up of two plates of glass with a substance in between them that can be activated in different ways. Flat panel displays are distinguishable by either the substance between the plates (liquid crystal, electroluminescent material or gas plasma) or the arrangement of the transistors in the screen that control each pixel.
A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a specialised vacuum tube in which images are produced when an electron beam strikes a phosphorescent surface. The CRT is similar to the 'picture tube' in a television receiver.
The phosphorous glows briefly when hit by the electron beam and must be re-excited to maintain the image. To do this, the electron beam starts in the top left-hand corner and moves left to right and top to bottom in a zigzag pattern called a raster scan.
The time to complete a raster scan is called the screen refresh rate, and ranges from 60-100 times per second. The faster the scan moves, the fewer flickers that are produced.
In computer systems, there are several display modes (CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA and XVGA), or sets of specifications. The most common is known as SVGA (Super Video Graphics Array).
A touch screen is sensitive to human touch. Used at information kiosks, computer based training, and by those having difficulty manipulating a mouse or keyboard. Phones with a "capacitive" touch screen are more responsive than those with a "resistive" display. Three types are: resistive, surface wave and capacitive.
Resistive. coated with thin, metallic, electrically conductive and resistive layer. When touched a change in electrical current is registered as a touch event and sent to controller for processing.
Surface wave. uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the screen. When touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. This change in the ultrasonic waves registers the position of the touch event and is sent to controller for processing.
Capacitive. coated with material that stores electrical charges. When touched, a small charge is drawn to point of contact. Circuits located at each corner of panel measure charge and send the information to the controller for processing. Capacitive touch screens must be touched with a finger.
An LCD screen is an electro-optical device commonly used in digital watches, calculators, and portable computers.
The LCD is a liquid crystal placed between a pair of transparent electrodes. Liquid crystal changes the phase of the light passing through it and can be controlled by voltage applied between electrodes. When placed between a pair of plane polariser plates then light can pass through only if the correct voltage is applied.
LCDs are formed by integrating a number of such cells or by using a single liquid crystal plate and a pattern of electrodes. Electrodes in computer screens are in rows and columns. By applying voltage to a row and several columns the pixels at intersections are set.
Putting a transistor, on top of each pixel, can slow fading. It will also 'remember' the setting of that pixel. These active matrix displays are as good as CRTs but much more expensive than passive matrix displays.
A data projector is a device that allows the projection of video and graphic images onto a screen. Typically, projected images were best viewed in reduced light but the newer models are much brighter (1,000 lumens or more) and this has become unnecessary.
Three main types of technology are used to project images:
Three guns. Separate guns for each of the red, blue and green colours are used to project light onto a screen. Although they produce the most light output they are also the most expensive
Digital light projector (DLP) technology uses a tiny multi-faceted semiconductor mirror chip to reflect light from a light source. The chip controls tiny semiconductor-based mirrors to produce an image that is sharper than the traditional LCD version.
LCD-based projectors perform in a similar way to LCD screens where the light source is passed through an LCD before being projected onto a screen.
Audio output is relatively straightforward - you just connect speakers or headphones to the sound card of the computer.
Sound output devices are designed to convert binary data into information by producing digitised sound..
To do this you need the necessary software driver and sound card and a digital audio circuit board such as a Sound Blaster.
Sound cards generally plug into an expansion slot on the motherboard or come integrated with the mother-board on newer machines.
Speakers provide the easiest and cheapest output device though it is often the quality of the sound file rather than the speakers that contribute most to the quality of the sound
MIDI, or musical instrument digital interface, is used to input or output analog musical information from electronic musical instruments (known as synthesisers) in digital format ready for use by a computer. The information transmitted contains the note identification, time of play and the loudness, rather than the actual note itself. Midi files are very small compared to wav files.
Describe the basic display systems used in multimedia
Describe different types of screens and explain how they work.
What other options exist as display systems other than screens.
Describe the hardware requirements for a multimedia system. (How much RAM? What size hard drive? What sound options? What type of screen?, How does the CPU affect graphics?)
Can a midi file have voices and other sounds. Explain your answer.
There is a range of software used for creating a multimedia product. You should know about the range of software available, their uses and some examples. Again you need to be able to refer back to the scenario in regards to the desireability for the use of a particular product to solve a particular problem by explain both advantages and disadvantages with reference to the given scenario. By the end of the unit learners should:
know about the range of software available for multimedia including presentation software, application software, authoring software, animation software, web browsers and HTML editors
understand presentation software and how presentation software will often create several different types of documentation and the functions of presentation software.
Understand how various applications are used in preparing a multimedia product.
understand what authoring software is, its functions and a little about how it is used.
know about animation software and be able to describe the different functions of an animation program
Know what a web browser is and be able to name at least 2 main examples
be able to describe what a html editor is and describe its functions and purpose.
Computer-generated presentations are quickly replacing the more traditional paper and slide-based approach. Presentation software uses graphics and data/ information from other software tools to communicate and make presentations of data to others. Modern presentation software packages provide facilities to create presentations that may be viewed using:a standard monitor, a data projector for a large group, hard copies of slides and transparencies hard copies of paper handouts. This type of software, including packages such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Claris AppleWorks, can incorporate text, numbers, images, audio, animation and video, and allow relatively fast generation of a series of linked screens.
Presentation software creates several different types of documentation to help the presenter. These include:
ON SCREEN PRESENTATIONS: These are a series of slides which take the place of slide projectors as well as overhead projectors. They can be displayed on a monitor or projected onto a screen by way of a data projector. The timing of the slides can be either manual from the click of a mouse or other peripheral or automatically timed.
OVERHEAD TRANSPARENCIES: The slides can be printed out onto overhead transparencies if required.
Application software is a computer program used for a specific task. Programs such as Microsoft Word, used to produce word processed documents, and Adobe Photoshop, used to generate complicated graphical images, can be used to generate content that can be incorporated into a multimedia project. A wide variety of specific software is available to generate and edit the various parts of a multimedia project such as video, sound grabs, images and animationt. Some word processing software (WORD) even allows the direct importation of video or sound.
Sources of Multimedia Application Software (downloadable or Online)
Multimedia authoring packages are designed to be relatively quick to use. These types of multimedia tools are called rapid application development tools or RAD tools. Authoring software allows the user to sequence and time the occurrence of events, determining which graphics, sound, text and video files are to be utilised at any given point in the final product. The software also allows the creator to determine the level of user interaction. Examples of this type of software include Macromedia Authorware, Macromedia Director, and Action! for Macintosh and Windows. Authoring software is going to play an ever increasing role in education and training as employers and politicians increasingly look for low cost and more flexible solutions to their training needs.
There are many programs designed to create animations and to ease the burden of drawing the hundreds of cels or frames required for even a simple animation. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses but the majority provide the tools to produce an animation using one of the different animation techniques, including the traditional frame-by-frame, path-based, morphing or warping. Examples of animation software are Flash, director, image soft, 3D Max, Amorphium. There are countless others. However simple animations can be made simply and easily by using a GIF animator.
Web browsers are used to look for information on the net while editors are used to create web pages. There are many web browsers but the most common two are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Editors are used to create web pages and they range from text based such as Note pad and BBedit to WYSIWYG systems such as Dreamweaver and Frontpage. Pages on the WWW are written primarily in html (Hypertext Mark-up Language). Html files are plain text files and describe text formatting and are not a programming language as such, All html documents have the same structure with different codes, as the designer requires. Software that is WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get - implies that the contents of the screen are the same as the final printer or browser versions.
Collecting (methods of digitising: digital cameras,scanners, video cameras, microphones, downloading from web)
Organising (script and storyboard: linear layout, hierarchical layout, non-linear layout and combination layout)
Processing (Integration of Data {importing collected data into applications and presentations}, Compression and Decompression {compression of sound Mp3, of images into jpeg or GIF format, video formats such as MPEG {1,2,3,4}, hypermedia {linking of data through use of hypertext, web format, HTML} )
All information processes are required for multimedia systems including collecting, organising, processing, and storing and retrieving and it is important that you understand their roles as well as being able to give examples. Don't forget to always refer back to the given scenario.
Understand the range or tasks and methods of collecting information for a multimedia system
Understand how information is organised in a multimedia system including storyboards and scripts
Understand the different kinds of storyboards (linear, hierarchical, non-linear and combination layout) and be able to use and explain them
Understand the different kinds of Processing which occurs in a multimedia system integration of data, compression and decompression of data (including CODECs and examples of such as MPEG 1, MPEG2, MPEG3 and MPEG 4) and hypermedia
Understand the storing and retrieving of data in a multimedia system including compression techniques, file formats (ASCII, RTF, HTML, BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIF, PICT, EPS, WMF, CGM, WAV, RealAudio, AIFF, MIDI, MPEG, Quicktime and animated GIFs)
It is important that you understand the roles all information processes play as well as being able to give examples. Remember to make your examples specific to the scenario as far as possible. Also provide all the information that you can. Treat the person marking your exam as a person who knows nothing and provide them with all the information that you can.
Collecting information for a multimedia project generally requires the digitisation of data presented in another form. and will include a range of activities including: writing the notes, digitising audio and video, editing and generally gathering information.
Audio, video and images are often represented in an analog format. To be used in a multimedia presentation they must first be converted to digital. An ADC or analog to digital converter is the tool used in this process.
For use in a computer, data needs to be converted into binary numbers. This has been achieved for letters, numbers and other characters by the development of a number of coding methods. One common coding system is known as ASCII, which stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII is a 7-bit code that represents 128 letters, numbers and punctuation symbols as a 7-bit binary number. The eighth bit in the byte is used as an error checking parity bit. For example, the letter 'e' is converted to the binary number 1100101 using the ASCII code, which can be stored by the computer.Other coding systems exist which also translate characters into the digital equivalent. EBCDIC, or Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code is used by IBM mainframes. This system uses an 8-bit code, and allows 256 different symbols.
Digitisation of graphics refers to the process of putting images into a format that computers can read and store.
Bit mapping, or memory mapping, is the relation-ship between the image on screen and the bits stored in primary and/or secondary memory. One or more bits must be stored for each pixel (picture element) drawn in an image.
Each dot on the screen is known as a picture element or pixel.
The more pixels that can be displayed by a screen, the better the image quality or resolution.
At the simplest level, 1 pixel is represented by 1 bit, where 1 means on, or black, and 0 means off, or white. For example, a black and white graphic 640 by 400 would contain 256,000 (640 x 400) pixels, and would require 256,000 bits to be stored in memory. That is, 32,000 (256,000 = 8) bytes of memory or 32.25 (32,000 =1,024) Kb.
Resolution is normally quoted in terms of the number of horizontal pixels times the number of vertical pixels, for example, 800 times 600.
Tones (colours or greyscale) are a progressive series of shades from white to black, and are used in graphics to add contrast and detail. Such an image however, requires more memory because each pixel must be described by an increased number of bits. For example, 2 bits of memory per pixel (00, 01, 10, 11) would produce 4 (2z) tonal colours, 3 bits per pixel would allow 8 (23) tones (000, 001, 010, 011,100, 101, 110, 111) and so on.
Calculating image size is different to calculating tones.
Lets continue with the example from the tones page. If the 640 x 400 image was changed to an image with 16 (2^4) tones then each pixel would require 4 bits. Thus the image would require 1,024,000 (640 x 400 x 4) bits to be stored. This translates to 500 (4,096,000 / 8 =1024 Kb of memory space.
The term bit depth refers to the number of bits that describe each pixel in the image. A 16-bit image would produce 65,536 (216) different colours or tones. It is obvious that the more detailed the image, in colour and tonality, the more memory would be required for its storage.
Sound and other analog data is generally represented as a transverse wave, and can be converted to digital form by a process called sampling. The two important aspects of sampling are sampling size and sampling rate
Sampling size refers to the number of bits used to store each sample from the analog wave. For example, an 8-bit sample can represent 256 (28 = 256) possible levels in a particular sample.
A higher sample size will result in increased accuracy, but higher data storage requirements.
Sampling rate refers to the number of samples or slices taken of the analog wave in 1 second. The higher the sampling size, the better the representation of the initial analog signal. Have a look at the image below:
(image from 2005 NSW IPT HSC Exam)
If CD audio quality is required then a sampling rate of 44.1 KHz (44,100 samples per second) is chosen.
sampling rate of 44.1 KHz (44,100 samples per second) is chosen. For example, to calculate the storage requirements of 2 minutes of CD quality mono sound: CD audio uses 44.1 KHz sampling with 16-bit sample size.
Storage per sample = 16 bits Storage per second = 16 x 44,100 bits storage per min = 16 x 44,100 x 60 bits Storage (2 minutes) =16 x 44,100 x 120 Storage (1 minutes) = 84,672 000 bits Total storage = 10,584,000 bytes thus Total storage =10.09 Mb
Note: stereo sound would double the requirements for storage.
Capturing full motion video requires a video capture card to digitise the signal (unless using a digital video recorder, in which case it is already digitised) before storing on disk for later editing.
The standard PAL (phase alternate line) video signal used in Australia displays a frame rate of 25 frames per second. One frame of medium resolution and 16-bit colour requires approximately 1 Mb of storage space per frame. This translates to 25 Mb per second of video, or a staggering 1,500 Mb per minute.
Current personal computers cannot sustain a transfer rate between secondary and primary storage of 1,500 Mb per minute, so a number of solutions are applied including:
Compression of video data during recording using a codec.
Decreased colour depth to fewer colours or even black and white shades requires significantly less memory.
Decreased resolution reduces number of pixels to describe in each frame.
Key Words multimedia,storyboards, HTML, linear,non-linear, composite, Hierarchical
A storyboard is an illustrated scene-by-scene layout of the multimedia presentation. It generally includes text notes and sketches of the most important parts of the presentation.
The components of any multimedia production, be they text, hypertext, sound, video or graphics, have to be combined in such a way that the result is a blended product in which each element supports all others. Different types of storyboards, as listed below, help achieve this:
Linear - sequential movement through project.
Hierarchical - top down approach which pro-vides users with multiple choices at each stage of the project.
Non-linear - the user can choose the path of navigation through the project without significant restriction. There is no particular structure inherent in the design.
Composite - aspects of each of the previous three types are incorporated.
Processing involves the modification of data in some way that makes it more useable. Processing in a multimedia system will include editing and compression. Some examples of processing include:
multimedia, consists of information presented in various forms, including text, numerical, audio and so the creation of this material occurs in an integrated environment. using, items from different sources, such as sound and video.
The integration of a range of forms of information leads to increased storage requirements. For example, a two hour movie contains so much sound and visual information that if stored without modification on a standard CD-Rom it would require over 300 disk changes during a single showing.
The solution to the storage dilemma comes from a mathematical process called compression. Compression is a method of removing redundant or repetitive elements from a file so that the file requires less storage space and thus less time to transmit. The algorithm that defines the process of compression and decompression is called a codec.
A concept that is often utilised in multimedia is called hypermedia. Hypermedia refers to the linking of data types. For example, clicking on a particular section of the screen may cause additional text to be displayed, or the user to 'jump' to a different section of the program. The term 'hyper' refers to a link between elements of the program, and so hypertext, for example, is text that is linked to other sections.
Image processing is another aspect of video work that demands processing power. There are two primary types that you need to be aware of:
Morphing is an image processing technique used for metamorphosis from one image to another. The idea is to get a sequence of intermediate images which when put together with the original images would represent the change from one image to the other. For example, changing a photo of you into one of your teacher.
Warping refers to modification made to an existing image by stretching and resizing. In this case it is clear that you are still looking at the original image. For example, changing a picture of you so that you have very large ears.
Animation processing is required when presenting a series of graphics in rapid succession. The human eye experiences something called persistence of vision, and this is the principle upon which animation is based.
As one graphics frame is replaced by the next the screen is blank for approximately 500 milliseconds. However, the eye retains the last image until it is replaced and thus we see movement.
While all animation involves a series of images, there are several techniques that may be used:
Cel-based animation is a method of producing animation by the creation of a sequence of individual still images each produced on a separate cel. The term 'cel' refers to an individual still image to be used in the animation sequence and comes from the more traditional hand-drawn images on separate sheets of celluloid, hence 'cel'.
Path-based Animation is a method in which the starting point, end point and the path to be followed by an object are defined. The software generates the object, as it moves along the defined path, to represent the animation. Path-based animation involves displaying the movement of objects onto a fixed background. The background pixels do not change, only those for the moving object. This saves memory and processing time. Animation is achieved by drawing the object, wiping it and the drawing the object in a new position. This process is made easier because animation software can create objects between two objects in key position.
The concept of storage and retrieval is very important for any multimedia project because whether the mode is text, video, audio or graphic there are a wide variety of formats available. Each format will have advantages and disadvantages
Not all formats will be supported by any program so that means that you must find a suitable format from the list of supported formats. Also not just any format will do the job. you must chose the right format for the right job. For example jpegs are a compressed graphic format. They have great colours but cannot be altered without losing data. If image needs to be altered then a different format should be used.
The different modes and their formats are as follows:
Video: avi, mpeg, quicktime, real. The same as with other file types there are a large number of video formats. The main ones are avi, mpeg, quick time, real player, flash and shockwave. mpegs are quickly becoming a standard. Mpegs are used on VCD (mpeg 1) and DVDs (mpeg 3 which is a higher resolution than mpeg 1)
AVI (Audio Video Interleave)
MPEG (Motion Pictures Expert Group)
Quicktime Apple digital video, also available on PC
Image: jpg, eps, pict, tiff, bmp, gif. When chosing an image type two criteria are important: accessibility and file size. Below are formats:
JPG (Joint Photographics Experts Group) A lossy compression format designed to reduce the size of full colour bit maps.
EPS (Encapsulated Postscript) Uses vector graphics and often will only be interpreted by a printer. Therefore it cannot be displayed on screen.
PICT Apple graphics format that is bit mapped or vector
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) A bit mapped format, standard choice for scanned images
BMP (Bit Map) An uncompressed bit mapped format (Native to PCs)
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) Bit mapped format that uses a lossless compression algorithm. Limit of 256 colours
Text and numbers: txt, doc, pdf, html, rtf. There are not a large number of text formats. Below are the main ones:
TXT ASCII text (only ASCII characters) or delimited text exported from a database
DOC Microsoft Word file
PDF (Portable Document Format) Proprietary digital format produced by Adobe which preserves format and look of text document
HTML - (Hypertext Mark-up Language) Text based language which a web browser uses to render text, images, audio and video
RTF (Rich Text Format) Used to produce a document that can be read by other word processors
Audio: Wav, midi, mp3 There are a wide range of audio formats. Below are three common ones.
Wav (wave file): digitised audio file of varying levels of quality which can be played directly by a sound card. This is a native PC sound file.
MIDI: (musical instrument digital interface) stores note information rather than sound which results in a small in a field size. However, it requires a synthesiser to replay.
MP3: Derived from audio layer 3 in a MPEG video. Currently requires a software player.
These days compression of data is not only handy but is crucial to multimedia performance. In the following pages we are going to examine the various aspects of compression and decompression. Some of the important terms for this work are the following:compression, decompression, zip, archive, tar, mpeg, video compression, image compression, lossless, lossy, decompression, codec, coding redundancy, spatial redundancy, temporal redundancy, psycho visual redundancy.
Video compression is achieved by the use of a codec. A codec is a compression/ decompression algorithm. A number of video codecs are in use, including Indeo (created by Intel) and MPEG-1, -2, and -3, created by the Moving Pictures Expert Group.
Image compression involves minimising the size of a file without degrading the quality of the image to an unacceptable level. The reduction in file size allows more information to be stored in a given amount of disk or memory space. Smaller file size also reduces the time required for infor-mation to be sent over the Internet. Compression schemes can be:
Lossless, where the decompressed data is identical to the original data with nothing lost in the translation, or,
Lossy, where the decompressed data is slightly different from the original, hopefully in insignificant ways, though some data is sacrificed for the sake of compression
Decompression (expansion of a compressed file) is only possible if lossless compression has been utilised. It is only possible to expand a compressed file format to the original data set if the compression algorithm does not discard information in the original compression process. Compression strategies can take advantage of four kinds of redundancy:
Coding redundancy, which relies on the fact that not all data will occur with the same probability
Spatial redundancy, which occurs because pixels that are near each other are likely to be similar to each other.
Temporal redundancy, which occurs because pixels in consecutive frames of a video are likely to be similar, for example a 'talking head'
Psycho visual redundancy, which occurs because the human visual system is better at detecting changes in luminance (brightness) than chromin-ance (colour)
Web graphics are very different to printed graphics. They must have a small file size and may be interactive. Web graphics are going to use an RGB (red green blue) colour scheme designed for monitors while a print media requires CMYK. Common web formats are:
GIF
JPEG (also called jpg)
PNG
Images in other formats can be very large and need to to optimized for the web and changed into one of these formats.
As such it is important to consider which is the most appropriate compression technique to utilise when preparing an image for the World Wide Web or any other multimedia project:
The gif format only uses 8-bit colour (256 colours) but it's a 'lossless' format and thus detail is not reduced. Gif images are the best way to render artwork such as line drawings, charts and maps, particularly if the number of colours can be reduced. However GIFs will give a larger file size if the picture has too many colours. For an image with a large number of colours a jpeg is preferrable.
Jpeg images use 24-bit colour (16,777,216 colours) but the compression algorithm is lossy. This means that resolution on a computer screen is lost on compression , this may not be noticeable but a hardcopy image would show the degradation. Jpeg images are used for photographs (screen but not good printed). A reasonable quality photo in jpeg is commonly around 20-30 Kb where the equivalent in gif could be 100-300 Kb. With jpeg files the quality required is set when the image is saved
there are many issues that have arisen from the development of multimedia. Some of them are to do with the voilent nature of some content and the appropriate use of the internet but many of the issues stem from other areas such as copyright, the way technology has moved ahead so quickly and the general impact of those issues upon the individual and society. Lastly individual rights must also be protected along with those of companies and this is covered by concerns over data integrity (how accurate is the data that we are being fed. Is it accurate? Is it honest? Has there been a corruption of the data in any way? By the end of the unit the students should:
Understand that there are both positive and negative impacts of multimedia
Understand what copyright is and the obligations of copyright laws upon the individual and society
Understand the moral issues associated with copyright
Understand the issues of appropriate use of internet such as privacy, civil liberties and the protection of rights
Understand the trend of merging technologies, the benefits and the difficulties associated with these changes
Understand the importance of data integrity and the reliability of data as well as the responsibility on the part of the information creator and those using it to ascertain that the information is accurate
Under the Copyright Act it is illegal to reproduce a literary work or to make an adaptation of that work without the permission of the author. 'literary work' includes software:
The author or producer has the right to expect payment for their work. Time and effort are worth money.
Computer programs are a particular problem because they are relatively easy to copy and modify. This becomes an ethical issue for users who have the technology to break copyright and avoid detection.
If a multimedia developer does not acknowledge where images and sound files come from then they are breaking copyright.
Shareware allows a user to try the software before buying. But shareware is not freeware and if you continue to use the software after the allowable trial period is over then you are breaking copyrght.
Software licensing
There are a number of of different licence formats as listed below:
Single user - the price allows the use of one copy of the software on one computer.
Site licence - the price allows the use of the software on a specified number of computers.
Freeware - software may be used freely and copied for other users
Shareware - software may be trialled for a period of time before a licensing fee is paid for a single or site licence
Postcardware - the user must send a postcard to the author
Appropriate levels of usage of Internet and other content involves the concepts of ethics and moral behaviour. Ethical issues relate to questions of morals. Is it right or wrong to proceed with a specific action? If you behave ethically or morally then you are behaving in a manner that most people would regard as the right way to act.Correct ethical or moral behaviour would normally reflecting the norms of society. It is important to understand that norms change. Many people may feel that what was considered unethical behaviour 30 years ago is normal in current times. Widespread access to the internet keep the issue of ethical and moral issues actyive. people are being exposed to all sorts of material. Who should have access to different material. How much censorship should be imposed on the internet. How much censorship is possible?
The lines dividing computers, telephones, radio, television, voice and data are blurring. This merging of content is called "digital convergence" which is where content can be stored as a digital file rather than the more traditional analog form:
It is possible to use the Internet for telephony using a PC with a sound card, microphone and a standard Internet connection.
Desktop radio broadcasting is also available on the Internet. Sites such as Real Audio's www.real.com provide a compressed sound source that can be downloaded and played in real-time. Television has also made it to the Internet with WebTV. However, bandwidth limitations produce a poor quality picture.
Audio and video files are available in two forms, downloadable files or live content called streaming audio or video. Streaming audio or video allows you to listen to or view the sound/ video while it is being downloaded.
Bit Torrent/ Streaming
Bit Torrent is a new form of streaming which is faster and more efficient. watch how this may affect you in the near future. Interview with creator of Bit torrent
Convergence
Convergence is the merging of technology. Convergence is important to understand for the HSC. read a brilliant article on cenvergence by clicking here
Ads in video games make millions
Two weeks ago the world's largest software company, Microsoft, announced it had bought Davis's New York firm Massive Inc to drive advertising revenue from the booming online video gaming market in its battle with Google.
In Sydney yesterday for a brief Mother's Day visit, Davis wouldn't say how much he pocketed from the sale of Massive, reported at up to $US400 million ($516 million).
"It was a very good deal for the shareholders," he said, adding that he was the largest single shareholder.
The deal not only marks the arrival of Davis as a key player in the online gaming industry, it highlights the flow of advertising dollars away from traditional media and, in particular, how advertisers are following 18 to 34-year-old males as they spend less time watching TV and more time playing games. Click Here
Data integrity means that the data is accurate, consistent, and up-to-date. As the amount of information available on the Internet increases, the issue of data integrity becomes more important. Multimedia systems used by educational institutions must use a data source that has integrity.
The reliability of material is not always easy to establish. There are many unreliable sources of information on the web. It is important that only reliable sources be quoted and used for research.
The publishers of the Encyclopaedia Britannica could choose to use data from questionable sources but do not, instead preferring to spend the necessary time on research to ensure the integrity of their product.
It is important that those researching material on the web ensure that all source data is cross-referenced to ensure its accuracy.
Question 28 Multimedia Systems (20 marks) Use a SEPARATE writing booklet.
(a) (i) Define a storyboard, and describe its purpose. (3 marks)
(ii) Describe the tasks undertaken by technical staff in the development of multimedia applications. (3 marks)
Use the following information to answer parts (b) and (c).
Anna has applied for a job at a multimedia design company as a designer. The company requires that applicants submit and demonstrate a portfolio of their work at an interview.
To showcase her work, Anna plans to develop an interactive multimedia presentation of her work for her portfolio. It will include the best examples of her original computer generated art works, pencil and charcoal sketches, still photographs, animations and short movie segments with sound tracks. Descriptions of each piece of work will be included to explain the ideas behind her designs. Anna plans to sav e copies of her multimedia presentation onto CD-ROMs, and will give each member of the interview panel a copy . She will use another copy to demonstrate her work at the interview.
Anna has been told that a projector that displays computer output will be available during her interview and demonstration, but she will need to bring her own computer to connect to the projector.
(b ) With reference to the information system diagram below, describe the following components and their relationship in the context of the creation of Annas multimedia portfolio: (6 marks)
purpose;
participants;
data/information;
information technology;
organising;
storing and retri e ving;
displaying.
(c) (i) Outline the reasons why copyright is a relevant and important issue for Anna when creating the multimedia portfolio and distributing it to the interview panel. (3 marks)
(ii) Describe the different types of media that Anna could use in her multimedia presentation, and discuss factors that may have affected her choice of a multimedia portfolio rather than a paper-based portfolio. (5 marks)
Question 28 Multimedia Systems (20 marks) Use a SE P AR A TE writing booklet.
(a) (i) De f ine bit depth and describe h o w bit depth all o ws the representation of colour in multimedia systems.
(ii) Identify and contrast T W O methods of compression of image f iles.
Use the foll o wing information to answer parts (b)(c).
Smartville Local Council publishes a pape r -based annual report at the end of each year and mails it to all ratepayers. It has been proposed that this annual report be replaced
by a website that w ould display:
Membe r s of council
Sh o wing contact details and photographs of the
mayor and three councillors
A f inancial r eport
Sh o wing income and e xpenditure of the council
Council services
Includin g garbag e disposal , interprete r and
eme r gen c y maintenance
T ourist att r actions
Displaying video clips of the t w o most popular destinations in the council area, High P ark and Long R i v er
(b) Dr a w a storyboard for this proposed website. Label the major design elements for each webpage and indicate the relationships between the webpages.
(c) (i) Describe h o w the designers of this website w ould use this storyboard.
(ii) Analyse the proposed web-based solution to determine its strengths and weaknesses.
(a)(i) Define morphing and provide and example of its use. 3 Marks
(a)(ii) Define sampling rate and describe how it is used to represent audio data. 3 Marks
Use this image of the home page of the ABC Online website to answer parts (b)-(c).
(b)(i) Identify and describe FOUR different multimedia elements, or links to them on the website. 4 Marks
(b)(ii) Identify the types of software that you would use to design and create a website such as ABC Online. Justify your selection of each type of software. 5 Marks
(c) The ABC Online website is an example of the merging of many different media on one website.
Identify the developments in hardware and telecommunications that have enabled the integration of media, and discuss the issues and implications of this integration. 6 Marks
). Lets have a look at a table with sample rates.
