Expanding access to science and technology: Session 3: New technologies and media for information retrieval and transfer: Multimedia technology: A design challenge: Abstract

Expanding access to science and technology

Session 3: New technologies and media for information retrieval and transfer

Multimedia technology: A design challenge

		Abstract
		1. Introduction
		2. What are communication media and how do they differ?
		3. Are human beings aware of the capabilities of different media?
		4. What can the technology do now?
		5. User centred or design centred?
		6. The PROMISE multimedia interface project
		7. How does one design a multimedia interface?
		8. Some initial guidelines
		9. Conclusions
		10. Acknowledgements
		References

Abstract

The term multimedia used in this paper refers to different presentation media such as sound, graphics, text, etc. The possible benefits of a multimedia approach are discussed and some examples are given of how different media affect knowledge comprehension in human beings. An indication is given of what multimedia facilities are currently available. The PROMISE multimedia interface project is described, and in particular a possible approach to the formulation of a multimedia design methodology is proposed. Some initial guidelines on multimedia interface design are given. Although some of the ideas expressed here come from work in process control, they are likely to be generalizable to wider domains.