INTRODUCTION TO MULTIMEDIA

Isaac tetteh korboe

 The Term “Multimedia”

• Composed of 2 parts:
– Multi (multus) : “numerous, multiple”
– Media (medium): “middle, center” –
agent for something. Used for
dissemination (distribute) and
representation of information.
 The Term “Media”

• Can be categorized based on a few

criteria:
– Perception media
– Representation media
– Presentation media
– Storage media
– Transmission media
 Perception Media

“How do humans perceive

information”
• We perceive information from what
we see and what we hear
• Visual media:
– Text, graphics, images, video
• Auditory media:
– Music, sound and voice
 Representation Media

• “How in information encoded in the computer”

• Referring to how the information is represented
internally to the computer.
• The encoding used is of essential importance.
• Several options:
– Text is encoded in ASCII
– An audio data stream in PCM (Pulse Coded
Modulation)
– Image in JPEG format
– Video in MPEG format
 Presentation Media
“Which medium is used to output information
from the computer or input in the computer”

• Refers to physical means used by systems to

reproduce information for humans, e.g: audio
and visual devices
• Input:
– Keyboards, cameras, microphone, Head
Mounted Device (for VR input)
• Output:
– Paper, monitors, loudspeakers
 Storage Media

“Where is information stored”

• Refer to various physical means for
storing computer data, such as
magnetic tapes, magnetic disks, or
digital optical disks (CD-ROM, CD,
DVD)
 Transmission Media

• “Which medium is used to transmit data”

• Refers to the physical means –
– cable of various type (coaxial cable, twisted
pair, fiber optics),
– radio tower, satellite –
that allow the transmission of telecommunication
signals.

• The difference between transmission media

and storage media is the capability of
transferring data continuously over
networked computers.
 Definitions of Multimedia
• In general, multimedia could be defined as
the usage of multiple agent (text, audio,
video, images) for disseminating and
presenting information to audience (target
user)
• Multimedia means that computer
information can be represented
through audio, video, and animation
in addition to traditional media (i.e.,
text, graphics/drawings, images)
 What is Multimedia?
• Multimedia is the field concerned with
the computer controlled integration of
text, graphics, drawings, still and
moving images (Video), animation,
audio,
– and any other media where every type
of information can be
– represented, stored, transmitted and
processed digitally.
 What is Multimedia?

Multimedia is a media that uses multiple

form of information content and
information processing.
Multimedia Application Definition
• A Multimedia Application is an
application which uses a collection of
multiple media sources e.g. text,
graphics, images , sound/audio,
animation and/or video.
Definition: Multimedia Systems

• The presentation of a computer application,

usually interactive, that incorporates media
elements such as text, graphics, video,
animation, and sound on a computer.

• Multimedia melds the sensory power of

television with the data manipulation and
interactive powers of computer.
A multimedia system is characterized by
– computer-controlled ,
– integrated production,
– manipulation, presentation,
– storage and communication
of independent information, which is
encoded at least through
• continuous (time-dependent) and
• a discrete (time-independent) medium.
 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.
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 History of Multimedia:
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.
• 2000 - WWW size was estimated at over
1 billion pages.

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 multimedia applications
• Examples of typical present multimedia applications include:

– Digital video editing and production systems.

– Electronic newspapers/magazines.
– World Wide Web.
– On-line reference works: e.g. encyclopedia, games, etc.
– Home shopping.
– Interactive TV.
– Multimedia courseware.
– Video conferencing.
– Video-on-demand.
– Interactive movies
 Why to use Multimedia?

According to Dr. Albert Mehrabian, a specialist

in interpersonal communication at the University
of California, says:
People recall 20% of what they see
40% of what they see & hear
70% of what they see, hear & do

Multimedia allows for seeing, hearing and doing

 Key Components of Multimedia
 A computer based medium
 Fundamental to the development and delivery of
multimedia is a computer capable of incorporating
various elements, such as sound and animation, and
providing an environment in which the user can interact
with the programme.
 Interactivity
 The ability of the user to interact with the program
 Request made & information provided
 Effective communication
 Burger (1994) stated;
“Effective communication is the most important
criteria in Multimedia.”
 Key Properties of a Multimedia
Systems
• Discrete and Continuous Media
– At least one discrete and continuous
media
• Independent Media
– Separate each media independently
• Computer-Controlled Systems
• Integration
The Basic Elements of Multimedia
Text
Graphics
Sound
Animation
Video
 The Basic Elements of Multimedia
TEXT
characters that are used to create words,
sentences, and paragraphs.
 The Basic Elements of Multimedia
Graphics
A digital representation of non-text information,
such as a drawing, chart, or photograph.
 The Basic Elements of Multimedia
Animation
Flipping through a series of still images. It is a
series of graphics that create an illusion of
motion.
 The Basic Elements of Multimedia
Video
photographic images that are played back at
speeds of 15 to 30 frames a second and the
provide the appearance of full motion.
 The Basic Elements of Multimedia
Audio
music, speech, or any other sound.
 Categorization

Multimedia may be divided into three

categories based on their functions and
how they are organized ;
– Linear Non-linear
– Interactive and non-interactive
– Real-time and recorded
 Categories Of Multimedia
• Linear - active content progresses often without any
navigational control for the viewer such as a
cinema presentation.

• Non-linear- uses interactivity to control progress as

with a video game or self-paced computer based
training. Hypermedia is an example of non-linear
content
 Categories Of Multimedia
• Interactive multimedia is the means to interface
with different media through input user to make
decisions as to what takes place next with
multimedia.
– For example ; a computer keyboard, mouse,
touch screen, on screen buttons, and text entry,
etc.) and output devices allowing a
 Categories Of Multimedia
• Multimedia presentations can be live (real-time) 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.
 Interactive Multimedia

Multimedia applications that allow users to actively

participate instead of just sitting by as passive
recipients of information are called Interactive
Multimedia.
Interactive Multimedia Systems
• Interaction
– Thought - Something that you do to yourself ~ internal process
(mental state)
– Action - Something you do to an object in the world. The
effect is that something in the world has changed.
E.g.: pressing key, clicking mouse button
– Interaction - Involves the participant in going outside the
individual. Two way process. E.g.: give a query to search
engine which can return an outcome of my search.

• Properties
– Various media integration
– High level degree of interactivity between user and computer
– Digital environment
 Usage
Multimedia finds its application in various areas
including, but not limited to:
• Advertisements
• Art
• Education
• Entertainment
• Engineering
• Medicine
• Mathematics
• Business
• Scientific research
 Advantages of using Multimedia
• It is very user-friendly.
It doesn’t take much energy out of the user, in the
sense that you can sit and watch the presentation,
you can read the text and hear the audio.

• It is multi sensorial.
It uses a lot of the user’s senses while making use of
multimedia, for example hearing, seeing and talking.
 Advantages of using Multimedia
• It is integrated and interactive.
All the different mediums are integrated through the
digitisation process. Interactivity is heightened by the
possibility of easy feedback.

• It is flexible.
Being digital, this media can easily be changed to fit
different situations and audiences.

• It can be used for a wide variety of audiences,

ranging from one person to a whole group.
Disadvantages of using Multimedia
• Information overload. Because it is so easy to use, it
can contain too much information at once.

• It takes time to compile. Even though it is flexible, it

takes time to put the original draft together.
Disadvantages of using Multimedia
• It can be expensive. multimedia makes use of a
wide range of resources, which can cost you a
large amount of money.

• Too much makes it unpractical. Large files like video

and audio has an effect of the time it takes for your
presentation to load. Adding too much can mean
that you have to use a larger computer to store the
files.
 Hypertext and Hypermedia

Hypertext is a text which contains links to other texts.

The term was invented by Ted Nelson around 1965.
 Hypertext
– Hypertext was developed to provide a
different structure for basic text in computer
systems :
• text is essentially sequential in nature, even
though its structure is hierarchical (chapters,
sections, subsections, paragraphs)
 Hypertext
• hypertext was developed
– to permit more random access between
components of text documents, or between
documents,
– to allow a greater degree of flexibility and cross-
referencing than a purely linear or sequential
model would allow.
 Hypertext
• Information is linked and cross-referenced in many
different ways and is widely available to end users.

• Hypertext means a database in which information

(text) has been organized nonlinearly. The
database consists of pages and links between
pages.
Hypertext
 Hypermedia
• Hypermedia is a way of organizing multimedia
information by linking media elements.
• Hypermedia has grown out of a fusion between
hypertext and multimedia.
• Hypermedia is not constrained to be text-based. It
can include other media,
e.g., graphics, images, and especially the
continuous media – sound and video.
Hypermedia
Hypertext and Hypermedia
 Characteristics of Hypermedia
• It must be possible to use hypermedia
both for writing and reading information.
• The information comprises non-sequential
structures, and may thus be followed
along alternative paths.
• The information must follow natural
associations from one information unit to
another.
• The information may be hierarchically
structured.
 Characteristics of Hypermedia
• Each information unit is presented in a
separate on-screen window.
• It must be possible to share the
information or parts of it among
several users.
• It must be possible to have several
people working against the database
at the same time.
• The information resides in a database.
Fundamentals of Multimedia, Chapter 1

1.3 World Wide Web

• The W3C has listed the following goals for the WWW:

1. Universal access of web resources (by everyone

everywhere).
2. Effectiveness of navigating available information.
3. Responsible use of posted material.

• History of the WWW

1960s – Charles Goldfarb et al. developed the Generalized

Markup Language (GML) for IBM.

1986 – The ISO released a final version of the Standard

Generalized Markup Language (SGML).

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Fundamentals of Multimedia, Chapter 1

1990 – Tim Berners-Lee invented the HyperText Markup

Language (HTML), and the HyperText Transfer
Protocol (HTTP).
1993 – NCSA released an alpha version of Mosaic
based on the version by Marc Andreessen for X-
Windows — the first popular browser.
1994 – Marc Andreessen et al. formed Mosaic
Communications Corporation — later the
Netscape Communications Corporation.
1998 – The W3C accepted XML version 1.0
specifications as a Recommendation — the
main focus of the W3C and supersedes HTML.

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Fundamentals of Multimedia, Chapter 1

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)

• HTTP: a protocol that was originally designed for transmitting
hypermedia, but can also support the transmission of any file
type.

• HTTP is a stateless request/response protocol: no information

carried over for the next request.

• The basic request format:

Method URI Version

Additional-Headers:
Message-body

• The URI (Uniform Resource Identifier): an identifier for the resource

accessed, e.g. the host name, always preceded by the token
“http://”.

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Fundamentals of Multimedia, Chapter 1

• Two popular methods: GET and POST.

• The basic response format:

Version Status-Code Status-Phrase

Additional-Headers
Message-body

• Two commonly seen status codes:

1. 200 OK — the request was processed successfully.

2. 404 Not Found — the URI does not exist.

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Fundamentals of Multimedia, Chapter 1

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)

• HTML: a language for publishing Hypermedia on the
World
Wide Web — defined using SGML:
1. HTML uses ASCII, it is portable to all different (possibly
binary incompatible) computer hardware.
2. The current version of HTML is version 4.01.
3. The next generation of HTML is XHTML — a
reformulation of HTML using XML.

• HTML uses tags to describe document elements:

– <token params> — defining a starting point.
– </token> — the ending point of the element.
– Some elements have no ending tags.

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Fundamentals of Multimedia, Chapter 1

• A very simple HTML page is as follows:

<HTML> <HEAD>
<TITLE>
A sample web page.
</TITLE>
<META NAME = "Author" CONTENT =
"Cranky Professor">
</HEAD> <BODY>
<P>
We can put any text we like here,
since this is a paragraph element.
</P>
</BODY> </HTML>

• Naturally, HTML has more complex structures and can be mixed in with
other standards.

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Fundamentals of Multimedia, Chapter 1

XML (Extensible Markup Language)

• XML: a markup language for the WWW in which there is
modularity of data, structure and view so that user or
application can be able to define the tags (structure).

• Example of using XML to retrieve stock information from a

database according to a user query:

1. First use a global Document Type Definition (DTD) that is

already defined.
2. The server side script will abide by the DTD rules to
generate an XML document according to the query
using data from your database.
3. Finally send user the XML Style Sheet (XSL) depending on
the type of device used to display the information.

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Fundamentals of Multimedia, Chapter 1

• An example of an XML document structure — the

definition for a small XHTML document:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE htmlPUBLIC "- //W3C//DTD
XHTML 1.0”
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-
transition.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
... [html that follows the above mentioned
XML rules]
</html>

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 Delivering Multimedia

Multimedia can be delivered using

• Optical disk (CD-based)
• Over a distributed network (Web-based)
 Delivering Multimedia

Optical Disks
• The most cost-effective method of
delivery for multimedia materials.
• These devices are used to store
large amounts of some combination
of text, graphics, sound,
and moving video.
Delivering Multimedia
Delivering Multimedia
Delivering Multimedia