Before we delve into the components and types of multimedia, let’s take a look at where the term multimedia originates.
Multimedia once meant a slide projector and a tape recorder being played simultaneously. For instance, 50 years ago, photographic images in slide form were projected on a screen or wall while audio attempted to synchronize with the sequence or played as “background” music.
In 1967, pop artist Andy Warhol organized “multimedia” events called the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, where he showed films combined with live performances that were illuminated with flashing, colored lights to create a multi sensory atmosphere. The technology necessary for joining individual media did not exist at that time. Computers were not accessible to the general public and those that did exist were large, complex, costly, and primarily geared toward scientists and researchers.
Today, the term multimedia is associated almost exclusively with the computer, and the components that make up a multimedia program are digital. Various media are brought together to perform in unison on the computer as a single entity, and they are programmed or scripted using authoring software or programming languages. Diverse forms of communication are combined with multimedia to allow for a myriad of outcomes.
Early Multimedia Computing
Up to the 1980s, mainframe computers were the norm as opposed to desktop varieties. These housed vast amounts of data and were primarily used by the military and scientific communities.
In 1975, IBM released the first portable computer with a fixed monitor, keyboard, and data storage. However, it had drawbacks: It required text input, weighed 55 pounds, and cost $20,000, so it was hardly accessible to the masses. In the early 1980s, IBM introduced desktop computers, or personal computers (PCs). The base model had no built-in storage and a text-based screen where input was limited to typing on a keyboard.
As the PC developed, so did its multimedia capabilities. This allowed for regular and widespread use of multimedia and the creation of media elements. At this time, people began using computers for many home and office purposes.
In 1983, Apple Computer, Inc., announced its first desktop computer, which demonstrated an innovative graphical user interface (GUI). It was called the Lisa, and was considered user-friendly because it included a mouse to point and click on interface/screen desktop elements. Other PCs, such as the IBM, did not have these capabilities at the time.
The Lisa was ultimately not successful, so in 1984, Apple released the Macintosh. This was the first commercially successful computer with a GUI that was capable of designing for desktop publishing. This early Mac paved the way for the creation of graphics and page layout design with What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) technology. This allowed the users to view on their screen an approximate representation of what they would have in their printout, so it was possible to make edits and not need to guess what the final output would look like.
This table shows the timeline from the early days of PCs to the current multimedia computers.
You might be wondering where the original concept of multimedia derived from. In the early 1900s, Vannevar Bush, an American computer scientist who developed patented devices, came up with inventive ideas about ways to link information. He saw the potential of storing information with built-in connections to other data. Bush called his notion associative indexing, which would link information in a way that is more meaningful to the user, rather than the more traditional numerical and alphabetical classifications. He developed the Memex System in 1945, and although it was never implemented, it would have allowed the operator to input notes and drawings using an early method of photocopying. Data was interconnected and could be stored for later recall. His theory led to the development of interlinked hypertext methods, similar to those that are used today.
Douglas Engelbart was another computing pioneer who was way ahead of his time. He is credited with inventing office automation devices such as the mouse, multiple window screens, electronic mail, and videoconferencing during the 1960s. Engelbart was trying to find ways to create a synergy between the user and the computer with an emphasis on human–computer interaction. He worked on collaborative hypermedia systems, which paved the way for current interactive multimedia approaches.
