BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIMEDIA

Multimedia has its most remote antecedent in two branches: a) the invention of the transistor with
the electronic developments that it fostered and b) the efficient exercises of communication, which
I was looking to eliminate noise, ensure the reception of the message, and its correct perception through the
redundancy.

a) The invention of the transistor, starting in the 1950s, made the computer revolution possible, with
the manufacturing of the chip, the electric circuits, and the electronic boards, which facilitate
compact processing units and video integration. All of this, along with the
developments of hard drives, flexible and, lately, optical discs, have materialized in the
PC technology. Subsequently, a series of accessories and peripherals have been developed.
for the computer to be able to handle images, sounds, graphics, and videos, in addition to text.
early PCs from the late 70s, "had some audio capabilities, small speakers that
they produced a very limited range of squeaks, beeps, and buzzes, which could be added to some
musical arrangement" (PC WORLD, No. 119, 1993, 23)

On the other hand, communication develops, starting from the 70s, in education, instruction,
training and advertising, the operational concept of multimedia. This concept is understood as the
integration of various media (visual and auditory) for the preparation and sending of messages by
various channels, enhancing the effectiveness of communication through redundancy;
Well, this way, communication becomes more attractive, affects, and impacts more reception abilities.
of the person and increases the possibility of eliminating the noise that may hinder reception of the
message.

In the field of computing, the term multimedia is newer and refers to the use of various
resources or means, such as audio, video, animations, text, and graphics on a computer. Without
staying only in a collage of media, by integrating the data that the computer can handle,
multimedia offers possibilities for creativity through computer systems (PC
WORLD, No. 121, 1993, 26.

Multimedia began in 1984. That year, Apple Computer launched the Macintosh, the first
computer with extensive sound reproduction capabilities equivalent to those of a good
AM radio. This feature, combined with the fact that: its operating system and programs were developed in
the form that is now known as Windows environment, conducive to graphic design and the
editing made the Macintosh the first possibility of what is known as Multimedia
(PC WORLD, No.119, 1993, 23).

The interactive environment began its development with the new communication technologies and the
information, very specifically, in the field of video games. From 1987 onward
started with coin-operated video games and computer software of
entertainment (PC WORLD No. 115, p.40).

For its part, Philips, while developing compact disc technology (read
optically: through beams of laser light) ventures into the technology of a disk
interactive compact (CD-I): According to Gaston A.J. Bastiaens, director of Philips Interactive Media
Systems, since November 1988 Philips has made a proposal, through the CD-I Green Book,
to develop a series of publications about interactive products and designs around the CD-I
with applications in museums, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, the university or the illustrious street;
the proposal led to several professional projects that emerged in the United States, Japan and
Europe (Philips IMS, 1992, Introducing CD-I, Foreword).

Multimedia technology gained prominence in video games starting in 1992, when the following were integrated:
audio (music, stereo sound, and voice), video, graphics, animation, and text at the same time. The
The main idea of multimedia developed in video games is: that it allows for navigation and search.
information that is desired about a topic, without having to go through the entire program, that can be
interact with the computer and have the information be associative rather than linear (PC WORLD,
119, 1993,25).

In January 1992, during the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, the announcement was made
Multi-purpose CD. An interactive multiplayer capable of playing sound, animation, photography and
video, through the computer or via optical means, on the television screen. Multimedia
what is about to develop seeks multimedia television, based on the use of a CPU
multimedia. With this technology, interactive television will be developed, which will apply the principle
to learn by doing and will have the ability to create a sense of community, based on the
interactivity. Through interaction with the machine, multimedia will have a function
similar to that of books in learning and information, will be based on images
interactive and based on the premise that "people acquire their knowledge more effectively
managing information interactively" (PC WORLD No. 115, 39:40; PC WORLD,
119, 25).

Today, authoring systems and authoring software,

allow developing multimedia lines integrating 3 or more of the data that are possible to
currently process by computer: text and numbers, graphics, static images, images in
movement and sound and due to the high level of interactivity, type of navigation. The Authoring Software
allow the 'multimedia developer' to generate prototypes using the technique called 'fast'
prototype" (the most efficient method of generating applications). It is recognized that the "authoring
software streamlines the multimedia production process during the design stage, the second
of the four stages that are recognized for its development, because that is where it
digitalizes and integrates the information (Authoring software, PC World 119, 23) (See Table No.1):

Table No. 1: Stages of multimedia development.

Author's work with whom you require the application to define it.
2. Application design.
. Digitize the information.
. Integrate the digitized information.
3. Application dissemination.

4. Technical support for users.

Adapted from PC World No. 119 of August 1993, p.23.

Although there are advancements, multimedia developments face regulatory obstacles.

technological around compatibility and transfer. It is stated that multimedia has
currently with 30 different and incompatible architectures, including the CD-
ROM, the CDTV, and the CD-I. In the article: Multimedia, state of the art, PC WORLD highlights that
There are differences between multimedia applied to a purpose and multimedia applied to a work environment.
It should be noted that specific software is required in any case, but they can be incorporated.
existing multimedia applications through work environments like Windows, where it is
possible to attach sound to a document of a word processor or a spreadsheet (PC
World, No. 121, p.36.

By 1993, the multimedia concept requires weighing and reviewing both the systems and platforms of
computation, like work environments, in relation to multimedia software and its
applications. It is not only sought to make technologies compatible, but also to develop
standards or norms that make it possible for developed programs to be used in
different technologies with a platform that tends to be uniform.

Efforts for standardization have defined a minimum set of standards for

form multimedia teams (MPC). These standards relate to the capacity and
processing speed, with the capacity for massive information storage, with the
possibility of storing and reproducing differentiated information of different nature and with the
environment in which information is worked (See Table No. 2):

Table No. 2:
Minimum standards for forming a multimedia team (MPC).

A 80386SX processor and 2MB of RAM.

6. A CD-ROM drive that transfers data at a rate of 150 KB per second.

that occupies less than 40% of CPU resources and has an average access time
in one second or less.

7. Acceptance of CD-Audio, audio waveform, and MIDI audio.

8.To be executed on Windows 3.1 and its multimedia extensions.

Currently, four platforms are recognized for the production and management of multimedia:
MPC (Multimedia PC), Macintosh, Amiga 2000 and IBM Ultimedia. (See table No.3):
Table No. 3: Characteristics of proprietary platforms for Multimedia.

1.- MPC or MULTIMEDIA PC powered by Microsoft. Minimum standards for the computer:
25MHz 386 processor, 4MB to 8MB of RAM and 80MB of hard disk space. Additionally: Unit
CD-Rom, SVGA monitor with video card (e.g. Intel Action Media) and sound card
compatible with MPC (ProAudium Spectrum or Sound Blaster Pro), MS-Windows graphical environment with
multimedia extensions or the Windows NT System.

2.- IBM ULTIMEDIA for PS/2 with two proprietary standards, similar to or greater than MPC. Integrates
hardware elements (such as video cards) and software, some exclusive to IBM, includes
the M-Motion card for video handling and the Audio Visual Connection (AVC), with the environment
 IBM OS/2 graphic.

3.- AMIGA VIDEO TOASTER: It is a package that consists of: VideoToaster, a video switcher with
two buffers, six banks with 32 effects each, a character generator with a capacity of 99
pages, a three-dimensional modeler 'light wave' with a resolution of 752 X 480 pixels and a
scene generator with lights and video camera. Its use requires increasing the speed of the Amiga.
2000 and memory and having a hard drive larger than 105 MB (resolved with the GVP card:
GreenValley Products)

4.- APPLE MACINTOSH only requires operating system version 7 to work with multimedia,
it is a highly intuitive and consistent graphical environment. Quick Time has a system of
sound-image synchronization that allows viewing 10, 20, or 30 frames per second, depending on the
speed of the equipment and the size of the image. A fast computer like Quadra 700, with 8 MB
or more RAM, a large disk and a CD-Rom drive, allows for real-time output. Macintosh
Includes sound input with microphone and standard audio output. Needs a program for
record digitized sound. An additional card allows recording video signal in Hi8 format, S-
Video, NTSC RGB (from 640 X 480) or PAL RGB (from 756 X 576), to work in Quick Time and perform
an editing on Mac, as well as to output from the computer to the VCR.

Adapted from PC WORLD No. 118, July 1993, pp. 27 and 28.

The fifth platform: 3DO, is being developed by The 3DO Company. It will consist of: the 3DO Player
(Multifunctional CD or interactive player), an MPC or multimedia computer, that overcomes problems
of compatibility and transfer, enabling interactive television, with applications in the
learning.

The development of Multimedia is aided by hypermedia technology which allows for the generation of areas,
within a screen, sensitive to the mouse, touch, or a key. The system allows associating and
explore any type of digitized image within a computer program, so that the
user navigates or explores the program according to their interests, returns to the original part or
delve into the exploration of another part of the program, without needing to go through it all. This
navigation system allows the user to interact with the files or parts of the
program according to your personal interests.

With this, multimedia technology seeks to become part of everyday computing.

without being a discipline practiced only by a few (PC WORLD No. 120, 36).

In the near future, the development of multimedia is seen as integrated into the future of
telecommunications. It will be possible to transport information with greater volume and speed,
with greater access, connectivity, and bandwidth of the network, thanks to the existing technology and
that only needs to be implemented. The convergence of telecommunications, computers, and
television, through fiber optics, the communication satellite, and the cell phone. A wireless network
multimedia will be possible and new relationships of communication and information will be created.
 THE CONCEPT OF MULTIMEDIA

Some titles that are handled around multimedia are revealing of the way it is
conceive

Multimedia: digital technology that integrates various data through the computer.
The Magic of Multimedia. Combination of Images, Movement, and Sound.
Multimedia: capability for interactivity
Multimedia a powerful option.
Multimedia as an alternative in communication.
Multimedia as a means of dissemination.

With all this, it is asserted that multimedia is a concept that will revolutionize computing.
traditional and will impact computing with the integration of audio, image, and data.

However, before media collage, multimedia must be considered as a

technology that enables creativity through computer systems; that production
and computer-generated creation reduces the waste of technical and economic resources.

Multimedia technology makes it possible for anyone to be a producer of a presentation.

multimedia, if you have a personal computer with specific multimedia programs and
some basic peripherals, which is equivalent to having a small production studio. Without
embargo, two things are noted:

Production and creation talent are not included in a multimedia package.

y
An acceptable level of production requires a multidisciplinary work team:
. screenwriters,
. animators,
. graphic designers
. artistic directors,
. producers,
. speakers,
. programmers,
. editors,
. technical consultants, etc.;

Not everyone may be taken into account; that depends on the nature and scale of the production. For
certain types of productions or applications only require knowledge of the subject of
what the production or application will deal with (Philips IMS, 1992, 95:100; PC WORLD, No.
121, 1993, 36).
The multimedia article, state of the art, mentioned earlier, includes the statement from Eng. Daniel
Gentleman, multimedia manager of the Rocapa Marketing Company, about the concept more
I need multimedia:
It is the use of text and graphics, traditional resources on a computer, combined
with video and sound, new elements integrated under the control of a program that
allows the creation of applications focused basically on training and offering
services and products through information kiosks or points of sale
WORLD No. 121, 36).
The Mexican Association of Multimedia and New Technologies (AMMYNT) through its
President, Eng. José Luis Oliva Posada, points out:
Multimedia is a trend of mixing different broadcasting technologies, of
information, impacting several senses at once, to achieve a greater effect in the
Understanding the message (PC WORLD, No. 117, 1993, 25).
The association recognizes three areas of multimedia development and only one of them as such.
(See Table No. 4).

Table No. 4: Areas of Multimedia Development

1) Transmedia: Field of established media, with a language

own and a use of daily habits, where computers are destined for the
message creation.

2) Intermediate: Area defined by the use of elements from different media

communication for the transmission of a message, where the media, before
to consolidate as such, they were multimedia. In this mix, it may not be used the
computer

3) Multimedia: Area of use of the computer in applications made for that

The end user used it by mixing three or more than five data that is used in the
transmission of formal knowledge: text, graphics, music, voice, still or moving image
movement.

For Héctor Schwabe, a researcher at UAM, multimedia has existed as a concept since...
40 years although as a reality only since 1989. Multimedia is defined as the interaction of
multiple media: sound, text, voice, video, and graphics. Multimedia is not achieved with a
microcomputer equipped with a high-resolution graphics card, CD-ROM system,
microphone, MIDI interface, headphones, and speakers. More than anything, it is achieved with the applications that
They require the integration of text, graphics, sound, video (still or moving), and animation.
Multimedia is a combination of Hardware and Software in pursuit of the same goal: to humanize the
machine. The interaction that multimedia requires from the user facilitates attention, understanding, and
the retention of information. "Multimedia will turn the man-machine dialogue into something intuitive,
spontaneous and fun
tactile-sensitive, voice recognition systems; it will be as simple as using the five
senses of the human being (PC WORLD No. 118,27).

Multimedia sound producers have also developed a similar conception:

Multimedia is a digital technology that, through the computer, integrates various types of
data such as: text, graphs, sound, still image, moving image. In fact, it consists of the
integration of various communication technologies through computing giving rise to data
digital, digital sounds, digital image, etc. (PC World No. 119, Understanding Sound
multimedia, 23).

PC WORLD in its issue 120 publishes an article that summarizes the progress in the use of
the computer and states:
Multimedia could be referred to as a free integration of technology that extends and
expands the way we interact with a computer, a concept that enriches and broadens the
man-machine interaction, today we see it manifested in various applications that
including historical encyclopedias, animated scientific adventures, and storybooks and novels
interactive.

Scholars of this technological phenomenon, such as Dougs Stewart (1992), wonder whether the
multimedia will have the potential to make the use of it more fun, less tedious and intimidating,
computer or whether it will revolutionize communications significantly, as it has not been done
since Gutenberg invented the printing press with movable type.

Stewart gathers observations from other scholars who recognize the appeal of multimedia for
to capture attention, but asking how far it will replace traditional channels of
information or if the integration of other technologies will help to provide greater clarity to the
documents, or rather: how likely is it that insensitive people, in the face of an activity that demands
participation and not merely being a spectator, use this tool to create your own
documents?

Scholars point out that the results of multimedia will depend on how active and creative
users result in their workday. The need to obtain, with the use of the
multimedia, social gains of the same class obtained with the computer; that for
achieve it, should not push multimedia in the same direction as commercial television,
so that it does not remain just a means of entertainment that offers immediate gratification.
Finally, it is noted: that although multimedia will progress unevenly and although there will be
silly manifestations to suffer, the goal is to achieve more powerful, efficient communications and
effective. In this sense, Lucie Fjeldstad reminds us that the first television programs
they were nothing but radio acts performed with a camera (Stewart, Dougs, 1992, 22).

THE MULTIMEDIA APPLICATIONS

Multimedia is a technology that is rapidly finding applications in various fields.

fields, for the social utility found in them.

It started with applications in fun and entertainment through video games. From
there it moved to applications in information and education, to move into the field of
training and instruction, to advertising and marketing until reaching presentations of
businesses, to the offer of services and products and to management. Initially, what is
take advantage of this resource is its enormous capacity to offer engaging information. In Mexico,
aside from the application of video games and computer programs used for the
self-learning software, the development of multimedia is driven by applications
in business presentations, the industry, training, and information kiosks.

In fun and entertainment

Multimedia is the foundation of video games, but it also has applications in hobbies.
cultural type such as interactive children's stories, exploration of museums and cities in a way of
interactive digital visits.

Multimedia in business
The main applications are found in: the induction, training, and instruction of personnel, the
quick, accessible arrangement and processing of high volumes of information, the kiosks of
information, presentations, exchange and circulation of information. Group work or
team for developing projects.

Carlos E. Thomé, marketing manager of Sybase Products in Mexico points out as

benefits of multimedia in business: the increase in user performance, the reduction
of costs in training, the reduction of productivity delays of programmers,
by shortening the learning curve; which allows for taking advantages and increasing the utilization of
team. Identify the problem of managing the change from an old system to a new one,
when this is substantial, as it requires relearning sequences; however, it states that there is no
so much trouble when the change adds visual appeal. Another problem, which he points out, it
they constitute errors in the resource requirement when the tool or the
the application's structure results in a waste of time for support or development people and
it represents a high cost (PC WORLD No. 122.35).

In advertising and marketing

The main applications are: multimedia presentations for business, products and
services, the offer and dissemination of products and services through information kiosks.

Information kiosks are multimedia machines located in strategic public spaces,

with a certain type of devices that, through an application, access data and allow the
user interact with them, thus obtaining information.

The kiosk provides information in an engaging way, serving as support for museums, centers
commercial spaces, bank waiting rooms, restaurants, hospitals, clinics, etc. The function of
A kiosk is to transmit cultural, commercial or service processing information and provide
access to information to engage in training or learning. To fulfill such
functions, it is necessary to periodically evaluate the information it provides, update it and
to present it permanently with sporadic changes (ibid).

In the dissemination of knowledge and understanding

The feature of multimedia interactivity that allows navigating through the program and searching
The information, without having to go through it all, allows technology to be applied in the new ones.
media in two different ways and used in three alternative forms (See Table No. 5):

Table No. 5:
Methods of application and alternative uses of Multimedia.
MULTIMEDIA
IN THE
NEW
MEDIA
a) As a means
of learning
By interaction,
at your own pace,
simulating
real situations.
with games that
they streamline skills

b) How middle
informative
Connected to
libraries
electronic
Accessing
information, from
house, by mail
electronic

THE USES
DE The
MULTIMEDIA.
Medium of
orientation.
Presentations
multimedia of
indices of
orientation en
banks and museums.
By modules or
kiosks of
information.
Medium
didactic.
Training
interactivity and
simulations).
Theoretical domain
In the administration

Multimedia allows for the usual product inventories to be visible, more than by
number columns, by records and inspections of video cameras of the shelves of
storage, carried out by the administrator of this. It also allows reviewing and analyzing reports of
clients conducted via video, in a faster and more effective way. The execution of the work in
collaboration is also possible, even with people who are in distant or different places.