Campfires to Fiber Optics
A Brief History in Multimedia
From the dawn of communication through the ages, and looking towards the future, Multimedia had been a guiding influence in our civilization and a way forward for our society.
From the earliest histories, mankind has used visual aids to help enhance the understanding of his communication to his audience. In the earliest of times, this may have been as simple as casting shadow puppets on the cave walls using the flickering firelight, or drawing images in the dirt to help illustrate the points they were making, or simply to enhance the impact of their story. The truth is, these methods were effective, and thus were carried over throughout the history of communication. (Robinson, 2004)
The concept of multimedia is simple, media is a form of communication, and utilizing multiple methods of communication, result is the concept of “Multimedia”. While the term is generally used to refer to technological forms, the role it plays in our communication is the same. The goal of multimedia is to use effective communication of terms and ideas through the use of a multitude of senses, most often those of auditory and visual. Using today’s technology the concept of multimedia has become a specific type, or area of communication.
While today’s definition of multimedia may be different, the biggest reasons for that are not changes in communication, but rather changes in the technology that is available to us. (Jadens, 2009) Multimedia communication has grown to include more than just a speaker and visual aids. Today we can add music, video, interactivity that lets the audience control the story, and even share the entire thing to almost anyone, anywhere in the world!
From individual cell phone calls, to mobile classrooms, multimedia is growing and changing every day. “Smart phone” technology and increasing capabilities in wireless networks has brought about a dramatic increase in the ability to receive...