First tutorial

Briefly discuss the history and future of multimedia.How might multimedia be used to improved the lives of its users? How might influences users in negative ways? What might be its shortcomings?

The history and future of multimedia:

                           In the strictest sense of the word, multimedia simply means "more than one medium." In other words, television programs, movies, even illustrated books are all examples of multimedia – they all use combinations of text, images, sounds, and movement. Multimedia has come a long way from its humble roots to today's cutting-edge modern animation and interactivity. In the real world, though, when most people talk about multimedia, they are talking about computer multimedia. The word has come to represent the realm of computer graphics, video games, on-screen presentations, and a whole world of other possibilities.

Multimedia was the video game Pong. Developed in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell (the founder of a then new company called Atari), the game consisted of two simple paddles that batted a square "ball" back and forth across the screen, like tennis. It started as an arcade game, and eventually ended up in many homes. A New Revolution .In 1976, another revolution was about to start as friends Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded a startup company called Apple Computer. A year later they unveiled the Apple II, the first computer to use color graphics. The computer revolution moved quickly:  1981 saw IBM's first PC, and in 1984 Apple released the Macintosh, the first computer system to use a graphical user interface (GUI). The Macintosh also bore the first mouse, which would forever change the way people interact with computers. In 1985, Microsoft released the first version of its Windows operating system. That same year, Commodore released the Amiga, a machine which many experts consider to be the first multimedia computer due to its advanced graphics processing power and innovative user interface. The Amiga did not fare well over the years, though, and Windows has become the standard for desktop computing. 2 Innovations Both Windows and the Macintosh operating systems paved the way for the lightning-fast developments in multimedia that were to come. Since both Windows and Mac OS handle graphics and sound – something that was previously handled by individual software applications – developers are able to create programs that use multimedia to more powerful effect. One company that has played an important role in multimedia from its very inception is Macromedia (formerly called Macromind). In 1988, Macromedia released its landmark Director program, which allowed everyday computer users to create stunning, interactive multimedia presentations. Today, Macromedia Flash drives most of the animation and multimedia you see on the Internet, while Director is still used to craft high-end interactive productions. Each new development of each passing year is absorbed into next year's technology, making the multimedia experience, better, faster, and more interesting.

A traditional way of thinking through something that is new is to recover its histories. The histories of multimedia are still being negotiated and include the histories of different media, the history of computing, and the history of the critical theories applied to multimedia. One history of multimedia is the history of the personal computer as it evolved from an institutional machine designed for numerical processing to a multimedia personal computer that most of us can afford. The modern computer as it emerged after World War II is a general-purpose machine that can be adapted to new purposes through programming and peripherals. The history of the computer since the ENIAC (1946) can be seen as the working out of this idea in different ways, including the techniques for managing different media. While the first computers were designed solely to do scientific and applied numerical calculations, they were eventually extended to handle alphanumeric strings (text), raster and vector graphics, audio, moving pictures (video and animation), and finally, three-dimensional objects and space. Today's personal computer can handle all these media with the appropriate peripherals, making multimedia development and consumption available to the home user.

                       Today multimedia might be defined as the seamless digital integration of text, graphics, animation, audio, still images and motion video in a way that provides individual users with high levels of control and interaction. The evolution of Multimedia is a story of the emergence and convergence of these technologies. As these technologies developed along separate paths for disparate purposes, visionaries saw the possibilities for the sum of the parts as well potential personal application in the broader societal context.

Multimedia is interpreted in its broadest sense to include communication of all kinds. One of the main aims of the time line is to place multimedia development on a continuum that begins with the invention of writing, as part of our continuing quest to communicate. (But actually we begin from the invention of movable type printing.) This is a work in progress. Rough dates are included initially and will be made more precise as we proceed.

Multimedia can improve the lives of users in its applications. The most significant one is improving the lifestyle today. Users can know the latest news that happening around the world without travelling. Moreover, it brings more entertainment to the user. Let take an example of mobile phone. In the past, users only use it to call other people. Currently, mobile phone is like ‘PAT’, Personal Assistant Tool. Many multimedia applications are invented as part of functions of mobile phone. Users can play online games, listening songs or RTM, watching movie or MTV, surfing internet, 3G call, capture photos, read image catalogues, record something, etc. Besides that, some hi-tech mobile phones even provide GPRS MAP (GM) that help users not get lost when travelling or driving at new places. Users can know the location through the graphic simulation on the GM.

Multimedia improve many ways of it user, one of the it is the lives of its users.

Nevertheless, multimedia might influence users in negative ways. Since it is very convenient and easy to use, people may use the multimedia invention and technology in the wrong ways. The most significant is the privacy of the user may be violated. Some users like to use mobile phone or digital camera to record the incident and publish it to ‘you tube’ which actually is violating human being right. In addition, some users may use the advanced multimedia software to edit the picture in order to create the story which can push the sale of magazine especially paparazzi.

Moreover, talking about its shortcomings, multimedia invention might always be misuse by some unmoral organizations when competes to get something. False news was made and spread by someone based on ‘edited picture’ through Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) or other web resources.

In a nutshell, multimedia has contributed a lot to people life today. Thus, users should not misuse it and should appreciate the multimedia application by being a morally good user.