1. What are some of the key technical challenges with multimedia?

Answer: To understand the key technical challenges of Multimedia we need to understand the components, hardware and software of Multimedia, along with their respective issues.

Multimedia Software

In his book "MULTIMEDIA: Making it Work," Tay Vaughan reviews the hardware components needed to set up anywhere from a minimum (low-end) all the way to an ideal (high-end) multimedia computer configuration. Vaughan considers two classes of computers widely in use these days under the group of what is called a microcomputer: the Macintosh machine built by Apple Corporation and the PC, initially created by IBM (according to some historians...), but now manufactured in many similar, compatible designs by many other companies, around the world.

More than that, Apple Corporation recently released the tight grip on its hardware license behind its Macintosh machine, so we are witnessing a similar proliferation of other Macintosh compatible hardware machines from other computer manufacturers such as Power Computing Corp. This later development is a generally positive one, at least in one respect that will lower the prices of a Macintosh compatible machine (the economics’ demand and supply). The implications of that are not just in economic terms, but important to the evolution of multimedia, in general. Vaughan states in his book that from very beginning the Macintosh or even its predecessor, the Apple machine was built quite differently from a PC as built initially by IBM (early ‘80s). When IBM built their first machine, it tried to emulated, to a much smaller scale, its favored machine, or the machine of the time, a mainframe. Even other manufacturers, in a parallel development with IBM, did not deviate significantly from this basic idea, at that time. [Worth to mention here that Xerox Corp. has been credited to really invent the PC or multimedia machine, back in 1974 with its Star workstation at PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), which was equipped with a mouse and a graphical user interface - GUI, today!). By opposite, the Apple Corporation (not being a traditional computer manufacturer with some kind of bias toward a particular architecture) built a machine with a quite different look and feel (inspired by Xerox engineers (!?...). This machine was even at that time (late ‘70s) a multimedia machine: a user-friendly graphical interface (today formally called a GUI), a built-in sound capability, used a device called mouse, and it ran from very beginning things like games, that was a very early idea of multimedia (combining (animation) graphics and sound, at least).

Later, it came the Macintosh [please see 1, 9], with its multimedia and networking capability, clearly superior to any PC at that time, in 1984. Since then, both classes of machines made tremendous progress, the PC closing more and more the gap with the Macintosh as far as its multimedia capabilities. Vaughan points out that a milestone in this evolution was the design of the PowerPC microprocessor, a RISC like processor, similar to those employed by powerful workstation, dedicated to more complex tasks and therefore better multimedia like capabilities.

Vaughan in its book, before presents pure multimedia components of a microcomputer (PC or Macintosh families) reviews in quite detail the basic components of both machines, as well as various classes of machines. For instance, he covers Macintosh families of microcomputers like those based on a Motorola 6800, 68010, 20, 30 and 40 microprocessors and today’s PowerPC (601, 602, 603, 604). Then specific machines like Quadra, Centris, Performa, or more recent Macintosh models like 6x00, 7x00, 8x00 or 9x00 series. He also describes portable or palmtop version like PowerBook or Newton.

Similarly for the PC class, grouped by type of microprocessor it implements, Intel 8088, 80286, 80386, 80486, and most recent Pentium 5 (80586) or Pentium Pro (P6 or 80686, multi-processor capable) with clock speeds from 4.7 MHz to over 200 MHz. In both cases, Macintosh and PC class in addition to the CPU architecture, Vaughan covers RAM sizes, hardisk, diskettes, or more recent components such as CD-ROMs or SCSI ports that allow for a better interchange of information between computers and/or other multimedia specific devices. All these components come in a variety of capacities and capabilities. Or, other basic components like keyboards and mice, trackballs, joysticks, sound and specialized monitors that can handle superior graphics, all these later ones being more specific to multimedia type of applications.

Another major component of a modern Macintosh or PC these days, the networking capabilities are described in detail by Vaughan [see also 5, 10 in bibliography]. Networking and later development such as Internet and World Wide Web are becoming more accepted as parts of the multimedia definition.

The other specialized multimedia components are CD-ROM recorders, Videodisc Players, mini-microphones and mini-video camera, or mini-speakers, all along with specialized high resolution display terminals. Other devices such as scanners with pertinent optical character recognition (OCR), infrared remotes, voice recognition systems, digital cameras, projectors, as well as their interfaces to the microcomputers such as Macintosh and PC are described as key additions to a complete, truly multimedia capable machine. [This area is nicely and more comprehensively than Vaughan covered in 1, 2, 6, 11, 12, and 13 in bibliography.]

Multimedia Software

As many authors describe in the literature, multimedia capable computer, i.e., with all hardware installed devices as listed above, is worthless without the specialized software to drive it. It is very important to understand that multimedia software is a class by itself. Most microcomputers in most situations these days are (still) used primarily for business purposes. Therefore, they come loaded, besides one of the following operating systems: MS/PC-DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows NT 3.51/4.0, Windows 95, OS/2 or MacOS 7.5, also with business software: Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Database Management Systems, Graphics, Presentation Software, Telecommunication, and perhaps a set of some Utilities. Some of these come already combined, such as Microsoft Office (for Macintosh and Windows), Corel Office, or Lotus Notes. [see also 2, 11, 13 in bibliography]

Multimedia books authors groups multimedia software separately from business systems, even though in the case of graphics packages there is some overlapping between the two major groups. Multimedia software. can be further divided into: Painting and Drawing family (e.g., Harvard Graphics, MacPaint), CAD and 3-D (3-D Studio, Claris CAD), Image Editing (Color It!, Photoshop), OCR and Text Recognition (OmniPage, Type Styler), Sound Editing (Wave Edit, SoundEdit Pro), Video and Movie-Making (Animator Pro, VideoShop), Accessories (ClipMedia, Photo Disc).

The multimedia software can be basically grouped into software that manipulates video, sound, and graphics. These three components are the "heart and soul" of multimedia. This is why Vaughan as well as other multimedia experts cover in detail all these three areas, and in particular graphics (painting and drawing tools, video and animation). A great emphasis is put on the "digitization" concept, as a trend for both sound and video images in today's multimedia environment; and Vaughan in his book, does that at a nice extent. For instance, a number of sound, video/movie, and graphics formats are covered in detail as well as numerous software packages on both PC (Windows) and Macintosh platforms.

The other aspect Vaughan and other emphasizes extensively is combining the basic three components of multimedia: sound, images and animation into one consistent environment. An overview/outline type of description of major software packages in these categories is presented in Vaughan's book. Then he shows how interfaces between this unique environment, called multimedia, can be built to other software packages such as business word processors, spreadsheets, databases, presentation, and telecommunications. This resulting rich environment enhances both the multimedia and business software domain, therefore not just building a bridge between the two but created the "total computing environment".

Vaughan, for instance allocates an entire chapter to Authoring. And indeed, authoring emerges as the leading component of multimedia, because authoring combines in a unique way all components of multimedia: sound, graphics, animation, as well as those of business applications software: text processing, databases, networking, etc. According to Vaughan, the authoring tools can be grouped into: card- or page-based tools, icon-base tools, and time-based tools. Next, he describes the main features of these three groups: editing, organizing, programming, interactively, performance tuning, playback, and delivery features.

Many of multimedia books present the challenges on how these three groups of tools work, with specific examples for both Macintosh and PC (Windows) based microcomputers. For example, in the card- or page-based tool group, Vaughan presents shortly: HyperCard, SuperCard, ToolBook, (all for Macintosh) Visual Basic (for PC/Windows). In the icon-based tool category, he overviews: Authorware Professional (Macintosh and Windows), conAuthor and HSC Interactive (Windows). And in the time-based authoring tools category: Action! (Macintosh and Windows), Animation Works Interactive (Windows), Cinemation (Macintosh), Macromedia Director (Macintosh), MediaBlitz! (Windows), Producer (Macintosh and Windows) and PROmotion (Macintosh). Vaughan concludes this chapter with discussions on cross-platform tools, an area of great interest in today's topics related to multimedia technology. Specific such tools are shortly presented: PACo Producer (Macintosh), Director Windows Player (Windows) and Convertit! (Macintosh and Windows). [see also 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 13 in bibliography]

Putting all pieces together

Text, and tools to process, handle text, the well-known word processors, is one of the key components, a building block of multimedia. More than that, the text that needs to be processed in a multimedia application is above a simple word processors: the required capabilities are rather closed to what's called a desk-top publishing system. The way the text needs to put presented in a multimedia application requires special capabilities like special fonts, sizes and even style and color added to enhance the presentation capabilities. Adobe's Type Manager is one of the well known fonts manager and mentioned by Vaughan, too, in this sense. The capabilities of Macintosh vs. Windows systems are presented and compared, as well as specific tools fro font editing and design: ResEdit, FONTastic Plus, Fontographer, Metamorphosis Professional, FontStudio, Making Pretty Text. The state-of-the-art in text processing, hypertext, is covered at extent by Vaughan in his book.

The next multimedia's building block, the sound is presented; its basic physics concepts as well as modern technologies that supports its implementation in a microcomputer system. MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is compared to common Digital Audio implementation on a microcomputer system: the advantages and disadvantages of one vs. the other, as well as industry supported standards. Audio editing and related software tools concludes this chapter on the sound component of the multimedia.

Images are the next multimedia's building block covered by many of the below listed literature. The composition of an image (bitmap) and number of colors associated with are at the heart of images. Burger [3], for instance, explains the technical aspects of bitmaps, colors and associated software in great detail. Clip arts, scanning, vector-drawn vs. bitmaps, 2-D and 3-D drawing and rendering, computerized color, images formats for both Macintosh and Windows are just a list of technologies and concepts that need to be understood for a good understanding of how images are build and used in multimedia applications.

If the previous multimedia's building block dealt with still images, the next one, animation, deals with images in motion. Chorafas [4] starts by explaining the basic animation concepts and techniques: what makes an still image appear on a computer screen as animation. [see also 3, 7, 8, 14 in bibliography]

And finally, all of the above multimedia's building blocks culminates with the video and movie component. Video is the most complex component of multimedia, and requires not only special technology to be produced on a microcomputer, but large volumes of storage, as well. Vaughan starts off by explaining how video works in general, what video standards are (PAL, SECAM, NTSC). Then how video can be brought to a microcomputer environment: what the physical and technical requirements are. Rabb [14], for instance, concludes with how the microcomputer and TV can be bridged to create a more complete multimedia environment.

Selected Bibliography

[1] A Guided Tour of Multimedia Systems and Applications. (1995). Los Alamitos, California: IEEE Computer Society Press.

[2] Andleight, Prabhat K. (1996). Multimedia Systems Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR.

[3] Burger, Jeff. (1993). The desktop multimedia bible. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.

[4] Chorafas, Dimitris N. (1994). Intelligent multimedia databases: from object orientation and fuzzy engineering to intentional database structures. Englewood, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

[5] Fiber networks for voice, video, and multimedia services: 19 November 1992, Boston, Mass.

[6] Guide to Multimedia Storage. (1995). Neuilly-sur-Seine, France: AGARD; Linthicum Heights, MD, U.S.

[7] Hypertext/Hypermedia Handbook (1991). New York: Intertext Publications: McGraw-Hill.

[8] International Workshop on Multi-Media Database Management Systems. (1995). Blue Mountain Lake, New York.

[9] Macintosh product registry; The world of Macintosh multimedia. (1991). Vero Beach, Florida: Redgate Communications.

[10] Multimedia Computing and Networking 1995: 6 - 8 February 1995, San Jose, California.

[11] Multimedia: full-service impact on business, education, and the home: 23-24 October 1995, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bellingham, Wash.: SPIE, 1996.

[12] Multimedia Systems. (1993). Berlin: Springer International: ACM Press.

[13] Proceeding of the International Conference on Multimedia Computing and Systems: May 14-19, 1994., Boston, Mass.

[14] Rabb, Margaret Y. (1993). The presentation design book: tips, techniques & advice for creating effective, attractive slides, overheads, multimedia presentations, screen shows & more. 2nd ed., Chapel Hill, NC: Ventana Press.

2. Is multimedia a fad or something here to stay? Defend your position.

Answer: According to some authors¾ and I subscribe to this idea, e.g., Tay Vaughan in "Multimedia, Make it Work", multimedia is not a fad. It’s rather a revolution, a culmination of various computer technologies developed over many years, that are integrated into a system as a whole. In few years¾ Vaughan says¾ multimedia will be an anachronism. All computers will readily integrate images, sounds, and motion video¾ and this capability will be built onto the motherboard as an essential part of what a computer is. Already, these computers are connected to the Internet for worldwide real-time sharing of high-quality images, sounds, and video.

Multimedia computers per se may disappear when hardware and software platforms become more capable and we take sound, animation, and video features for grated, but the fundamental concepts and techniques required to work with these elements will not disappear. [15, 20]

Multimedia is any combination of text, graphics art, sound, animation, and video delivered to you by computer or other electronic means. It is richly-presented sensation. When you weave together the sensual elements of multimedia¾ dazzling pictures and animation, engaging sounds, compelling video clips, and raw textual information¾ you can electrify the thought and action centers of people’s minds. When you give them interactive control of the process, they can be enchanted. Multimedia excites eyes, ears, finger-tips, and most importantly, the head.

Multimedia is woven combinations of text, graphics art, sound, animation, and video elements. When you allow an end user¾ the viewer of a multimedia project¾ to control what elements are delivered and when, it is interactive multimedia. When you provide a structure of linked elements through which the user can navigate, interactive multimedia becomes hypermedia. [16, 18, 20]

Multimedia requires large amounts of digital memory when stored in an end user’s library, or large amounts of band width when distributed over wires or glass fiber on a network. CD-ROM has emerged during the last few years as the most cost-effective distribution medium for multimedia projects: a CD-ROM disc can be mass produced for less than one dollar and can contain up to 72 minutes of full-screen video. Or it can contain unique mixes of images, sounds, text, video, and animation controlled by an authoring system to provide unlimited user interaction. In the long term, however, many experts view CD-ROM as an interim memory technology that will be replaced by new devices that do not require moving parts, such as flash memory. They also believe that the data highway becomes more and more pervasive, copper wire, glass fiber, and radio/cellular technologies will prevail as the most commonly-used delivery means for interactive multimedia. [17, 19, 21]

Now that telecommunications networks are global, and as information providers and content owners determine the worth of their products and how to charge money for them, information elements will ultimately link up on-line as distributed resources on a data highway¾ more like a toll road, where you will pay to acquire and use multimedia-based information.

In few years, interactive multimedia will be delivered to many homes throughout the world. Interest from a confluence of entertainment megacorps, information publishers and providers, cable and telephone companies, and hardware and software manufacturers is already driving this inevitable evolution, and profound changes in global communications strategy are on the drawing boards.

Entertainment companies that own content easily converted to multimedia projects are teaming up with cable TV companies like QVC or Viacom. Film studios like Disney and Warner Brothers are creating new divisions to produce interactive multimedia, and wealthy talents like Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen are forming new companies (DreamWorks) to join the action. Already, large media corporations are uniting to create huge conglomerates that will control the content of tomorrow’s information. Disney has merged with Capital Cities/ABC, Time Warner, Inc. has purchased Turner Broadcasting, and Microsoft has joined forces with NBC.

Business applications for multimedia include presentations, training, marketing, advertising, product demos, databases, catalogues, and networked communications. Voice mail and video conferencing will soon be provided on many local and wide area networks (LANs and WANs). [15, 18]

Multimedia will provoke radical changes in the teaching process during the coming decades, particularly as smart students discover they can go beyond the limits of traditional teaching methods. Indeed, in some instances teachers may become more like guides and mentors along a learning path, not the primary providers of information and understanding¾ the students, not teachers, become the core of the teaching and learning process.

Eventually, most multimedia projects will reach the home via television sets or monitors with built-in interactive user inputs¾ either on old-fashioned color TVs or on new high-definition sets. The multimedia viewed on these sets will likely arrive on a pay-for-use basis along the data highway.

In the near future we may see a new appliance become commonplace in many households¾ the $500 Internet Computer or Network Computer. Today, however, home computers of multimedia either own a computer with an attached CD-ROM drive or a set-top player that hooks up to the television, such as Kodak’s Photo CD player, Phillips CD-I player, or Panasonic’s 3DO player. Many homes already boast chip-based Nintendo, Sega, Sony, or Atari game machines connected to the TV. [17, 18, 20]

In hotels, train stations, shopping malls, museums, and grocery stores, multimedia are becoming available at stand-alone terminals or kiosks to provide information and help. Such installations reduce demand on traditional information booths and personnel, add value, and they can work round the clock.

At the convergence of technology and creative invention in multimedia is virtual reality or VR. Goggles, helmets, special gloves, and bizarre human interfaces attempt to place you "inside" a life-like experience. VR requires terrific computing horsepower to be realistic. In VR, the cyberspace is made up of many thousands of geometric objects plotted in three-dimensional space¾ the more objects and more points that describe the objects, the higher the resolution and the more realistic your view.

"Multimedia is not a fad, it’s a phenomenon here to stay! Multimedia is revolutionary and will change our lives. Markets are evolutionary, and consumers take incremental steps up the technology ladder. It will take about ten years for the multimedia seeds we plant today to fully bloom." - Sally von Bargen from 21st Century Media, 1992.

Selected Bibliography

[15] Rimmer, Steve. (1994). Advanced Multimedia Programming. McGraw-Hill

This book picks up where Rimmer's recently-published Multimedia Programming for Windows book leaves off. Multimedia applications developer and best-selling author Rimmer explains how to create state-of-the-art multimedia programs building full-motion video, sound, music, graphics, and text. It also covers more advanced multimedia topics such as how to integrate videotapes into multimedia applications.

[16] Pilgrim, Audrey. (1995). Build Your Own Multimedia PC. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill

Get in on the excitement of the multimedia age! Build Your Own Multimedia PC & Save a Bundle 2nd Edition Just follow the simple steps in this exciting new guide from one of America's premiere do-it-to-yourself computer experts to build your own multimedia workstation. It's quick and easy to upgrade a PC to an MPC or add video, sound, animation and graphics capabilities to your present PC. There are clear, concise descriptions on how to build a multimedia PC suitable for business, training, education or entertainment. Totally updated to include the very latest technology, the book guides you through assembling an MPC system including CD-ROM drive, MIDI or C sound, modems, fax scanners and more. The included CD-ROM provides you with valuable multimedia shareware to get you up and running.

[17] IEEE Computer Society Press. (1995). A Guided Tour of Multimedia Systems and Applications. Los Alamitos, California

[18] Reynolds, Angus. (1994). Building Multimedia Performance Systems. McGraw-Hill

This book addresses what multimedia performance support systems (PSS) are, why companies adopt them, and how the reader can develop them. Applications developers, software designers, and computer professionals interested in expert systems and PSS will discover the what, when, and why of technology-based performance support. Packed with checklists, figures, flowcharts, graphics, graphs, line drawings, tables, and other idea-clarifying aids, this practical book is accompanied by a disk that includes all the files needed to create a fully functional performance support system.

[19] McCormick, John. (1994). Create Your Own Multimedia System. McGraw-Hill

If you think multimedia is big now, wait until it becomes accessible to the people who need it most. Artist, musicians, publishers, educators, advertisers, marketing personnel--people whose careers could be transformed by interactive sound and video--have only just begun to experiment with multimedia as an occupational tool. For all those who can benefit from multimedia but lack the computer knowledge to do so, this book can break down the barriers that prevent them from taking full advantage of multimedia technology.

[20] Aldred, Barry. (1996). Desktop Conferencing and Multimedia Communications. McGraw-Hill

Desktop conferencing is a rapidly emerging technology that will transform the desktop computer into the primary business tool for personal communication. Recent developments in communications, multi media and collaborative computing have brought costs and usability within reach of a mass market. Major investments are being made by computer hardware and software manufacturers, by telecommunications suppliers and by chip providers. New generations of application software and value added network services are under development.

[21] Gurewich, Ori and Gurewich Nathan. (1994). Easy Multimedia: Sound and Video for the PC Crowd. McGraw-Hill

PC users shouldn’t let hardware limitations or a lack of programming experience stop them from jumping on the multimedia bandwagon. New software products make it possible for them to create their own magnificent multimedia presentations for business, home, and educational use. This book reveals how to put multimedia to work in applications that feature full-motion video, sound and sound recording, colorful animation, and much more.

3. How can multimedia stimulate collaborative and learning among students and/or faculty in new educational paradigms such as virtual classrooms and distance education?

Answer: What passes for groupware is, in fact, a very primitive attempt to mediate the many nuances of human collaboration. To collaborate¾ literally, "to labor together"¾ takes place by dint of a repertoire of analog signals: nonverbal and metaphorical communications, for example. Yet humans are also highly dependent on formal systems of symbols¾ especially verbal language and number systems¾ for coordinating collective behavior.

The problem with today’s groupware is that it’s too digital. Hints of tomorrow’s more analog solutions might look like can be found in a handful of high-end commercial and academic computer systems that are being used to create virtual-reality environments. Almost all software development has focused on the digital, rather than the analog, component of human communication. [25, 26]

Groupware developers fail to appreciate the confusion that can arise when a complex decision-making process is reduced to queries and responses in a running scroll of prose or columns of numbers on a spreadsheet. That these truncated methods of communication find market acceptance is testimony to how undemanding on-line collaborators have become. These tools constrain our ability to think outside the box of words, numbers and literal pictures. A few organizations, however, are pushing the envelope of collaborative systems, attempting to harness the analog as well as the digital side of human communication.

Today’s groupware products are mostly unspired extensions of existing applications, but a few organizations are moving toward what has become the analog groupware. The creation of a virtual ecosystem is perhaps the ultimate groupware challenge.

The means the groupware collaboration is very diverse these days. Some multimedia applications already have been adapted to an ATM network infrastructure, for instance. These include desktop-video collaboration, distance learning, news and entertainment video distribution (video-on-demand), multimedia kiosks, and medical imaging.

Desktop-video collaboration (DVC) is the fastest growing multimedia application. It includes application sharing and videoconferencing. DVC significantly improves worker productivity by streamlining the decision-making process, thereby reducing time to market for new products and services. Face-to-face meetings by key decision makers, that today often require transoceanic air travel and considerable downtime, are being replaced by high-quality videoconferences from desktop to desktop. [22]

Delivering multimedia applications to employees' desktops, however, is a big networking challenge. Today's computer networks have been optimized for bursty data traffic. Multimedia applications, however, rely upon continuously flowing streams of compressed digital audio and video information. The streaming nature of multimedia applications is at odds with the contention schemes employed by today's computer networks. When the network becomes busy, everything slows down, creating bottlenecks for real-time audio and video.

Distance learning and remote classroom applications extend desktop videoconferencing over a metropolitan or wide-area network. An instructor in one location can teach classrooms of students in remote locations. Typically, the classrooms are equipped with two-way communications so the lessons can be interactive. High-quality video images, low-delay, and point-to-multipoint capabilities are required. In addition, a video archive is often required to replay recorded classes for students who were unable to attend the live class.

Broadcast-quality video delivery bridges the gap between content providers and consumers of professional video programming (such as television stations and cable operators). Video-content providers can upload their video programs directly into the video-information provider's (VIP) video archiver, opening up a vast market of prospective customers for the content provider. A VIP network, can provide a single, convenient source of digital broadcast video to multi-service operators (MSOs), replacing a multitude of other sources of video information such as satellite and microwave feeds, couriers, and express mail delivery.

The VIP network can deliver broadcast quality video. It gives television programmers and news organizations unprecedented control, speed, and economy in obtaining video programming such as late-breaking news stories or live news coverage from around the world. Producers and programmers can search the VIP's video archiver using key words and preview the video program before deciding to download it. Downloading video programming even can occur in real time, going directly into an MSO's head-end in the time slot allocated fro the program.

Selected Bibliography

[22] Bunzel, Mark, J. and Morris, Sandra, K. (1993). Multimedia Application Development: Using Indeo ™ Video and DVI Technology. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill

This edition of this best-selling guide examines the entire process behind the construction of a multimedia production, including new implementation with ActionMedia II, Windows, and OS/2. It offers software developers and video producers step-by-step guidance on: selecting the appropriate DVI hardware and software and setting up a multimedia workstation; implementing the system software and tools of multimedia production for graphics and animation, capturing and displaying stills, creating motion video and special effects, adding sound production, and bringing it all together with DVI programming and authoring features; planning the project and estimating human resource and financial budgeting requirements; preparing the final testing stages and selecting the ideal distribution media.

[23] Hofstetter, Fred, T. (1995). Multimedia Literacy. McGraw-Hill

Students will become multimedia literate with the skills and experience to build multimedia presentations upon completion of this text. A CD-ROM containing a tutorial version of the PODIUM hypermedia application generation is packaged with each text and contains all the software needed to complete the tutorials. This richly illustrated, four-color text, designed for the novice, is filled with numerous examples and exercises appropriate for self-study as well as in the classroom. Step-by-step tutorials define, demonstrate and guide the student through basic skills that will enable the student to create crisply typeset text, full color pictures, animations, audio commentary, motion video clips and stereo sound tracks. Hardware, software, sound graphics, images, interaction, video platforms, commercial products, authoring, interface design, and the future of multimedia are all covered. Students will learn to browse, receive, and send multimedia objects on the National Information Superhighway.

[24] Szuprowics, Bohdan, O. (1995). Multimedia Networking. McGraw-Hill

Today, most multimedia is done on stand-alone computers because current networks aren't powerful enough to transmit full-motion video. But by using the products and techniques described in this book, network managers, planners, and developers will be able to network all types of multimedia PCs and transmit full-motion video, CD-quality audio, and data over their LANs. Bohdan O. Szuprowicz describes successful multimedia systems that boost productivity and competitiveness of new restructured enterprises, providing in-depth coverage of interactive multimedia technologies, the development of multimedia transmission standards, pertinent, networking architectures, and multimedia internetworking requirements.

[25] Reynolds, Angus and Iwinski, Thomas. (1996). Multimedia Training: Developing Technology-Based Systems. McGraw-Hill

A complete guide to building effective, technology-based training systems. What is technology-based training? Why are more companies adopting technology-based systems? How do you know when it's the right choice for your company? How do you get started? Can you avoid the costly trial-and-error learning method? These are just a few of the questions answered in this hands-on guide by two of the most respected and widely known experts in the field. By following their practical advice, you'll have no trouble developing your own sophisticated multimedia courseware training materials without wasting time. Get details on how to put the system you choose into place, as well as tips on how to avoid common pitfalls and information on software and hardware. Case studies from companies such as Aetna, Magnavox, and Southern Pacific will help you benefit from their experiences. In addition, the bundled CD-ROM contains a licensed version of the Authorware Working Model with all the files you need to create fully functional lessons. Covering Windows and Macintosh environments, this example-filled book CD-ROM will broaden your understanding and build your confidence--giving you hands-on experience developing a technology-based training system before applying your skills on the job.

[26] Keyes, Jessica et. al. (1996). The Ultimate Multimedia Handbook. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill

The Definitive Guide to Multimedia From the Industry's Best and Brightest With advances in multimedia technology almost as frequent as the appearance of new Web sites on the Internet, you need complete, up-to-the-minute information to take full advantage of multimedia's cutting-edge capabilities. Featuring contributions from some of the best multimedia minds in industry and academia, this comprehensive sourcebook covers all of the hottest new tools and technologies, including interactive 3D Internet over cable, videoconferencing, virtual reality, interactive television, and more. Contributors from Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Digital Equipment, Kaleida Labs, Sun Micro-systems, IBM, Sprint, and other leading organizations and universities provide you with hard-to-find information and advice, moving from introductory through advanced topics. Recognizing the explosion of multimedia on the Internet, the book includes detailed chapters on multimedia on the world Wide Web, the Web in 3D, network requirements for the Internet, VRML, and other Internet-related topics. You'll also find expert, practical advice and guidance on: Adding animation, video, sound--even smell--to multimedia applications; Publishing over the Internet with HTML; Working with 3D interactive TV; Building a multimedia Web site on the Internet and designing Web pages with text, graphics, and sound; Producing your own CD-ROM; Sorting out legal, security, and privacy issues; Embedding multimedia in knowledge-based systems; Overcoming limitations of multimedia across the Internet. . .and other vital aspects of multimedia, all presented in lively, easy-to-read language supplemented with lots of eye-catching images, time-saving checklists, and fascinating case histories. In addition, you'll find an extensive resource guide with details on all of the major Internet providers, listings of Mosaic development tools and Web sites, and more.

1. Go to the following demo pages:

Try 3-5 queries on each system. Study their performance (supported features, database size, response time, query interface, quality of query results, etc.) Write a one page summary for each site.

Virage

http://www.virage.com/online/

Answer: This Web site was the simpler, the "poorest" in features compared to all the others visited as part of this assignment. However, it was interesting in the sense of providing random generation of similar shapes and images. The provided randomization capability was at various levels of granularity. From a top level, totally at the site engine’s algorithms discression, all the way to a more user control randomization where you can specify your parameters, such as number of objects or dimensions.

The overall performance was very good, even though I have tried it at "peak" time, around noon Pacific Standard Time. However, part of the good performance may be the simplicity of the site. Same can be said about the response time: very good, almost instantly.

The database size was small to moderate at best. The query interface fairly simple and straight forward, with no special capabilities, compared to most of Web sites I visited over the past couple of years.

The quality of query results was good. The individual queries generates similar images or graphics to the given set of choices. I went beyond the suggested 3 to 5 queries; it was more like that amount for most of the given choices.

The information supplied long with individual pictures was very limited, even though it might suggest before to actual go to it that fairly good amount of detail will be supplied.

I did not find something common these days at major Web sites: the downloading or trial offer capabilities/option. I also did not recall finding a hits count area.

IBM QBIC (Query By Image Content)

http://wwwqbic.almaden.ibm.com

Answer: As expected, this being an IBM Web site a much more richer, professional set of capabilities were provided. I actually was quite impressed.

General

First of all, some general observations. This Web site provides art pictures/painting search capabilities with links to three major, reputable sites/institutions: UC Davis, Museum of Fine Arts of San Francisco, and French Ministry of Culture.

The start up Web site provides a very rich content and suite of features. Database size (and again I run more than 3 to 5 queries, perhaps tens of them) appears to be quite large.

This site received a 4 star rating from McKinley Group's editorial team, that supports pretty much my initial impressions, without being by far an expert, just a casual user.

Other general observations: It provides an area for feedback, where you can send in your comments or e-mail. It provides (this being almost the rule these days for every Web site) further links and some demo/trial and downloading capabilities. Performance and query interfaces were very good.

Now, some specifics for each of the three major sub-sites.

UC Davis

This is a much simpler Web page (in content and format) compared to the other two. Database size, also, appears to be smaller than the other two. Very good performance for "peak hours" time of access, partially due perhaps, to a less complex site.

Museum of Fine Arts of San Francisco

This was the most impressive of all three. Very rich page format (plenty of information supplied). The offered database (again I tried much more than 3-5 queries) appears very large. Query interface was the best of all three supplied links.

Other capabilities included: random pictures generation (in real time). It provides very rich additional information (history of given pictures/painting images) in text format and available for downloading; therefore excellent for performing research type of work. The general search capabilities where very good, with couple of option that you can choose from.

Another impressive area was that offering Tours, Highlights, Comments area. This capability also based on query capability, in addition to step-by-step approach.

Also, it provided Help and Instructions on how to perform the search (queries). And an area of What’s New (at the time I visited, the "Japanese Prints."

French Ministry of Culture

I am not sure how the link to this site was accomplish. If it was an overseas link, as far as performance I was impressed. I thought for a moment that I just was lucky (again this was tried at peak hours). Once of twice came up a little bit slower then the others, but in general a very quick link was established!

The number of offered pictures per screen was an option (good). I was disappointed by clicking on "View full size capability" that did not produce anything more larger than maybe 50 percent of the initial small icon . However, the quality of query and graphics was very good. Database size appeared to be fairly large (again based on my several searches).

Like the previous site, this one offered information on number of queries that visited this site (hits in network/web terminology), a pretty standard component.

Columbia visual seek

http://disney.ctr.columbia.edu:8021/VisualSEEk

http://www.ctr.columbia.edu/webseek

Answer: Under this assignment there are actually two sites to visit, somehow related and with some common features, look and feel.

disney.ctr.columbia.edu:8021/VisualSEEk

Black background that personally (I hope is not "cultural", I prefer the light blue) I found it a little bit annoying.

At the time I visited 3700 hits were recorded. Java enabled Web Browser technology.

Database size is apparently large based on several queries I ran.

It provides an interesting sub-component: SaFe (Space and Feature) query system (slow, not too rich in features). Also, provides grouping as well as random capability.

I’ve got couple of errors when searching for URL (New) category.

It offered links to an interesting and important white paper "VisualSEEk: a fully automated content-based image query system", by John R. Smith and Shih-Fu Chang, Department of Electrical Engineering and Center for Image Technology for New Media, at Columbia University, New York, N.Y. [10027 USA {jrsmith, sfchang}@itnm.columbia.edu]

www.ctr.columbia.edu/webseek

Again that all black background, uncomfortable to me (I thought initially that’s a problem with my machine, I tried to reload...) However, rich page content (provides over 123 categories of images to search.

It also provides links to many other places and very good performance taking in consideration the popularity and richness of the site.

It makes use of Java technology and had registered over 665,000 hits so far (very impressive!). It also provides good sub-grouping and query interfaces, and not just still images; video and animation, too...

In conclusion, from all the sites I visited, the last one was the most comprehensive, complete to me. The only down side, this black background. They should had kelp it white, by default. Sometimes too much colors, "bells and whistles" is not good.

2. View a movie or view a commercial. Watch for multimedia techniques. Try to find examples of digital imaging, rendering, animation, morphing, superimposition, replacement and surround sound. How could the movie or the commercial have been improved through additional use of multimedia?

Answer: I chose to view a interactive computer presentation at work on "New Millennium Space Programs." Here is a list of suggested improvements through additional use of multimedia:

· This interactive computer based presentation is somewhere between a movie, show-and-tell like and to some extend a multimedia, interactive program.

· A good interactive program should balance design and programming, the possible and the practical, making full use of the technology’s unique abilities.

· The best multimedia designs are transparent to the user, creating an environment space in which the user forgets he is relating to a machine and feels motivated to explore. The design calls attention to the piece’s content, rather than to itself, what is called organic design. This capability is partially fulfilled by the work I reviewed.

· Before you can decide how to tell the story, you have to know what information, what mood, what feeling. Multimedia is a visual form of communication, so understanding video and film media¾ and how to advance a story visually rather than with words¾ is critical. As filmmakers know, a plot often advances best not with words through a carefully chosen images or a dramatically composed shot.

· In an interactive medium, you have the opportunity to make the user a participant in the story takes. Interactive video and animation are particularly effective in creating highly realistic simulations. Now you give users the opportunity to make choices that will test their knowledge or skill. They can suffer consequences in a non threatening environment, as well as reap stimulated rewards for a job well done.

· Performance. Good performance means smooth operation and quick response¾ the result of an economically designed authoring code. Simplicity is the best strategy. Another term for program performance is program stability. If it runs fine one moment but goes flaky the next, don’t deny the problem exists or pray it goes away.

· Audio should be clear, with consistent volume and no distortion. The achieve this, audio clips should be optimized to the maximum kilohertz rate your target platform and media development software allow.

· Video should be reasonably sharp and smooth-running. For the vast majority of computers, video must be designed to run in a window smaller than the full-screen display and at a frame rate typically less than half that of analog video speeds to create smooth motion and audio synchronization.

· Perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of multimedia design is the color palette optimization. Just because your multimedia computer is capable of displaying 16.7 million colors, doesn’t mean you can design your graphics in 32-bit color. Most multimedia environments will require you to "dumb down" your graphics.

· Multimedia component of any work should be designed to work on two levels, a design level and a technical level. After incorporating all the elements, you’ve reached the optimum design/performance ratio when your program looks great on the screen and functions smoothly on the target platform without technical glitches.

1. What are the objectives of JPEG and MPEG?

Answer: JPEG, a predecessor of MPEG, is a n International Telecommunication Union (ITU) encoding standard for still pictures that was adapted to handle video, resulting in Motion-JPEG. A compressed video stream actually consists of a sequence of JPEG pictures at a rate of 24 or 30 frames per second. At these rates, however, any picture is very much like the picture immediately preceding or following it, which produces less than optimal compression. A Motion-JPEG video stream occupies from 10 to 20 Mbps. MPEG, on the other hand, performs interframe compression by computing some frames from other frames to reduce the information needing to be sent.

The JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) compression scheme was developed for use with still images. It compresses about 20:1 before visible image degradation occurs. JPEG is also used for compressing full-motion video on Macintosh, PC, and other platforms, but at higher compression rates, it is lossy, sacrificing a lot of image data. When a compression ratio of 30:1 is applied to a full color frame of video, the image storage requirements is reduced from 1,000K to 44K, and the data transfer rate is reduced to above 1 MB per second, well within the capabilities of most storage devices.

To compress an image with JPEG, the image is divided into 8x8 pixel blocks, and the resulting 64 pixels (called a search range) are mathematically described relative to the characteristic of the pixel in the top-left corner. The binary description of this relationship requires far less than 64 pixels, so more information can be transmitted in less time. JPEG compresses slowly¾ depending upon computer speed, but JPEG can compress images as much as 75:1 with loss.

The MPEG standard has been developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group, a working group convened by the International Standards Organization (ISO) and International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) to create standards for digital representation of moving pictures and associated audio and other data. MPEG1 and MPEG2 are the current standards. Using MPEG1, you can deliver 1.2 Mbps (megabits per second) of video and 250 Kbps (kilobits per second) of two-channel stereo audio using CD-ROM technology. MPEG2, a completely different system from MPEG1, requires higher data rates (3 to 15 Mbps) but delivers higher image resolution, picture quality, interlaced video formats, multi-resolution scalability, and multi-channel features.

MPEG may become the method of choice for encoding motion images because it has become widely accepted for both Internet and DVD-Video. For MPEG1, hardware playback will become common on motherboards and video cards; software decompression algorithms for MPEG1, while slower than hardware solutions, are incorporated in QuickTime, and Microsoft has licensed a driver from MediaMatics for use with Windows 95. MPEG2 requires dedicated hardware fro playback but looks better than a television screen.

ATM (Asynchronous Transmission Mode) is emerging as the networking technology of choice for multimedia applications because it can support high bandwidth communications with low latency. In addition, ATM offers the capacity to statistically multiplex available bandwidth from one stream to another and one address to another. Although great progress has been made in recent years in the area of video compression standards, there are still many proprietary video-encoding techniques on the market. For example, many of the LAN-based videoconferencing applications use proprietary techniques that have been optimized to run well-suited for wide-area connections. MPEG2 is emerging as the leading standard for high quality video applications such as video broadcasting and video entertainment distribution. MPEG video/audio compression standards are defined by the ISO. While MPEG1 delivers VHS quality in 1.5 to 2.0 Mbps, MPEG2 can deliver to theater quality using from 4 to 60 Mbps. The MPEG2 encoding process requires sophisticated and expensive technology—an encoder can cost $50,000—and introduces a delay of hundreds of milliseconds. As a result, it is unlikely that MPEG2 will be used fro desktop videoconferencing in the near future.

To address the requirements of real-time video transmission over ATM, the ATM forum has endorsed using the real-time AAL5 variable bit rate (VBR) class of service, even through an MPEG2 stream actually consists of fixed, 188-byte packets running at a constant bit rate (CBR). Real-time VBR was chosen over CBR since MPEG2 already has its own time base, the Program Clock Reference, in its transport stream and does not need the time stamp provided in the AAL1 CBR class of service. Furthermore, AAL5 is more efficient than CBR since it has lower overhead, and the full 48 bytes per cell of payload are usable.

Using real-time VBR network connections, the proper amount of ATM network bandwidth can be allocated using QoS (Quality of Service)parameters to ensure reliable transmission of each video connection. Using real-time VBR, jitter and latency can be explicitly specified per user contract for each video connection, along with the allowable cell-loss and cell-error rates. Although video is very sensitive to jitter and latency, it is more tolerant of cell loss and errors since the decoding process can easily compensate for lost picture frames.

2. Explain the need for synchronization in multimedia systems.

Answer: Multimedia is a concept composed of a number of blocks or components: text, sound, images, animation, and video. These building blocks need to work in synchronization to create this unique environment, called multimedia. In particular the two key components, the video and audio must synchronize.

Synchronizing audio and video channels is not too complex when signals are moving in the forward direction, and there is sufficient bandwidth available in the synchronization at high speeds demanded by fast forward searches and rewind searches is obviously significantly more complex. The MPEG Standard is attempting to define the interfaces and tools for maintaining synchronization under all circumstances.

Prepare a report (12-15) pages delineating guidelines for planning and implementing a new technology based application in your organization. Examples of possible subjects include: networking, multimedia, CD ROM titles, distance learning, satellite delivered education, educational hypertext, desktop video conferencing, scholarly publishing in an electronic format, and instructional multimedia. Include a list of references.

Include the following:

- Scope of project

Rational for the project you choose. The key characteristics of the new application. The functional and technical specifications, performance characteristics, and required and desirable features.

- Organizational context

Guidelines of the organization and the environment in which the application will be used. Any problems that the new application will solve. Objectives for the new application. The requirements from the user community. Budgetary considerations and constraints.

- Implementation

Guidelines and methods for the approach used to implement the application. Resources requirements needed including user training.

- Evaluation

Description of the procedures and post implementation review. Strategies for measuring success.

Answer: The following delineates a rational and framework for using the Web in my work environment.

Introduction

Effective deploying the Web within a large enterprise requires planning, collaboration and technical work to make the Web easily used by non-technical staff, and to manage large amounts of information that will become available. The following outlines the rational and framework for using the Web in my work environment, as well as general guidelines for a successful deployment. Both an organizational as well as technical and management perspective are presented, with specific applications.

A Web design needs to consider the needs of users, providers, developers and impact of the Web on the enterprise’s infrastructure - while dealing with the concerns of management. This requires different skills. In many larger organizations (such as my workplace) there several people, usually from different organizations, who collectively are the Web Team.

Internal Web Use

The Web addresses many of the issues that we face as Internet use explodes. Now we can move beyond "how to connect" to how to use information. Companies are realizing the benefits of using the Web and starting to deal with the challenges:

1. Managing large numbers of clients

2. Connecting people to the information they need

3. Security

4. Preventing information overload

5. Insuring information integrity/management

6. Helping providers publish information

7. Reducing redundant work

8. Getting non-technical users started

9. Continual client software changes/improvements.

The Web provides the basic mechanism to change how information is shared within enterprises, but it is just the framework. Work needs to be done to make information available, to provide users with tools and training, and to help information providers publish their information. This is the challenge for the Web.

We need to understand that this is a difficult task. Chaos is very possible. (Cultural) inertia is possible. The Web is responsible for ensuring the successful deployment and use of the Web within the enterprise. If we can "manage" growth, add new sources and users and avoid getting out of control the benefits can be tremendous.

Keys To Be Successful

The Web is critical to the successful, and the managed growth of the Web. As we've seen the Web's job is a challenging one which requires juggling the needs of several different communities. This position requires a combination of technical, management, planning and organization skills. In most cases it will be done by a team of people with complementary skills who collectively are the corporate "Web".

So, how does the Web address the different demands put upon him/her? Here’s a list that outlines an approach to the Web that can take to help increase his/her/their chance of succeeding.

1. Focus

2. Enlist senior management support.

3. Manage organizational and technical challenges

4. Identify and implement the mechanisms needed to support wide-scale use.

5. Sell, sell, sell

6. Watch, listen, improve.

This is a very simple view. In reality, the specific steps needed will factor in where you are in use of the Web, your corporate culture, and other environment-specific factors. These steps are provided as a guide. It’s strongly believed that someone, or some team, needs to think through which of these steps, or other work not identified here, needs to be done.

Focus

In larger enterprises there will be many opportunities to use the Web - too many in most cases. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to meet the needs of all of these different groups. It’s suggested that the team narrowly focus on one or two groups to start, understand their needs in detail, and provide solutions that meet the needs of the target group.

The wise Web will keep the needs of the larger community in mind while developing specific solutions, and generalize solutions where possible.

The recommendation is:

1. Identify and focus on one target group

2. Understand how they could use the Web

3. Write a vision

4. Test and revise as needed

5. Write down all that has to be done

6. Get the right groups involved

7. Develop a strategy and agree to tasks

8. Identify how you can measure progress

9. Measure progress weekly

10. Update vision, strategy, and tasks as needed.

Some of these steps may not apply to any situation, and some organizations will need to address additional issues. But, in general, these are viable first steps towards setting up a successful web environment.

One of the dynamics in a large environment is the number of different groups, who all have different information needs. If you try to meet all of these needs, you will probably fail. So pick one, or some small number, of groups to focus on to start. Some of the information these people need will be useful to other groups. Once you have a base of users, growing the information base becomes easier, and you will have developed a support base.

Steps 5 to 7 above, address the need to think through all the work that will be needed. You will need help from several different organizations - networks may need to be upgraded, information will need to be sourced, clients will need to be identified and helped, training or documentation may be needed. Identify what is needed and get the right people involved. This may require senior management support, so figure out when and how to get them involved.

Finally, measuring success and identifying problem areas is a challenge in a widely distributed service like this. Identify simple ways you can keep track of how things are working, looking for areas that could be improved. Check usage of key pages and track them over time, or monitor mail sent from users asking for help - whatever gives you a sense of whether the Web is being used widely.

Enlist Management Support

This is essential for success. Eventually you will need management support to deal with:

1. Funding (especially infrastructure and Web work)

2. Information availability

3. The (inevitable) technology turf wars

4. Access to users.

Most companies start with "underground" efforts and create great excitement at the grass roots. To move beyond staff frenzy to a focused effort will require management support, funding and help. You may need to sell key managers by showing them what is possible, what the future may be. Continue to focus on key user group - get them to help, focus on benefits to these folks. Technical team will need business sponsor. This is about helping the business, not neat technology. Prepare for the ROI (Return On Investment) question.

Sure, you have heard this before. While it may seem obvious there is sometimes reluctance to do so in some companies, especially where Web use starts as an underground effort, and over time a group of Web-fanatics grows and prospers, doing all sorts of interesting things. At some point, however, they will need to go public. Perhaps funding is needed for dedicated staff, servers or networks. There may be a reluctance to "go public" and expose the informal work and group to the more formal, and more risk-adverse, organization. But it will need to happen to move the work into the mainstream.

You may want to be preparing for this by thinking through how to "sell" the right people in the company on the value of the Web to their staff. For example, how will having Web access help the sales team? What information do they need? Put together a demo of an environment that might address this opportunity, and show it to sales management.

Again, we recognize that you need to factor in your organization's culture, philosophy and state. But as we have said before, think it through and don't leave it to chance.

To start, the following is a model which focuses on the mechanisms and services that are needed to support large-scale Web use, i.e. it addresses the question "what do we need to do to support thousands of internal users?". As you go through it keep in mind that this is a general model - you will want to modify it to meet the specific needs of your organization, and to reflect your organization's culture and state of Web use.

There are three types of people we considered - the users, obviously (i.e., people in the organization who will use the Web to get information), the information providers (internal groups with information of interest to others) and developers (people who develop tools, applications or gateways to applications across the organization). Each of these classes of people have different needs, as shown above.

To meet the needs of these three groups seven specific types of mechanisms should be considered:

1. Kits/configurations of tools for users

2. Web applications (or gateways to existing applications)

3. Navigation systems

4. Shared or reference pages

5. Web toolbox for developers and publishers

6. Publishing systems

7. Information archive (or repository).

The final set of ideas in the model are that you should develop services which leverage the mechanisms you develop. For example, if you develop a common set of pages, incorporate them into a training strategy, document them in a user's guide, make them showcases for your consulting team.

While this may not be the exact right model for you, we hope it gives you some ideas and helps you to develop a model that will work in your situation.

Information Archives

How do you keep the core business information current? How can users be confident the information being used is the right information (most timely, accurate, valid)?

To be widely used by non-technical people your Web will need to eventually provide access to "corporate data". The Web Information Archives (or Information Repository) are a collection of shared information used by the enterprise (e.g. on the external Web server) as well as internally.

It will need to include security, levels of access, distribution mechanisms. How you source this will depend on where your information resides. Connections to existing information is the best strategy.

Archive tools may need to support extensions, different security levels, multiple feeds, filtering and be able to support daily updates. This may be a significant effort!

Cost savings: Reduced cost of information sourcing. Other benefits: improved information quality, improved ability to manage information. Costs: development/testing/production costs.

A Web-based information network model

Many questions have been raised. To deal with them you will need a plan of action. To help in this we've developed a reference model to address the key issues facing successful, wide-spread Web deployment, including:

a. generating interest and enthusiasm in using the web

b. helping people find information

c. making most relevant information easy to find

d. getting new users started

e. helping new groups publish on the web

f. minimizing ongoing support costs

g. keeping up with new information sources

h. sharing information about tools and technologies

i. insuring internal information is valid, up to date, secure

j. leveraging scarce resources

k. making sure the infrastructure can support needs.

You'll need to develop your own model, and identify the mechanisms and services your organization needs, based on your specific requirements, organizational culture and state of Web deployment.

Kits

Problem: There are many different Web tools. How do people get started? How do they keep up with constant changes to software? How can they be sure viewers work with browsers? How can you support what's being used?

Kits Benefits

Kit configuration management (i.e., providing tested, supported collections of user tools) is critical for large-scale deployment. Tested and supported kits make support, documentation, upgrading and licensing much easier to manage, and gives users one place they can go to for a "trusted" set of tools.

For large-scale deployment this should include a simple upgrade process - for example every user could have an upgrade disk that runs a script that goes to the network and gets the latest kit. The component software should be managed from a "corporate" software library.

As hard (or unpopular) as this may be, try to have as few different supported tools within the corporation as possible, and package pieces together. Without this support becomes a nightmare, especially as tools continue to version. (Note that several vendors (e.g., Netscape) are now providing complete suites of tools). This is not to say that there can't be other tools used - this is about supported tools.

The potential cost savings are significant. Reduces wasted time, simplifies update process, insures licensing is handled, reduces documentation and supports costs, and helps with volume discounting.

Lessons Learned

Top lessons we've learned about large-scale internal Web deployment can be summarized here:

1. Web use has a very different dynamic than other services - publishing and browsing are much easier, base technology is simpler, so many will use it.

2. Your focus will need to be on how to sustain this work over the long term, and for many people.

3. A combination of risk-taking, planning and ongoing attention are needed.

4. Focusing on one group (at least to start) helps to simplify/focus.

5. This is more than just a technical challenge, and will require a cross-functional team.

6. End users want it to be as simple and straight-forward as possible, and won't share your enthusiasm for details, neat tools.

7. Anticipate new roles and skills - information finder, information seekers, information designers, graphics people, integration experts.

8. Keep up with the constant changes in technology.

9. Continually push thinking - see how others are using new tools (e.g., personalized newspapers, subscriptions, audio, movie, new categories)

10. Sell, sell, sell - be an evangelist! Listen to what people need! "Just do it!"

Possible Web Applications

Identify applications needed, where there will be done, how they will be staged. The following is a potential list: Product Information, Knowledge Preservation, Project Information, Official Travel Guide, Access to Data Warehouse, Existing Catalogs, Product Support Databases, Employee Infobases, Training and Registration, Employee Property Management, Newswire Clippings, Policies and Procedures, Software Libraries, Jobs, Phone Directory, Benefits, Conference Room Reservations, Literature Ordering, Libraries, Stock Quote, Subscription Services, Performance Tracking, Engineering Groups and Information, Surveillance, Sharing Design Drawings, Application Front-end, Employee and Group Information, Whiteboard, Policies and Procedures, Conferencing, Historical Information , Events diary, Technology Centers, Art Libraries, Sales Support Centers, Directions, Competitive Analysis, Maps, Strategies, Indexing Engines, Financial-Management Query, Information Catalogs, Corporate Newsletters.

Every day we see new uses for the Web, or new tools being introduced that will let us do something new. These are some of the existing applications. Some of these are new applications that take advantage of the Web, while others are gateways to existing applications.

There could be hundreds of internal servers, and thousands of interesting external servers. How do people find information? How do they know what is available and avoid Web thrashing?

Helping users find information will be one of your biggest challenges. There are different types of navigation tools to consider:

1. Page navigation aids.

2. Consistent tools to help people travel through Web-space navigation metaphor, desktops, newspapers - whatever audience feels comfortable with.

3. Index of internal servers. Similar to WebCrawler, using tools to periodically gather index information from known servers.

4. Announcement directories. One or more directories to store and retrieve information about shared Web resources (name, URL, keywords, description). It could be a simple file or something more elaborate. Similar in concept to YAHOO, where it receives and stores announcements for later retrieval by others.

5. Search engines. Tools to support different search strategies. These tools complement external search tools (YAHOO, etc.). Make it easy to use (search, browse), easy to publish (rule-enforcing forms-based). Decide who can post. Consider allowing everyone, with Web as moderator.

Therefore, a new expert is needed - the "information seeker. Potential cost savings: information is visible; reduces time searching for information; reusable software components.

Web Pages

There is an overwhelming amount of places to go on the Web. How do people get started? How do they keep up with constant changes to information? Create and maintain a core set of Web pages with classes of information of most interest across the enterprise, with a consistent set of navigation tools. These may not be used by everyone, but should provide a good starting and ongoing reference point for users. This simplifies using the Web for non-technical people. Because it is already there and neatly categorized they can quickly see what is available.

Monitor usage to see what is of most interest, or what is not being accessed. Redesign to improve navigation. The Web needs to keep the pages current and effective. Potential cost savings: reduced page creation and maintenance costs across the enterprise. Pages can be reused and referenced in other enterprise servers.

How do technical people learn what is available? How can they share experiences and tools? How do we help people get started? The Web Toolbox is a collection place for descriptions, reviews and links to anything that makes creating or using the Web easier.

Some of the categories that may be included: Adobe Acrobat, Indexing tools, Announcements, Information Retrieval Tools, Authoring Tools Messengers, Browsers, Real Audio, Converters, Robots, Data Base Access, Searching tools, Diagnostic Tools, Security, Editors, Scripts, Filters, Sound Players, Firewall, Spiders, Forms (how to do), Statistics/tracking tools, Gateways, Verifiers, Graphics Tips, Viewers, Icon libraries, VRML, Image maps, Other toolboxes, News sources.

Some Organization Issues

Here’s a list of potential organizational issues:

- Is there a need for central philosophy?

- Scope of their responsibility?

- Some obvious cost savings

- Size, purpose, organization

- Needs senior management support

- Publishing standards. Some guidelines are needed

- Can anyone publish?

- External information should be closely managed

- What are publishers' responsibilities?

- Some information needs to come from content

- Who is responsible for authorized sources?

- May need to push 'right' people to publish

- Are there standards or guidelines?

- Clarify publisher responsibilities

- Educate publishers on these responsibilities - accuracy, timeliness, ongoing maintenance

- Consistent look and feel?

- Internal standards/guidelines control?

- External pages must have a level of consistency!

- Each may have very different look and feel

- Need to support interface evolution

- Should internal look different process than external so people know?

- Too much control will cause avoidance where they are

- Try minimal standard: logo, author, date, navigation bars, art work

- Does this need to be controlled?

- Provide what you want to see

- Data quality and management Need data management strategy

- Is this the information "right"?

- Move key legacy information to Web

- Should there be a "UL" approval stamp?

- Is it up to date? Accurate?

- How about informal information?

- Who manages Web data quality?

- The Web is a new source of culture power

- Dynamics will change over time.

Issues

How can we make it easy to create new Web information sites? How can we best share tools, icons and experiences? How do we publish "standards"?

Create a Publishing System(s) or Center(s) with a collection of tools and pages to help groups create and maintain. Helps new users get on-line quickly, gives you a place to put new tools:

1. HTML editors and converters HTML templates

2. Links to the Web archives search mechanisms

3. Feedback forms

4. Navigation Aids (icon, HTML code).

Include examples of existing internal Web sites, process descriptions, information taxonomies. New tools are becoming available in this area, e.g., PageMill and FrontPage. Potential cost savings: startup costs, shared tools, shared information, reduced development and support costs. Other benefits: common look and feel, sharing of new tools and information.

Summary

The Web can save costs and increase productivity, and is essential to be competitive in the future.

Effective long-term, wide-scale use of the Web will not happen without care and support. Initial use and growth could, but the issues will become too complex and inter-related. To use it most effectively in large enterprises we need:

An understanding of the challenges involved a cross-organizational plan for its use a technical strategy in support of this plan support tools and services a client and information deployment strategy.

References

Krol, Ed. (1994). The Whole Internet User’s Guide & Catalog. Cambridge, MA: O’Reilly & Associates

Peck, Susan and Mui, Linda. (1995). WebSite. Palo Alto, CA: O’Reilly & Associates

Dowd, Kevin. (1995). Getting Connected: Establishing a Presence on the Internet. Cambridge, MA: O’Reilly & Associates

Niederst, Jennifer, Freeman, Eddie and Peebles, Kathy. (1995). Web Design for Designers. Palo Alto, CA: O’Reilly & Associates.