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There is no doubt that the World-Wide Web is a powerful medium for us to communicate with each other, but it also presents possibilities for us to think about ourselves in new ways in relation to time, space, borders, other human beings and machines. The World-Wide Web, however, is part of an ongoing historical movement called 'Multimedia,' a movement that has engaged in questions about our relationship to technology and to one another for well over a century. In this essay, I will introduce a number of concepts in multimedia and some of the pivotal thinkers that contributed its development. From this survey, we will see that there is an underlying theme in this movement that prizes centering the user, cultivating audience interaction, and supporting creative expression. In addition, I will discuss the implications of these themes and the future of multimedia.
Detera, Eydie. Elements of Information Design (2001). Articles>History>Multimedia