http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Multimedia A listing of the most recently indexed works about Articles and Multimedia in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Multimedia http://tc.eserver.org/35765.html http://tc.eserver.org/35765.html Let’s examine a few trends and remember that Apple beat its competitors in the education market twenty years ago by having a rabid fan base along with compelling intuitive software. Microsoft Live’s community had 60 million users last time I checked. Working within the existing Live framework will be critical for any Learning Management Systems (LMS) play that Microsoft chooses to do in the future. http://tc.eserver.org/35766.html http://tc.eserver.org/35766.html Recently I looked at how Adobe is reworking Flash in preparation for the coming battle with Microsoft over the Rich Internet Application (RIA) space and, with it, the likely future of computer-based design. In this article we finally get to see just what forces Microsoft has assembled – and its three staged launches at the MIX 07 conference in Las Vegas effectively amounted to a declaration of all-out war. http://tc.eserver.org/35661.html http://tc.eserver.org/35661.html More and more organizations are establishing cross-border teams to take advantage of global talent and global markets. Location and time are no longer impediments to building the 'dream team' but in our rush to take advantage of these new media of e-mail, video conferences and the like we may not realize that there is also some learning for us to do on the cultural front. http://tc.eserver.org/35615.html http://tc.eserver.org/35615.html Have you noticed? There is currently a significant increase in the number of participants attending virtual events such as webinars, tele-events, live podcasts and web TV shows. http://tc.eserver.org/35568.html http://tc.eserver.org/35568.html Adobe AIR has grown immensely popular over the past months. With its popularity, many new applications have been released. During this period, the following 10 issues have been the mistakes I have seen most often among developers. Hopefully, this list can help you avoid the same mistakes when building your next AIR application. http://tc.eserver.org/35569.html http://tc.eserver.org/35569.html I get to see and play with a lot of really cool AIR applications (even when they’re still being developed). Every now and then I come across an app that totally ignores any best practices or usability rules. AIR provides developers with a lot of features that could potentially annoy users if not used wisely. I thought it was a good idea to write this article. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use these features, I just want you to think about them before you add them to your application. http://tc.eserver.org/35580.html http://tc.eserver.org/35580.html One small thing that’s annoyed me about Captivate ever since I started using it to create software demos is the default text. It starts off being a proper sentence, but doesn’t have closing punctuation (e.g. Select the [blah] menu). I’ve never bothered to investigate if I could change it--as I said, it’s a small annoyance. http://tc.eserver.org/35350.html http://tc.eserver.org/35350.html Before looking at tools, please look at the DMCP Captioning Key to get familiar with captioning standards. http://tc.eserver.org/35268.html http://tc.eserver.org/35268.html As simple as the concept of backing up your work might be, I am constantly surprised when I hear from even veteran Captivate developers that a project has become corrupt (the project, which was fine yesterday, won't open today). The fix? If the project won't open, there's a good chance that the only thing anyone can do is copy a backup project to the local disk and then open the backup. Oh, you don't have a backup? Ouch! http://tc.eserver.org/35259.html http://tc.eserver.org/35259.html This article uses qualitative interviews with senior editors and managers from a selection of the UK’s national online news providers to describe and analyse their current experimentation with multimedia and video storytelling. The results show that, in a period of declining newspaper readership and TV news viewing, editors are keen to embrace new technologies, which are seen as being part of the future of news. At the same time, text is still reported to be the cornerstone for news websites, leading to changes in the grammar and function of news video when used online. The economic rationale for convergence is examined and the article investigates the partnerships sites have entered into in order to be able to serve their audience with video content. In-house video is complementing syndicated content, and the authors examine the resulting developments in newsroom training and recruitment practices. The article provides journalism and interactive media scholars with case studies on the changes taking place in newsrooms as a result of the shift towards multimedia, multiplatform news consumption. http://tc.eserver.org/35262.html http://tc.eserver.org/35262.html This article will demonstrate how the notion of ‘phatic communion’ has become an increasingly significant part of digital media culture alongside the rise of online networking practices. Through a consideration of the new media objects of blogs, social networking profiles and microblogs, along with their associated practices, I will argue, that the social contexts of ‘individualization’ and ‘network sociality’, alongside the technological developments associated with pervasive communication and ‘connected presence’ has led to an online media culture increasingly dominated by phatic communications. That is, communications which have purely social (networking) and not informational or dialogic intents. I conclude with a discussion of the potential nihilistic consequences of such a culture. http://tc.eserver.org/35263.html http://tc.eserver.org/35263.html The emergence of media-arts and digital cultural practices has provided a highly charged context for the development of interdisciplinary pedagogy, combining as it does, practices and traditions from historically, culturally and theoretically wildly divergent disciplines. This article addresses aspects of effective interdisciplinary educational process, attending to questions of pedagogy, theory and institutional pragmatics. In my analysis, the key components of such a project are: deep technical training and understanding; deep training in artmaking and cultural practice; deep theoretical and historical contextualization, and an open and rigorous interdisciplinary context which maximally facilitates the negotiation of these often divergent ways of thinking and making. In building such interdisciplinary practice in the context of a campus, one abruptly confronts the discontinuity between the rapidly changing fluidity of the contemporary moment and the relative stasis of institutionalized disciplines which have an investment in maintaining their identity in the face of such change. Implicit in the project then, is not simply the development of a context for deep interdisciplinary invention, but the formation of practitioners who are neither artists nor engineers, or who are equal parts both. In either case, this formation confounds the disciplines and creates a vacuum of institutional context, which has resounding implications for the survival and flourishing of such initiatives and their practitioners. http://tc.eserver.org/35264.html http://tc.eserver.org/35264.html Using content analysis and survey, this study examines how the teaching of thinking skills and that of technological skills have been balanced in US new media programs to produce both employable graduates and life-long learners. Findings show that most programs have balanced the two skill sets but that more effort should be made to integrate the teaching of both skill sets in individual courses to give students an expedited, holistic learning experience. http://tc.eserver.org/35084.html http://tc.eserver.org/35084.html New media should be accessible to everyone, not just marketing, public relations and web professionals. Here, I aim to help all people navigate the new media landscape. http://tc.eserver.org/34878.html http://tc.eserver.org/34878.html Can animation bring life to the computer? Can the computer take animation to a new horizon extending from cinema and visual art? This article starts with a scrutiny of the conventional definition of animation and its connection to the continuum of liveliness, followed by an examination of the two furthest points on that scale: lively movement, which is spiritual; and inorganic movement, which is functional. The author shows that, in the digital age, movement of various degrees of liveliness can be significant and meaningful through a wide array of motor—sensory functions. This brings about a new notion of materiality, which constructs an innovative meaning of animation. The author then argues that, when combined with the unique functions of the computer, animation can find a shortcut between the two extremes of liveliness: spirituality and functionality. Therefore, the field of animation could benefit from an expansion of its digital attributes. Finally, the author discusses a corpus of artefacts created in different historical periods and different media that exemplify the spiritual—functional loop. http://tc.eserver.org/34879.html http://tc.eserver.org/34879.html The development of 3D animation systems has been driven primarily by a hyper-realist ethos, and 3D computer graphic (CG) features have broadly complied with this agenda. As a counterpoint to this trend, some researchers, technologists and animation artists have explored the possibility of creating more expressive narrative output from 3D animation environments. This article explores 3D animation aesthetics, technology and culture in this context. http://tc.eserver.org/34839.html http://tc.eserver.org/34839.html One privilege enjoyed by new-media authors is the opportunity to realize representations of Self that are rich textual worlds in themselves and also to engage the wider world, with a voice, a smile, imagery, and sound. Still, closer investigation of multimedia composition practices reveals levels of complexity with which the verbal virtuoso is unconcerned. This article argues that while technology-afforded multimedia tools make it comparatively easy to author a vivid text, it is a multiplicatively more complicated matter to vividly realize and publicize an authorial intention. Based on analysis of the digital story creation process of a youth named 'Steven,' the authors attempt to demonstrate the operation of two forces upon which the successful multimodal realization of the author's intention may hinge: 'fixity' and 'fluidity.' The authors show how, within the process of digital self-representation, these forces can intersect to influence multimodal meaning making, and an author's life, in consequential ways. http://tc.eserver.org/34681.html http://tc.eserver.org/34681.html Last week Google released Google Voice, a service that allows you to integrate all your phones into one number and includes a host of features, including voice mail, recording, conference calling, and other services. To help users get started, Google Voice has a list of 20 short videos. Only the overview video contains animation. It’s certainly the video they’ve put the most work into, and it also functions as marketing collateral. http://tc.eserver.org/34673.html http://tc.eserver.org/34673.html The 'video' element is brand new in HTML 5 and allows you to, get this, play a movie in your website! The data of this element is supposed to be video but it might also have audio or images associated with it. Of course, this will only work in a few browsers: Safari 3.1+, Firefox 3.5+, and latest builds of Opera (oh, and potentially the next release of Chrome). http://tc.eserver.org/34671.html http://tc.eserver.org/34671.html The inclusion of audio in online learning courses not only greatly enhances learners' experiences, it also ensures that your courses are accessible to a wide audience. In this article I explore the various ways you can add audio to your Captivate projects. I also provide a number of tips on adding a narration to product demonstrations and presentations. http://tc.eserver.org/34631.html http://tc.eserver.org/34631.html Video has the potential for enhancing documentation. But is video the be all, end all? Is it really the next stage in the evolution of documentation? Will it supplant text and static images? This post looks at the pros and cons. http://tc.eserver.org/34621.html http://tc.eserver.org/34621.html This basic guide will show you the steps how to convert any video to high quality flash video, MP4 with H264 and AAC audio, and put it on your website with a Flash video player using free software only. http://tc.eserver.org/34587.html http://tc.eserver.org/34587.html Although there will always be a need for people to explain technical material non-technical people, Ellis Pratt said, others may be doing it instead, through the formats users prefer. To survive, technical writers may need to morph into content strategists, managing the information in a systematic way rather than merely creating it. http://tc.eserver.org/34254.html http://tc.eserver.org/34254.html When I talk to most technical writers, video is a format they haven’t done much with. This surprises me, because I find that, as a user, video tutorials are often the most helpful type of material for me to learn software. Video most closely simulates the universal desire we have for a friend to show us how to do something in an application. Perhaps I’m a visual learner, but the majority of us (some say 60 to 65 percent) are visual learners. But video doesn’t appeal only to end users. Video can be an appealing format for technical writers as well. Creating videos can turn your career around, especially if you find technical writing a little dull. http://tc.eserver.org/34218.html http://tc.eserver.org/34218.html A video's Engagement Curve is a visual representation of the audience's cumulative interactions with the video. An Engagement Curve quickly reveals which parts of the video clip the audience finds compelling -- in the example above, viewers are clearly rewinding to re-watch a segment in the middle -- and which parts do not hold the viewers' attenion -- in this case, the end. An Engagement Curve is read from left-to-right, with the left edge representing the beginning of the video and the right edge representing the end of the video. The dashed grey line shows the view-count, while the blue line shows many times that particular segment of the video was watched http://tc.eserver.org/34219.html http://tc.eserver.org/34219.html In support of their Hyperdunk basketball shoe, Nike recently launched a viral video featuring basketball superstar Kobe Bryant recklessly leaping over a speeding Aston Martin. The video's low-end production quality makes the clip appear to be user-generated. As our analysis uncovered, this video was spread far and wide as the online viewing audience tried to figure out if one of the world's biggest sports stars would actually attempt such a stunt. Watch the clip below and read on to see just how effectively this campaign drove audience reach. http://tc.eserver.org/34203.html http://tc.eserver.org/34203.html The first and most common mistake made when producing for streaming is shooting in an interlaced mode. All streaming video is progressive. And if you shoot interlaced, you start with two fields that may not combine into one clean frame (even if you check the deinterlace box before rendering), especially when motion or sharp diagonal lines are involved. This can result in simple jaggies or bizarre artifacts, such as a table edge that looks like twisted wrought iron in a video produced by one of the largest retail chains in the world. Second, if you do shoot interlaced, remember to deinterlace the video. Streaming producers make this mistake all the time and end up with horizontal slices, almost like Venetian blinds in higher-motion sequences. http://tc.eserver.org/34204.html http://tc.eserver.org/34204.html One issue with AVCHD is that (like HDV) it’s based on a codec that is not really built for editing in the way that DV is. DV is an intraframe codec, which means that each frame of video is compressed using redundancies within the frame itself, and thus can be reconstructed and interpreted by your computer’s processor without having to refer to other frames in the video stream to gather the necessary image information. HDV, being MPEG-2-based, and AVCHD, being H.264-based, use both intraframe and interframe compression, which means most of the frames in your video stream need to be referred to other frames to gather all the image information that constitutes the frame. Because all this cross-referencing is so processor- and memory-intensive, it can really slow down your editing. http://tc.eserver.org/34137.html http://tc.eserver.org/34137.html When people talk about video formats, they're referring to something called a container format. The container format is a detailed description of what's inside a video file. It describes the structure of the file, as well as the kind of data that the file contains. http://tc.eserver.org/33676.html http://tc.eserver.org/33676.html I am starting to believe that despite all the hype around online video, text remains King of the Web. Why text? There are at least five reasons. http://tc.eserver.org/33534.html http://tc.eserver.org/33534.html In this installment of Cut Lines, we’ll look at cropping and rotating several images at once and how nesting your composition can make it easier to manipulate your images together. http://tc.eserver.org/33535.html http://tc.eserver.org/33535.html We’ll begin this series by discussing one of the most important features in any pro nonlinear editor: color correction. The first thing you need to do before beginning any type of color correction work is to determine what "correct" color looks like. Rarely does your computer screen display colors correctly. http://tc.eserver.org/33537.html http://tc.eserver.org/33537.html There’s a lot of mystery and misinformation surrounding Final Cut Server, and I’m going to try to sort that all out for you in this article. You can limit which members of your team can access its contents and what they can do with the contents, including who can make changes and who can only look at it. http://tc.eserver.org/33538.html http://tc.eserver.org/33538.html When I teach Time Remapping in the Apple classes I lead, we all work on the same clip. But I often find that giving this overview of the tools right off the bat helps my students grasp how to control Variable-Speed Remapping faster and easier. http://tc.eserver.org/33539.html http://tc.eserver.org/33539.html This installment of Cut Lines is Part 1 of a two-part tutorial about Time Remapping in Final Cut Pro (FCP). We’ll take a quick look at Constant Speed Remapping and the mechanics that go into FCP creating it so that you more fully understand why your results look the way they do. My hope is that this understanding will enable you to visualize what the effect will look like before you even apply it, making your workflow faster and your creativity more enhanced. http://tc.eserver.org/33541.html http://tc.eserver.org/33541.html When I was asked to write about the process in which I show demos of my company’s work, I initially thought of what I used several years ago to show clients my samples—a time when DVDs didn't even exist and my home office setup was not such that I could do demos effectively there. Those were days when I had to travel to a meeting with a VCR deck, a tube-style TV, a bunch of cables, a cart to carry everything on, and, of course, VHS tapes, all properly rewound to the correct starting points. http://tc.eserver.org/33542.html http://tc.eserver.org/33542.html In this article, I’ll discuss four design-related areas: how to create a simple set for in-house use; how to choose the best background for location shoots like case studies and testimonials; current trends in set design for internet-only media sites; how to dress your subjects for optimum compression. The importance of many of the set design principles discussed in this chapter relate to your distribution data rate. If the bitrate of the video you’re delivering is very high, say in the 400Kbps range for 320x240 video or 650Kbps or higher for 640x480, you have a lot more flexibility, since the compressed quality of your video will remain quite high. Once you sink below these rates, quality degrades. Choosing a poor background or set will only make the problem worse. http://tc.eserver.org/33543.html http://tc.eserver.org/33543.html Website videos are a natural for event videographers. We use them to demonstrate our work to prospective clients, and they have proven to be a vital marketing medium to showcase our range of products. We might even post short video testimonials from happy clients or put our own talking heads on our sites. http://tc.eserver.org/33544.html http://tc.eserver.org/33544.html Words go so well with video. They can give an emotional punch to a scene or simply announce what is going to happen next. I love using romantic quotes, Bible passages, and other forms of text in my work. The best part is that you can be just as creative with how those words are presented as you are in picking out the text in the first place. http://tc.eserver.org/33547.html http://tc.eserver.org/33547.html When working with HDV footage in post, your computer is constantly trying to compile editable frames from frames that include only a portion of their own frame information, and thus needs to work a lot harder to process HDV natively than DV. Which raises the question: How powerful a system do you need to make HDV postproduction as smooth as DV editing is today? http://tc.eserver.org/33372.html http://tc.eserver.org/33372.html I am ill equipped to write for an emerging segment of the marketplace. But that doesn't mean I'm used up like a worn-out number two pencil stub (my favorite simile these days). But it does mean that I need to reevaluate where and how I add value. http://tc.eserver.org/32711.html http://tc.eserver.org/32711.html Over the last few months, HD-DVD appeared to rapidly fall from its apparent position as promising new disc format–touted by supporters as being technically superior, significantly cheaper, and less restrictive–down to a harsh new reality of scheduled death. However, the fate of HD-DVD wasn’t nearly as unpredictable as some seemed to think. Here’s why HD-DVD’s end should not have been a surprise, what lessons can be learned from its death, and what its demise means for Microsoft. http://tc.eserver.org/32712.html http://tc.eserver.org/32712.html While almost completely invisible for years, Apple’s progress in media has resulted in overturning Microsoft’s domination of the entertainment industry, established a resistance to unchecked DRM, and has extinguished Microsoft’s efforts to establish new proprietary technologies as de facto industry standards. http://tc.eserver.org/32713.html http://tc.eserver.org/32713.html Apple's work to aggressively build upon QuickTime and compete in the market against Microsoft--rather than just handing its technology over and “partnering” with the company--launched Apple ahead and established major new markets for the Mac platform. Final Cut Pro initially established the Mac as an essential tool among editors. http://tc.eserver.org/32645.html http://tc.eserver.org/32645.html if Post Secondary Educators don’t change their attitude towards you—and soon—you are going to find it really hard to find trained staff for your businesses. http://tc.eserver.org/32351.html http://tc.eserver.org/32351.html Creating video tutorials is no trivial task. When you sit down to create 20+ video tutorials for a project, you’re faced with dozens of questions. What screen size should the videos be, what recording tool should you use, what microphone is best, how long should the videos be, what file size is acceptable? Should you use voice or captions? Where will you create the recording? You can create video tutorials using dozens of different methods. There are no official steps to create videos, because situations and audiences vary so widely. http://tc.eserver.org/32347.html http://tc.eserver.org/32347.html More and more people are asking how to burn their Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 presentations to DVD. Using PowerPoint and a DVD, you have an easy method of getting your message out, whether as a training video or a digital business card promoting your products or services. And your audience can view your material at home as well as in their offices. http://tc.eserver.org/32045.html http://tc.eserver.org/32045.html I have spent the last two weeks switching between Captivate and Camtasia Studio. Talk about schizophrenic. I spent a lot of time trying to remember which command I had to use in which program, but overall it’s been an interesting experience. http://tc.eserver.org/31962.html http://tc.eserver.org/31962.html Advancing technology allows us to use the new technologies of podcasts (audio recordings delivered as .mp3 files) and vidcasts, or more properly, broadcast video to convey technical information. Effective audience analysis will determine whether multimedia is right for our users. We use the same correct rhetorical principles to communicate information aurally and visually as we do when creating text. http://tc.eserver.org/31892.html http://tc.eserver.org/31892.html In this podcast, rich media specialist Todd O’Neill explains how to add video to your training and documentation deliverables. Many technical writers are intimidated by the learning curve, equipment costs, and software they think they need to create video, but actually you can create engaging videos with minimal equipment (e.g., $150 for a Flip video camera) and using software you probably already have (e.g, Windows Movie Maker or iMovie). In this podcast, Todd lays out the basics for those who know nothing about video. He explains the equipment you need, techniques for minimizing editing time, ways to publish the video online, filming techniques to focus on, and creative ways to package your video for your users. http://tc.eserver.org/31845.html http://tc.eserver.org/31845.html How do you best assist users whose learning styles are more visual than verbal? Tietjen discusses the benefits and the how-to of screencasting, a mixture of visuals, audio, and complementary text. http://tc.eserver.org/31495.html http://tc.eserver.org/31495.html Podcasting is more than a platform for reviews or polemic. It's also a powerful tool within the enterprise for training, for marketing, and for documentation. Imagine being able to carry product information or supplementary material with you and not have to worry about stacks of paper? You can do that with a podcast. http://tc.eserver.org/31313.html http://tc.eserver.org/31313.html In May, I had the pleasure of participating in the IABC Newfoundland & Labrador 20/20 Visionary Communications conference. Jo-Anne Polak of Hill & Knowlton, while presenting her thoughts about contemporary crisis communication, made a comment that I haven’t stopped thinking about since her presentation. Jo-Anne pointed out that after September 11th, journalists have had to become more competitive and aggressive because media sources have exploded in number, and technology has provided immediate electronic delivery. http://tc.eserver.org/31275.html http://tc.eserver.org/31275.html Hardware is easy to talk about, test, evaluate, review and sell. Software takes a little more study. Which is why we remain one of the very few imaging publications to review software in any depth. Most people find software is a solid that must be chewed to derive any nutritional benefits. And so they chew and chew and chew. But, no matter how much they chew, the stuff is still pretty hard to swallow. http://tc.eserver.org/31249.html http://tc.eserver.org/31249.html New media have drastically altered the way we communicate, particularly during a crisis. With the blogosphere, Web 2.0, Second Life and social media sites like Flickr, Twitter, Blogger, Facebook and MySpace, it seems that a new way to spread information crops up on a daily basis. Since crises can originate or be perpetuated online, communicators must incorporate social media into their existing media monitoring efforts. http://tc.eserver.org/31049.html http://tc.eserver.org/31049.html This is a qualitative case study of two students' composing processes as they developed a documentary video about the Dominican Republic in an urban, public middle school classroom. While using a digital video editing program, the students moved across multiple media (the Web, digital video, books, and writing), drawing semiotic resources from each as they did so. Using sociosemiotic and dialogic-intertextual theoretical frameworks, the author examines how the interface of the video editing program influenced the students' composing by making new types of semiotic resources available and new means of combining these resources. As they moved across these media in a nonlinear fashion, the students created an interactive context for composing that transcended the individual possibilities of each respective medium. This suggests that multimedial composing environments offer a rich intertextual landscape and unique ways of making meanings. http://tc.eserver.org/31053.html http://tc.eserver.org/31053.html Current developments in high-definition technological systems for home viewing link definitively with early Home Cinema, as practised from the late 1890s, as an alternative to public spectatorship. The traditions of Home Cinema, in encompassing degrees of informality, interaction and control within domestic exhibition, served to lay foundations for a televisual experience which, today, having come full-circle, is defining itself once more as `Home Cinema'. http://tc.eserver.org/31051.html http://tc.eserver.org/31051.html This article highlights the role that aesthetics play in television's current convergence with mobile telephones and portable media players like the iPod. I contend that contemporary television style does not just constitute a response to the demands of technological convergence -- it is rather an integral component of that which allows television to merge with new devices in the first place. When we engage with style as a precursor to these developments, important continuities emerge between the aesthetics of the small screen and those of the new smaller screens. These continuities underscore that convergence is at once a technical and aesthetic process that entails the hybridization of hardware and cultural forms. http://tc.eserver.org/31050.html http://tc.eserver.org/31050.html Frequently writing is now no longer the central mode of representation in learning materials--textbooks, Web-based resources, teacher-produced materials. Still (as well as moving) images are increasingly prominent as carriers of meaning. Uses and forms of writing have undergone profound changes over the last decades, which calls for a social, pedagogical, and semiotic explanation. Two trends mark that history. The digital media, rather than the (text) book, are more and more the site of appearance and distribution of learning resources, and writing is being displaced by image as the central mode for representation. This poses sharp questions about present and future roles and forms of writing. For text, design and principles of composition move into the foreground. Here we sketch a social semiotic account that aims to elucidate such principles and permits consideration of their epistemological as well as social/pedagogic significance. Linking representation with social factors, we put forward terms to explore two issues: the principles underlying the design of multimodal ensembles and the potential epistemological and pedagogic effects of multimodal designs. Our investigation is set within a research project with a corpus of learning resources for secondary school in Science, Mathematics, and English from the 1930s, the 1980s, and from the first decade of the 21st century, as well as digitally represented and online learning resources from the year 2000 onward. http://tc.eserver.org/31033.html http://tc.eserver.org/31033.html The post-production process known as 'Foley' refers to the art of recording 'live' sync sound effects to picture. It is akin to looping the dialogue, but instead of recording the actors performing their lines while watching themselves on screen--skilled craftspeople known as 'Foley artists' will walk, run, and act out any sync sound effects to match what the actor is seen (or implied) doing in the picture. http://tc.eserver.org/31030.html http://tc.eserver.org/31030.html Stereo is rarely recorded as such in the field. Instead, we record monaural sounds and wait until post-production is nearly complete to re-assign these sounds to the audience's left, right, and in-between. Until the film is edited, there is no way to know just where all of the audio elements need to end up. For instance, out on production, it might seem logical to record a car that passes from left to right in stereo, so that you can hear the 'pass by' in your phones whoosh from the left ear to the right ear. http://tc.eserver.org/31029.html http://tc.eserver.org/31029.html Here is a breakdown of how we might handle the typical 'low budget' television demo or competition, such as a local cooking show, sporting event, or how-to-do-it. http://tc.eserver.org/31032.html http://tc.eserver.org/31032.html Bad audio will certainly sink an otherwise good project! That being said, let's look at how other Departments can help the Sound Department improve the quality of the recorded dialogue. http://tc.eserver.org/31031.html http://tc.eserver.org/31031.html Hiding a microphone under clothing requires a great deal of attention to detail. Not only must the mic be hidden from view, but you must also contend with the problems of clothing noise. http://tc.eserver.org/31026.html http://tc.eserver.org/31026.html Digital video production in composition courses is both new and exciting. However, this newness comes with challenges and obstacles as well as more questions than answers. What exactly is so fun, attractive, liberating, and transgressive about digital video work? Is it the time invested in editing minutes or hours of footage into seconds of film clips? Is it the sheer thrill of having the power to overlay images, words, and sounds to produce an effect impossible in the real world and highly effective in the multimodal, rhetorical one? Is it that the composition teacher is finally asking for a product where grammar (understood as punctuation and sentence structure) is mostly invisible? Is it the crisis moments when the software, the hard drive, and/or the accompanying hardware crashes and we are still left with a classroom full of students to teach? Or, is it the mesmerizing effect of the screen that promises sustained attention to a composition assignment? The answer, we think, in all cases is 'yes'--yet sometimes that yes is a hesitant one. http://tc.eserver.org/30841.html http://tc.eserver.org/30841.html Teachers face two serious difficulties when assigning research papers. The first appears to be an issue of motivation but is really one of mental disposition. Many students are so deeply influenced by contemporary visual culture--especially by film--that they lack familiarity with close reasoning. They are accustomed to absorbing entertaining, but loosely connected, streams of images in an impressionistic way and are uneasy and anxious when given a major assignment in an exclusively written medium. Inexperienced in the systematic compilation and analysis of information, they often perform poorly. These students may appear to be unenthusiastic about their topics; in fact, they do badly because they are methodologically disoriented. They run aground while sailing in the unfamiliar seas of organized, sequential, linear logic. This problem often shows itself in the frequent, and frequently gratuitous, use of illustrations in research papers. Instructors often comment that 'students love pictures.' It would be more accurate to say that students understand pictures and are comfortable with them. The second difficulty is a by-product of the Web. Plagiarism has become so widespread that it poses a real threat to the academic enterprise. Yet its detection is both difficult and time-consuming, and an instructor must be on absolutely solid ground before bringing a student up on such serious charges. Furthermore, even if available, an expensive counter-plagiarism program such as Turnitin cannot always deliver conclusive evidence. Plagiarism must be addressed, but today, articles that existed previously only in print can be optically scanned, free essays are available online, and papers can be purchased and downloaded from numerous commercial outlets. We have addressed both of these problems by strategically using appropriate motion pictures as entrees into the subject matter and as points of comparison to help organize research papers. We first provide our students with a list of films that bear on relevant topics. http://tc.eserver.org/30848.html http://tc.eserver.org/30848.html A primary goal of most introductory business and technical communication courses is to introduce students to the idea that the professional communication most of them will engage in is different from the writing they do for academic purposes. This overall idea covers several principles concerning professional writing. First, in an academic essay, a student may tell all he or she knows about a topic to an expert reader (the instructor); in professional writing situations, however, writers are most likely sharing only a small part of the information they know with nonexpert readers. Second, when writing in professional situations, writers must actively envision audiences different from themselves, audiences that will have different concerns and purposes than the writers do. Finally, the audience, purpose, and medium of a professional communication situation drive the choices a writer will make. If students are to understand these principles, discussing them in class is insufficient; students must also practice them. Implementing active learning that applies these principles authentically can be challenging. The makeup of many business and technical communication courses means that not all students share expertise in a given field that they can draw on for common assignments. Hypothetical assignments may not give students a deep sense of context, and students may continue to perceive the instructor as the real audience for such assignments. http://tc.eserver.org/30778.html http://tc.eserver.org/30778.html Technical communicators must adapt to the changing dynamics presented by the addition of rich media in the technical documentation space. Discover some suggestions for how to do so. http://tc.eserver.org/30692.html http://tc.eserver.org/30692.html Given that many doctoral programs do not provide extensive training on how to present course information in the classroom, the current paper looks to educational psychology theory and research for guidance. Richard Mayer and others' copious empirical work on effective and ineffective instructional design, along with relevant research findings in cognitive science, are summarized and adapted to the management education context. The goal of this article is to enhance instructors' ability to effectively relay course material and to offer specific advice for how instructors can implement prior research findings. http://tc.eserver.org/30701.html http://tc.eserver.org/30701.html Recently, scholars of new media have been exploring the relationships between genre theory and new media. While these scholars have provided a great deal of insight into the nature of e-genres and how they function in professional contexts, few address the relationship between genre and new-media theories from a designer's perspective. This article presents the results of an ethnographic-style case study exploring the practice of a professional new-media designer. These results (a) confirm the role of dynamic rhetorical situations and hybridity during the new-media design process; (b) suggest that current genre and new-media theories underestimate the complexity of the relationships between mode, medium, genre, and rhetorical exigencies; and (c) indicate that a previously unrecognized form of hybridity exists in contemporary e-genres. http://tc.eserver.org/30606.html http://tc.eserver.org/30606.html DVDs can carry up to eight audio tracks. It is theoretically possible to provide main audio and dubbing in three languages and audio description in all four languages. In practice, all anybody's asking for is an audio description track in the main language of the audio. http://tc.eserver.org/30588.html http://tc.eserver.org/30588.html A video camera is an excellent tool for preparing technical illustrations and procedures. A video tape of a procedure provides chronological information. It provides visual images that can be used as the basis for technical illustrations. Visual images and details are recorded permenantly so that they are not forgotten. The research information can be passed on to another author. A case study illustrates how a video tape can be used to document a procedure and produce electronic illustrations. http://tc.eserver.org/30601.html http://tc.eserver.org/30601.html The techniques of film language areas important to video and multimedia presentations as the techniques of written language are to technical documentation. Film language consists of such components as shot content, frame composition, camera movement, color (or shade), lighting, and film transitions. Film transitions are the way in which shots and sequences are connected and carry specific semantic weight for the viewer. However for many technical video-makers, the meanings of film transitions are overlooked in favor of flashy presentations or are abused to cover a problem. In developing videos for training or informational purposes, we should respect and understand the significance of film transitions and other aspects of film language. http://tc.eserver.org/30569.html http://tc.eserver.org/30569.html In this all-day seminar we'll expand the knowledge we garnered in the basic seminar on script design for the information film and video or on our experience. We'll explore advanced concepts in the grammar of film and video and learn new filmic design techniques. Throughout the seminar we'll view and critique a number of films and videos to see how other producers have applied such filmic techniques to solving specific communication problems. http://tc.eserver.org/30576.html http://tc.eserver.org/30576.html For technical communicators, storyboarding is a path to collaboration with team members and users. Collaboration and storyboarding help technical communicators get new ideas, find new structures, and discover new modes of expression. In this workshop, you will learn about storyboards and how to develop them. You will also participate in exercises on conducting and collaborating on a storyboard review and on writing a storyboard specification. You will discover how collaboration helps create the context, organization, and design of a document through the use of storyboards. http://tc.eserver.org/30539.html http://tc.eserver.org/30539.html Multimedia and hypertext are two of the hottest topics in technical communications today. Multimedia, in one form or another, has been around for decades—so has hypertext. Both have been of enormous interest to the technical communicator specifically, and the computer user in general. Lately, we have seen advancements in computer technology that can allow a computer user to produce presentations of considerable quality. Just as the advent of the Macintosh ushered in the era of desktop publishing, the rapidly falling prices of digital video cards and image editing software are about to pave the way for another revolution in desktop computing. http://tc.eserver.org/30548.html http://tc.eserver.org/30548.html With the growth of multimedia, design techniques to manage the contents and data structures for the media are becoming required We call this courseware in distinction from hardware or software, and we produce a production model by developing a uique technique not in imitation of the conventional ones using the following three points, layout, framework and linkage management. http://tc.eserver.org/30464.html http://tc.eserver.org/30464.html In this audio-visual age, technical writers need an easy way to deliver Flash-based, dynamic screen demos for their help content. http://tc.eserver.org/30397.html http://tc.eserver.org/30397.html Multimedia can sometimes convey meaning in ways that text and graphics alone cannot. This paper offers two principles for understanding how multimedia can clarify abstract concepts. The first principle is that multimedia is excellent for conveying any kind of change, such as change in quantity, size, shape, or relationship. The second principle is that multimedia can help present complex concepts by providing information in both the visual and auditory modes simultaneously. These principles can guide technical communicators in evaluating whether multimedia is a cost-effective way to present their information. http://tc.eserver.org/30270.html http://tc.eserver.org/30270.html Are you considering publishing your documentation on CD-ROM? Sign up for a consultation with experts from leading CD-ROM firms. NOTE: This 'workshop' takes place in individual 15-minute one-on-one sessions. Please try to arrive early and sign up for your time slot; then you're on your own (visit the exhibits? call your office?) until your session time. This way, all participants receive the complete attention of a CD-ROM consultant. We'll work with drop-ins if any time slots remain unassigned. http://tc.eserver.org/30243.html http://tc.eserver.org/30243.html Interactive media for distance training require special presentational strategies. Compressed video, an interactive medium using fiber optics, has unique characteristics which users must know. The video creates a lack of direct eye contact and a sense of separation. The compression creates flattened images and extremes of colors. Effective presenters in this medium must plan concise, horizontal graphics. They must schedule short, varied activities with limited use of uninterrupted lecture. And they must plan frequent interactive activities--such as questions, group work, and demonstrations--for an effective session. http://tc.eserver.org/30088.html http://tc.eserver.org/30088.html Digital video (DV) is relatively easy and inexpensive to produce and has an expanding role in technical communication. It is a powerful media for communication and can be included in favorite online formats such as WinHelp, HTML help, Acrobat (PDF), and web pages, as well as training presentations produced with tools such as Asymmetrix Toolbook and Macromedia Authorware. Delivery of DV spans a range of electronic media including CD, DVD, and the Internet. New technology offers the potential to synchronize the presentation of video, audio, and other multimedia forms. This paper introduces DV concepts. It gives practical tips for investing in DV equipment and producing video and audio. http://tc.eserver.org/30064.html http://tc.eserver.org/30064.html Podcasts aren't very good at delivering step-by-step technical information. Concepts are where podcasts excel. http://tc.eserver.org/30069.html http://tc.eserver.org/30069.html Podcasting involves three activities: capturing content, producing it, and distributing it. Tim Poe and Ben Rogers from the Office of Information Technology at Duke University's Multimedia group talk about the technology initiatives undertaken, and make their audience aware of the plethora of tools available to perform these activities easily. http://tc.eserver.org/30070.html http://tc.eserver.org/30070.html There are a number of approaches to getting meaningful data from podcast usage, each with their own advantages and drawbacks. http://tc.eserver.org/30067.html http://tc.eserver.org/30067.html 'Writing for the ear' is an effective way of making content engaging and interesting. Examples of this are audio-based sentence structure, writing around audio clips, making informed word choices and creating a narrative arc for your podcast. Listeners, who are often occupied with other things while listening, need audio and content that transports them to another state of mind. With this in mind, Bond explains techniques and provides examples of how podcasters can anticipate what their audience expects to hear, and how they meet listener expectations while still providing something new. http://tc.eserver.org/30071.html http://tc.eserver.org/30071.html The literature on managing virtual teams and projects across cultures and locations is primarily theoretical and not integrated with information about collaborative tools such as wikis, blogs, and project dashboards. The authors advocate choosing the best situational tool, based on team and team members' needs. http://tc.eserver.org/29832.html http://tc.eserver.org/29832.html The progression of computer-generated images in motion pictures gives a sense of where we are headed. http://tc.eserver.org/29802.html http://tc.eserver.org/29802.html This article explores the staging of memory and death and the connotative differences within still photographs and film. It examines the tenses that can be inferred in reading photographs and film through examples drawn from representations of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13 and Captain Scott's journey to the South Pole taken by Herbert Ponting, and in the 1948 film _Scott of the Antarctic_. http://tc.eserver.org/29732.html http://tc.eserver.org/29732.html Initially, this article provides an overview of digital storytelling that describes its uses, technology, a methodology for creating a digital story, tips for creating a digital story, assessment strategies for digital stories, and links to current examples of digital stories. Next, this article recounts the third author's first experience with digital story-telling, in the context of helping children with hearing loss adopt a more positive frame of reference toward their disability. It describes the storyboarding process, explains how writing is still a primary concern, and gives some valuable advice concerning the pros and cons of dabbling in high- technology. Last it discusses accessibility and usability requirements for digital stories. http://tc.eserver.org/29864.html http://tc.eserver.org/29864.html This article, as well as the conference presentation, recounts the trials, tribulations, and ultimate triumph of a dedicated research team in the Orlando Chapter and at the University of Central Florida who parlayed an $8K STC Special Opportunities grant into 55 minutes of fully narrated, animated multimedia in support of the chapter’s and the Society’s outreach initiative to secondary education. The grant was performed by current and former technical communication students at UCF, under the oversight of Dr. Dan Jones and Dan Voss. Four research assistants contributed to the project: Cindy Hauptner, Bob Stultz, Suzanne Shomate, and John Donovan. Cindy and Bob created the immortal Shanna the Hip and Dan the Nerd. http://tc.eserver.org/30283.html http://tc.eserver.org/30283.html This workshop delves into the unconventional idea that multimedia doesn't have to cost a fortune to create or implement. Using a process-oriented focus, workshop leaders will address authoring tools and equipment choices, information organization and presentation, and screen design to illustrate the power of making cost-effective decisions throughout the multimedia development process. Our goal is to teach you how to make choices, ask the right questions, and be aware of the options that affect the bottom line cost of producing multimedia applications. http://tc.eserver.org/29679.html http://tc.eserver.org/29679.html This article helps technical communicators become better informed producers of interactive, cinema-like new media objects (help systems, public information and ordering kiosks, promotional technical presentations on the web, and so on) by providing a summary of how cinema works, and then by proposing a few ways that some basic cinema editing and display techniques can be integrated into on-screen technical communications practice. The author makes the claim that if we are to begin thinking and working like film makers, the fundamental poetics and information designs we use in our new media design and development work must also change. http://tc.eserver.org/29248.html http://tc.eserver.org/29248.html This paper presents a summary of the results of several relatively large studies which attempted statistical analysis of audit trails created by learners accessing information in typical hypermedia or hypertext learning environments, and interpreted them in relation to learner characteristics and study tasks. Significant differences in the information access strategy, amount of information accessed, student estimates of achievement and knowledge outcome were observed between learners in these studies. This paper concluded that some learners may be systematically disadvantaged where support for (or the delivery of) the curriculum depends on hypermedia, such as via a networked learning environment delivered passively over the WWW. It is suggested that the audit tools available from the WWW provide an opportunity to develop multi-discipline evaluation mechanisms which may enable researchers to provide learners with standard 'learning profiles' with which to reflect on their own learning effectiveness when using hypermedia educational materials. http://tc.eserver.org/29219.html http://tc.eserver.org/29219.html Technical communication practices have been changed dramatically by the increasingly ubiquitous nature of digital technologies. Yet, while those who work in the profession have been living through this dramatic change, our academic discipline has been moving at a slower pace, at times appearing quite unsure about how to proceed. This article focuses on the following three areas of opportunity for change in our discipline in relation to digital technologies: access and expectations, scholarship and community building, and accountability and partnering. http://tc.eserver.org/28786.html http://tc.eserver.org/28786.html Miller, a technical editor at Microsoft interested in multimedia documentation, talks about why multimedia documentation is a growing trend and how writers can get started. He discusses Microsoft's Channel 9 and the human element with instructional screen demos. http://tc.eserver.org/28067.html http://tc.eserver.org/28067.html Whenever people talk about "jazzing up" some of the Microsoft Office tools, PowerPoint always rises to the top of the list (but you can use this technique for any Office applications). We've all seen the presentations with that pat clip-art, the checkered fades, and those bullets that slide. Why not add some interactivity and exciting animation? Thanks to Microsoft's ActiveX technology we can. http://tc.eserver.org/28066.html http://tc.eserver.org/28066.html Embedding is based on the Shockwave Flash Microsoft ActiveX component, an ActiveX component created by Macromedia that allows its content to run in Microsoft Internet Explorer. http://tc.eserver.org/28007.html http://tc.eserver.org/28007.html The AHDS made audio recordings of recent seminars with the aim of transcribing the recordings, and presented them to seminar chairs to facilitate their task of completing reports on each event. This case study looks at some of the issues that occurred as the AHDS recorded and transcribed the material from these seminars. While its findings are based on roundtable seminars, some of them may also be of use to those doing other types of audio recording - interviews, field notes etc. http://tc.eserver.org/27645.html http://tc.eserver.org/27645.html The availability of powerful yet easy-to-use multimedia tools enables technical writers to consider a powerful new form of embedded user assistance: show-me help. This paper provides an overview of who is currently using show-me help--some current research, some history, and some definitions. It offers some guidance in choosing tools, designing show-me help, and deciding when to include then, concentrating on consideration of your users, potential topics, subsequent releases, and translation. It also suggests how show-me helps can be reused as part of product education and single-sourced into user assistance from the Web. http://tc.eserver.org/27648.html http://tc.eserver.org/27648.html Tools like Captivate, Camtasia, and TurboDemo make it possible for teachers and communicators to create effective software simulations--without programming. Even simple presentation tools, such as PowerPoint can create truly interactive simulations. http://tc.eserver.org/27111.html http://tc.eserver.org/27111.html e-Video is divided into four major sections: Opportunity, Production, Compression, and Delivery. Although these can (and must) get a bit technical to be useful, I found Alesso's style understandable. http://tc.eserver.org/26980.html http://tc.eserver.org/26980.html Introduces developing multimedia using the 'prosumer' Canon GL2 digital camcorder. http://tc.eserver.org/26975.html http://tc.eserver.org/26975.html Introduces how to perform multimedia audio mixing and editing using a Behringer multitrack mixer. http://tc.eserver.org/26979.html http://tc.eserver.org/26979.html Introduces how to use iMovie 5's 'Magic iMovie' feature to capture video from camcorder and record to DVD. http://tc.eserver.org/26978.html http://tc.eserver.org/26978.html Introduces lighting digital video, particularly when using the OmniPro Lighting Kit. http://tc.eserver.org/26977.html http://tc.eserver.org/26977.html Discusses how to use Sennheiser EW112P(A) Wireless Lavalier Microphones to ensure high-quality audio in video multimedia projects. http://tc.eserver.org/26938.html http://tc.eserver.org/26938.html I thoroughly enjoyed reading Podcasting Solutions: A Complete Guide to Podcasting by Michael W. Goeghegan and Dan Klass. I was able to digest the material quickly. The frustrating thing for me was that the title just didn't seem to fit the approachable and practical content that made the book such a treasure. For example, the subtitle 'A Complete Guide' is a bit overstated, because it is not a compendium but a getting starting guide. Especially as time goes by and the field progresses, and more techniques and tools are developed, this book will become more out of date. http://tc.eserver.org/26890.html http://tc.eserver.org/26890.html There are many ways to link to non-XML content within XML, including binary content. Sometimes you need to roll all such external content directly into the XML. Data scheme URIs are one way to specify a full resource within a URI, which you can then use in XML constructs. In this tip, Uche Ogbuji shows how to use this to bundle related media into a single file. http://tc.eserver.org/26625.html http://tc.eserver.org/26625.html Eyetracking data show that users are easily distracted when watching video on websites, especially when the video shows a talking head and is optimized for broadcast rather than online viewing. http://tc.eserver.org/26620.html http://tc.eserver.org/26620.html The central thesis of the report is that in the emerging digitally networked society, the creative arts and cultural institutions are mutating by forming a constellation of productive relationships with the science and technology research system, industry, humanistic and social science scholarship, and with emerging new structures of civil society. This apparently rising density of communication suggests the need to rethink some aspects of the relationship between cultural support policy, innovation and research policy, and the still nascent but interconnected set of concerns about the requirements for widespread creative participation in a 'techno-sphere' increasingly shaped by fast-changing digital media technologies. http://tc.eserver.org/26574.html http://tc.eserver.org/26574.html Learning no longer has to depend solely on text resources when learners have access to multimedia resources and developing technologies. The lecture is now encapsulated and available for replay and, like a novel, provides the user with direction not just destination. This paper highlights how technology adds value to the academic learning experience/environment for business communication with a focus upon televised courses, streaming videos, instant messaging and Web-based resources. Implications for the learning experience are: (1) oral and written language use become more dynamic; (2) learner outcomes are audience- and message-centered; and, (3) content instruction is analytical. http://tc.eserver.org/26364.html http://tc.eserver.org/26364.html This article discusses the various types of captions, when to use captions, as well as the various types of audio descriptions. http://tc.eserver.org/25979.html http://tc.eserver.org/25979.html What is the proper foundation for an enterprise-scale Digital Asset Management (DAM) system? How much of that system should be part of an organizations shared infrastructure and how much should be tailor-made to a specific application? There is no single answer to these questions, but changes in the technology industry are forcing everyonevendors and customers aliketo change their assumptions about how DAM systems will be built. This paper explains how the content-management infrastructure is changing, why that matters to DAM, and what benefits can be derived from leveraging a content infrastructure for DAM. Examples from an enterprise implementation at the University of Michigan illustrate the types of architectural issues and requirements that affect platform choices when selecting a digital asset management system. http://tc.eserver.org/25975.html http://tc.eserver.org/25975.html Understanding how rich media assets are used by the enterprise, of course, remains the central prerequisite for the enterprise’s ability to capitalize on the deployment of a rich media content management platform. The keys to a successful platform for rich media management include an approach to development based on service-oriented architectures (SOA) and a rich underlying content repository that exposes both the content and its metadata. http://tc.eserver.org/25735.html http://tc.eserver.org/25735.html To help technical communicators become better informed producers of interactive new media productions, this article examines how motion can be used properly to create effective interactive information systems for the computer screen. This article provides a brief analysis of how cinema works and then demonstrates how a number of cinema techniques influence new media production. The article then concludes by offering suggestions for how to effectively apply a few basic cinema techniques directly to technical communication practice. http://tc.eserver.org/25550.html http://tc.eserver.org/25550.html If Flash is indeed a cancer on the Web, how come so many artists (and viewers) adore it? The much-maligned multimedia plug-in bites back, with help from Flash artist Peter Balogh. http://tc.eserver.org/25305.html http://tc.eserver.org/25305.html Refocusing courses around the structure of narrative and how they use theatrical forms of interaction in the presentation of complex online help and instructional systems http://tc.eserver.org/25207.html http://tc.eserver.org/25207.html As the web transitions from a relatively static, information-oriented environment to a highly interactive, task-oriented environment, web developers must provide on-demand user assistance to ensure the usability of their applications. http://tc.eserver.org/25208.html http://tc.eserver.org/25208.html The real magic of FlashHelp, however, lies in its Flash-based presentation layer, or 'skin.' You can completely customize FlashHelp skins to match the look and feel of any application, no matter how unique. http://tc.eserver.org/25109.html http://tc.eserver.org/25109.html A multimedia exploration of new media technologies. http://tc.eserver.org/25017.html http://tc.eserver.org/25017.html You do not need multimedia. Unless you have to explain complex, abstract concepts to busy people. Unless you have to convince skeptical, sometimes hostile, readers. Unless you have to communicate to those who cannot see or hear. Or cannot read your language perfectly. Or who refuse to read. But multimedia is an easy way to waste a lot of money in a hurry. This workshop is not about how to waste money. It is about how multimedia lets skillful communicators communicate better. The secret? Guts not glitz. http://tc.eserver.org/25013.html http://tc.eserver.org/25013.html Explore the Earth on laser videodisc. All the astronaut photographs of the Earth taken on the first 57 missions of the Space Shuttle are now available on two laser videodiscs. Disc 2 also contains selected photos from the earlier NASA missions— Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. With the accompanying data records and software like the program we will demonstrate, you can choose global views of environmental change, graphic illustrations of scientific processes, or simply dramatic scenes to help your manuals communicate. http://tc.eserver.org/24977.html http://tc.eserver.org/24977.html CD-ROM (compact disk read only memory) multimedia technology has opened the door to vast quantities of readily accessible information for personal computer users. For a product to qualify as a multimedia effort., it must incorporate sound (recorded music and voice) and dynamic graphics (video and/or animation), as well as static text and graphics. http://tc.eserver.org/24787.html http://tc.eserver.org/24787.html Multimedia has proven its ability to sell products and educate users. But can it also perform tasks traditionally done with conventional paper documents? Yes. This demonstration shows how several hardware and software documents were converted to multimedia and provides a plan for converting your documents. You learn whether to display, speak, or just eliminate existing text. You see how to replace action words, descriptions of motion, and arrows with animation. YOU see how sound can guide rather than distract the user. You also learn to use interactivity to give control to the user. Along the way you see the compromises needed to keep the project on schedule, within budget, and down to size. http://tc.eserver.org/24818.html http://tc.eserver.org/24818.html What is interactive marketing? How is it different from traditional marketing function? What part does multimedia play in it? Who’s currently doing it and why? Does it replace traditional marketing? Will interactive marketing help companies to better market products and reach customers? These are the questions many companies and individuals are asking. During this panel discussion I will attempt to answer these questions by sharing my thesis research findings on the topic. I will also discuss the future of interactive marketing and the products that will be used to deliver it. http://tc.eserver.org/24789.html http://tc.eserver.org/24789.html Multimedia can add another dimension of information to online documentation. This progression discusses the optimum methods of presenting information (text, graphics, multimedia) and the planning and design process. http://tc.eserver.org/24591.html http://tc.eserver.org/24591.html "It made me laugh, I love it," is not what you want to hear about an expensive TV commercial. Did it leave you with a powerful desire to obtain the benefit the product offers, so that you plan on purchasing it? Find out why silly TV commercials, that fail to communicate why the product is superior, are doomed to drain budgets and let the competition gain ground.