Computer Foundations for Instructional Multimedia

In this class you will learn the tools and design elements of multimedia for producing instruction on CD-ROM and the Internet.

Bisson, Mimi. San Francisco State University (2004). Academic>Courses>Instructional Design>Multimedia

[Continuing to] Mind the Gap: Teaching Image and Text in New Media Spaces  

Our panel presentation for Computers and Writing 2002 was consciously modeled on conversations that we have had with each other over the past several years as our paths have crossed in our individual journeys from the edges of our own distinct disciplines into the nebulousness of interdisciplinarity. We have made this journey as scholars, teachers, and students, and have discovered along the way that new media spaces have blurred the traditional boundaries between academic disciplines and the hierarchies that support them. Because the connections forged between disciplines can be tenuous in nature, their maintenance requires continuous conversation and exchange of ideas and resources.

Gossett, Kathie, Carrie A. Lamanna, Joseph Squier and Joyce R. Walker. Kairos (2003). Articles>Education>Multimedia

The Contribution of Hypermedia Link Authoring    

Linking, when properly executed, enhances the value of content by providing a consistent perspective and organizational scheme that enriches the user's experience. Link authoring, like content authoring, is a creative process of making connections between disparate yet related information. Effective link authoring requires intellect, creativity, and domain knowledge to define the relationships among concepts that can support a particular pedagogical objective. The contribution of hypermedia link authoring is often poorly understood and unrecognized by traditional academic and publishing communities. Publishers of commercial and academic hypermedia typically neither formally recognize link authoring as something that should be protected by copyright, nor do they extend to those involved in link authoring the same degree of credit or remuneration given conventional content authors or illustrators.

Bergeron, Bryan P. and Michael T. Bailin. Technical Communication Online (1997). Design>Information Design>Hypertext>Multimedia

Conversation on Sound

Design can be more than meets the eyes. Denise Gonzales Crisp opens her ears to unfamiliar territory.

Crisp, Denise Gonzales. AIGA (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Multimedia>Audio

Converting Documentation to Multimedia  

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.

Horton, Katherine W. and William K. Horton III. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Multimedia

A Copyeditor's Adventures in Multimedia Land

Publication in the 1990s encompasses worlds that most copyeditors never dreamed of when, with a mixture of delight and mistrust, we cautiously approached the first spell checkers. At least we could relate to the idea of mechanically checking spelling. The whole idea of multimedia is a little more unnerving.

Whalen, Elizabeth A. Editorial Eye, The (1998). Articles>Editing>Multimedia

CPI Navigator: Building an Electronic Library on CD-ROM  

This demonstration will discuss the development, maintenance, and future of the CPI Navigator application. The development of this Visual Basic application and the conversion of thousands of hardcopy documents developed on a mainframe-based processor to online help was a 3-year long process that included using databases, Word macros, and several Help prototypes.

Bottka, Hary-Janos, Richard Wrye and Allison Johnson. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Multimedia>CD ROM

Create a Twisting, Twirling 3D Title

Now that Adobe® Premiere® 6.0 includes many Adobe After Effects® special effects, you can expand your creativity exponentially. In this tip, we'll show you how to apply the After Effects Basic 3D effect to a Premiere title and make it twist and twirl into view using keyframes.

Adobe (2003). Design>Multimedia>Video>Adobe After Effects

Create Powerful Flash Applications With Shared Objects

Shared objects allow for data persistence in Flash applications, like cookies do in Web pages. Learn to leverage shared objects to create more robust apps.

David, Jean-Luc. Builder.com (2003). Design>Multimedia>Software>Flash

Creating a Multimedia CD-ROM: Bringing a General Information Manual to Life  

There are three parts to the process for creating a multimedia CD-ROM, and each part contains a number of steps. The first part, PLANNING, defines the goal, audience, budget, equipment, team members, theme, reviewers, schedule, and outline. The second part, PRODUCTION, develops, com- bines, and tests the multimedia elements: the script, story board, and audio and visual elements. The final part, PACKAGING, creates the printed infor- mation, the label, and the text and control files that go onto and ship with the CD-ROM.

Jedlicka, Linda Barnes. STC Proceedings (1993). Design>Multimedia>CD ROM

Creating Animated Graphics for the Web on a Tight Budget  

Creating your own animated graphics is not as far out of reach as you may think. Even though many Web information developers lack the skills to venture into animation, in a relatively short amount of time they can learn how. We will demonstrate a few of the actual animations that we’ve created in-house, and also share what was involved in our decision-making: who should do the work, the costs involved, and the software issues we encountered.

Hamilton, Karen J. and Gary Basham. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Multimedia>Interactive

Creating Online Tutorials and Demos  

An online tutorial or demo is a powerful way to pique interest and get users started on a new software program. Join a workshop that covers the how-to’s of creating your first project. (1) Make a plan. (2) Analyze audience needs and technical issues. (3) Form a team. (4) Write the script. (5) Design the interface. (6) Build it. (7) Test it.

Beren, Wendy G. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Multimedia>Documentation>Online

Creative Text Screens

TV and video are full of text screens used to fill space where there's no footage. It's something we're all stuck with, and we have an obligation to keep them well designed.

Hodgetts, Philip. Mac Design Magazine (2005). Design>Multimedia>Video

Cropping for DVD TV

Because of the size of the pictures not being close to a T.V. 4:3 aspect ratio the pictures have black side bars when viewing them. I was wondering if anyone knows a way to resize the background wider to match the 4:3 ratio?

Photoshop 911 (2005). Design>Multimedia>Video>DVD

CyberLaw and You: What New Media Communicators Must Know  

Describes developments in copyright law over the last few years that affect technical communicators.

Juillet, Christopher. Intercom (2002). Careers>Multimedia>Online

The Design and Evaluation of Interactivities in a Digital Library

The US National Science Foundation has established a program to create a National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education Digital Library (NSDL). One of the subsidiary NSDL libraries under development is the National Civil Engineering Educational Resources Library (NCERL). The first phase of NCERL is the creation and collection of digital resources in three areas of civil engineering—geotechnical (soil), rock, and water engineering (GROW). The concept of interactivities guides the design, development, and evaluation efforts of the GROW digital collection. This article describes the salient features of GROW, defines and discusses interactivities as an emerging, integral part of teaching and learning in civil engineering education. Interactivities take place at three distinct levels: the information resource, the collection, and the context. Very simply, the concept of interactivities can be defined as the emphasis on structured representations of interactive multimedia resources. Additionally, resources are designed with rich learning tasks and organized in pedagogical collections supplemented with contextual information. Preliminary evaluation of GROW-NCERL using interactivities is briefly described.

Budhu, Muniram and Anita Coleman. D-Lib Magazine (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Multimedia

Design Issues for Producing Effective Multimedia Presentations    

When designing multimedia presentations, technical communicators must consider navigational aids and the degree of user control, audio cues, color and typographical elements, visual elements, and copyright issues. Understanding these issues will help us develop guidelines for effective use of multimedia.

Mason, Lisa. Technical Communication Online (1997). Design>Information Design>Multimedia

Design of Digital Media: A Multidisciplinary Approach  

This article discusses the use of activity theory, visual literacy, and sound theory in the design of digital media. It defines each of these in the context of literacy and how literacy is viewed and changing in today's culture. It then goes on to describe two phases of a case study underway that shows the lifecycle of content development for literacy purposes. It begins with phase one which is development and testing of the content information model and continues with an overview of phase two, currently underway, which is a description of the testing and evaluation of the mediating artifacts that were created in phase one. It ends with a brief explanation of how this research can help technical communications in expanding multidisciplinary efforts and instructional support within the field of education.

D'Ammasso Tarbox, Judy. STC Proceedings (2004). Design>Multimedia>Cultural Theory

Designing Accessible T-Government Services  

This research shows some potentiality of Digital TV, and chiefly DTT, for promoting e-inclusion activities and granting accessible entertainment and t-government services.

Bertini, Patrizia. Informacios Tarsadalom-es Trendkutato Kozpont honlapja (2005). Books>Information Design>Multimedia>Government

Designing for Interactive Television

We are so accustomed to watching television that we easily overlook the limited resolution of the television screen. Compared to TV, even VGA looks good. Although both use a similar display monitor, they differ in both the way the screen is 'painted' and in how much information can be placed on the screen. To design effectively for interactive television, it is essential to understand the technical constraints of the medium.

Quesenbery, Whitney. WQusability (1996). Design>Multimedia>Video>Typography

Determining When to Use Show-Me Helps and Demos

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.

Bradford, Annette Norris. WritersUA (2005). Articles>Documentation>Multimedia>Video

Developing Effective Multimedia for Users  

This paper offers practical suggestions for effectively using multimedia as technical documentation. Multimedia is a dynamic and growing area of communication. It offers great possibilities for communicating a wide range of technical information clearly and concisely. By incorporating user-centered design into all phases of production, technical communicators can create high-quality, effective multimedia content that will wow users and meet their information needs. Applying user-centered design at each phase, the paper illustrates the progression of a multimedia project from initial user analysis through media selection and content development to final delivery.

Eilers, Perthenia. STC Proceedings (2002). Design>Multimedia>User Centered Design

Developing User Interface Guidelines for DVD Menus

Watching DVDs can be a frustrating experience, because DVD menus often miss out on usability and are complex and difficult to navigate through. Similar to the early years of web development, there is a lack of design standards. In this paper, we show the development of user interface guidelines for DVD menus. These guidelines can be used to design and evaluate DVD menus. We built a prototype according to the guidelines, conducted usability tests with the prototype and evaluated other movie DVDs using the guidelines to show the applicability, utility and usability of the guidelines.

Kappel, Karin, Martin Tomitsch, Thomas Koltringer and Thomas Grechenig. Proceedings of ACM CHI 2006 (2006). Design>User Interface>Multimedia>DVD

Digital Architectures: SGML, HTML, Multimedia and the Structure of Electronic Documents  

With the use of online multimedia communication growing daily, online technologies have dramatically changed the ways we use and present information -- so much so, that we also need to have new theories and models for understanding how technology and content are related in this new communication environment. This paper presents a theory of digital architecture and explains how SGML, HTML, and Information Architecture are related in the creation of a new online literacy and rhetoric.

Heba, Gary M. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Multimedia>Information Design