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

Digital Production of Corporate and Industrial Videos: A Primer  

Chu details the roles technical communicators will play in the production of corporate and industrial videos for training classes, employee communications, product manuals, user guides, and video press releases.

Chu, Steve W. Intercom (2002). Design>Multimedia>Interactive

Digital Video in Technical Communication: Panel and Discussion  

Digital does not experience signal loss or degradation...what goes in, comes out.

Robbins, David B., Donald Van Erem and S. Martin 'Marty' Shelton. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Multimedia>Video

Director MX Versus Flash

Director, which hit the scene way back in 1988, was always considered the ultimate multimedia authoring tool. Then the Web came along and Shockwave, a format that translated Director projects for the Web, was born. It was pretty wowie in its day (circa 1995), but the size of Shockwave files, along with the browser plugin users needed to see them, really slowed Shockwave down. Enter Flash's SWF format, which was designed solely for the Web so it was faster and easier to use than Shockwave. And the rest is history: Flash is everywhere, and whipper-snapper Web developers are all, 'Shockwave who?' But Shockwave has its uses. Flash may be better than ever these days, but you can still outgrow it. Say you need better video performance, or you want to create a game or educational tool that uses a joy stick. Or maybe you're looking for the depth of 3D animation. When it comes to interactive projects in the non-Web world (yes, it's true, there is life outside the Web) — such as CD-ROM games, educational materials, reference books, and presentations — sometimes Flash just isn't enough. If you're tackling a big-league, off-Web project, or a particularly intricate website, then perhaps it's time to take another look at Macromedia's Director MX.

Kay, Michael. Webmonkey (2003). Design>Multimedia>Web Design>Flash

Documenting the Design of Rich Internet Applications: A Visual Language for State

Ajax and Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) have revolutionized the way users interact with Web sites. However, documenting the design of any page that uses Ajax is a challenge, because the page--and, more importantly, components on the page--can have different states, depending on how users interact with the page's components.

Cecil, Richard F. UXmatters (2007). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Ajax

Does Your Website Need Those Bells and Whistles?

Some web designers will try to convince you that your website has to have the latest multimedia technology to be successful. Is it true?

Bennaco (2004). Design>Web Design>Multimedia

Don't Hide Your Multimedia Content!  

Rich or multimedia content is, of course, expensive and time-consuming to produce. So publishers that go to the trouble want plenty of their users to see it. Alas, this isn't always the case -- because links to such packages are often tucked away or presented in ways that Web users don't easily see.

Outing, Steve. Editor and Publisher (2003). Design>Multimedia>Online>Video

DVD Menu Design: The Failures of Web Design Recreated Yet Again

Designers of DVDs have failed to profit from the lessons of previous media: Computer Software, Internet web pages, and even WAP phones. As a result, the DVD menu structure is getting more and more baroque, less and less usable, less pleasurable, less effective. It is time to take DVD design as seriously as we do web design. The field needs some discipline some attention to the User Experience, concern about accessibility for those with less than perfect sight and hearing, and some standardization of control and display formats.

Norman, Donald A. JND.org (2002). Design>Multimedia>Video>DVD

DVD Menu Design: The Failures of Web Design Recreated Yet Again

Designers of DVDs have failed to profit from the lessons of previous media: Computer software, Internet web pages, and even WAP phones. As a result, the DVD menu structure is getting more and more baroque, less and less usable, less pleasurable, less effective. It is time to take DVD design as seriously as we do web design. The field needs some discipline some attention to the User Experience, and some standardization of control and display formats.

Norman, Donald A. Alertbox (2001). Design>User Interface>Multimedia>DVD

DVDs with Audio Description

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.

Clark, Joe. JoeClark.org (2001). Articles>Accessibility>Multimedia>DVD

E-Chalk Talk

Although electronic whiteboards come in several sizes and shapes, their main function is the same – to capture written annotations, notes and drawings and store them for future reference. This is accomplished with infrared sensors, radio-signal-emitting pens, plasma overlays and other technologies. The end product is a file of digitally stored notes that can be e-mailed, posted online, or printed and handed out to an audience immediately after a presentation or training session. Beyond these basic features, some electronic whiteboards are interactive – letting you connect a computer and projector to the whiteboard to combine its features with common software programs. A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, for example, can be projected onto an interactive whiteboard where it can be marked up with colored pens to highlight important numbers or trends. Or, using an interactive whiteboard's touchscreen feature, a presenter can navigate the Web using a finger to move the cursor and double-clicking with taps on the screen. Even videoconferencing functions have been integrated into electronic whiteboards in the past year.

Regenold, Stephen. Presentations (2003). Articles>Education>Multimedia>Videoconferencing

Review: e-Video: Producing Internet Video as Broadband Technologies Converge

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.

Boeri, Bob. Boston Broadside (2001). Articles>Reviews>Multimedia>Video

Early Home Cinema    

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'.

Chalke, Sheila. Convergence (2008). Articles>Multimedia>Video>History

Editing Multimedia  

Multimedia involves “many” “means of communication” – many ways of getting a message across. Whether you edit the work of others or submit your own work to the Red Pen, a closer look at what is involved in editing multimedia – tasks, process, and skills required – can help you create multimedia solutions that deliver your message with flying colors!

Prince, Deborah Smith and Cynthia C. Currie. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Multimedia>Editing

Effective Use of Flash in Professional Web Sites

Macromedia Flash is a popular animation application that can produce some striking special effects. In professional web sites, Flash must be used effectively instead of simply for novelty. Business applications of Flash can advertise a product or showcase a skill-set. Educational applications can use Flash to provide multimedia instruction. Entertainment applications of Flash include games and cartoons.

Kurtus, Ron. School for Champions (2002). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Effects of Documentation Errors On User Perception of Interactive Programs: Background For a Study  

Typographical errors and grammatical blunders affect the aesthetic appeal of documentation, and common belief is that they affect usability too. Many readers, however, seem not to notice such errors unless they are very frequent or flagrant. We thought it would be interesting, and perhaps useful, to test experimentally the effect of such errors on users’ perception of the information and on their performance with the product that the information supports the product.

Grice, Roger A. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Interactive>Multimedia

Embedding Flash Inside of a Powerpoint Presentation

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.

Flashgeek.com (2006). Articles>Presentations>Multimedia>Microsoft PowerPoint

Enhancing Documentation with Video  

Presents guidelines for developing videos from technical material and discusses the process of video production.

Steiner, Leonard T. Intercom (2004). Articles>Documentation>Multimedia>Video

Ethics and Accountability in the New Media Environment

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.

Hattori, Todd. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Risk Communication>Multimedia

The Evolution of Multimedia

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

Examples of Companies Integrating Podcasts into their Mix of Technical Communication Deliverables?

Podcasts aren't very good at delivering step-by-step technical information. Concepts are where podcasts excel.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2007). Articles>Multimedia>Audio>Podcasting

Expanding Blurring Titles

The effect where titles spread out and then blur away to nothing has become a popular way to make 'plain old text' look more interesting. It's really not that complex: What we do is 'expand' the text by animating the tracking (the space between the letters).

Mac Design Magazine (2005). Design>Multimedia>Video>Typography