Multimedia and Hypermedia in Instruction and Research

Copyright © 2004 Herbert J. Bernstein, All Rights Reserved

• Multimedia
  • Presentation of information in multiple modes
    • Sound
      • Spoken words
      • Singing
      • Instrumental music
      • Sound-based clues (clicks, attention tones, etc.)
    • Images
      • Written words
        • Prose
        • Poetry
        • Lists
      • Equations, formulae
      • Graphs
      • Schematics
      • Cartoons
      • Realistic images and photos
      • Abstractions
      • Live performances, dance
      • Dynamic images, movies
    • Input to other senses -- touch, smell, taste
  • Illustrated manuscripts
  • Slide shows
  • Movies
  • Presentations
  • Web pages
• Hypermedia
  • Term derived from hypertext (text with embedded links to other documents)
    (see www.robotwisdom.com/web/timeline.html)
  • Hypermedia combines multimedia and hypertext
  • Allows presentations to be more interactive and more guided by the interests of the user
  • Apple coupled object-oriented programming with with hypermedia in Hypercard
  • The web is becoming the ultimate hypermedia environment
• Issues
  • When does a multimedia/hypermedia approach contribute to understanding
    • When multiple views of the same information are illuminating
    • When some of the information does not lend itself to the primary mode of communication
    • When the target audience does not handle the primary mode of communication well
    • When variety helps to hold audience interest
    • When the subject matter has multiple branching links
    • When the audience communicates in that jargon
    • e.g. Chemistry, Physics, Biology, etc.
  • When does a multimedia/hypermedia approach detract from understanding
    • When the subject matter is inherently unimodal and linear
    • When the audience is inherently unimodal and linear
    • When the infrastructure is not seamless
    • When the media transitions are not naturally related to transitions in the content
    • When the audience does not communicate in that jargon
    • e.g. Pure Mathematics