Features

• The definition of multimedia is a matter of wide debate, but in modern terms it implies at least to the partial use of various forms of electronic equipment. Still, the most interesting feature of multimedia is that it knows no bounds. It can incorporate any combination of video, live performance, music, the written word, visual art, dance, the spoken word, light projection and anything else you can think of. All types of technology are allowed in multimedia, from television monitors to audio equipment to computers. Interactivity is also commonly incorporated in multimedia, as in the case of the Internet.
  
  

Type

• Multimedia takes on many forms and can be generally categorized according to the five human senses of sight, hearing, touch--even taste and smell--as well as interactivity. A few interesting types of participatory multimedia include the Internet, television game shows in which viewers can vote on contestants via their touch tone telephones, art installations that encourage visitors to touch exhibit elements and rock music concerts in which objects or colorful liquids are launched into the audience.
  
  

Benefits

• Psychologists have long understood that the human mind processes information via all its five senses, as well as by participating and interacting with the subject matter. Multimedia is used in that very spirit. It is often used to help emphasize messages, emotionally cement ideas and demonstrate otherwise difficult concepts. When the printed word is not enough, for example, illustrations can be used to tap into the visual cortex of the reader, allowing for smoother, faster comprehension. In schools, educators can use multimedia as a way of making the subject matter more appealing to students.
  
  

Risk Factors

• In an age of relatively cheap technology, it is tempting to cram in as many devices and technologies as possible when designing a presentation. The whole point of multimedia is to help advance an idea so that the audience can get the gist of the message. Too many conflicting types of media can actually hinder that process and distract the audience's attention, such as in the case of cable news networks filling up the screen with headlines irrelevant to what is being discussed. Producers, artists and other multimedia creators should therefore exercise some restraint.
  
  

History of

• The history of multimedia can be said to have begun the moment people figured out that words and gestures in combination are more effective than either of those modes by itself. Modern multimedia, however, implies the use of technology. It also implies that it can be reproduced to some extent. In other words, the advent of audio recording in the 19th century is the dawn of multimedia in the modern sense. In the early 20th century, silent film was invented. By the 1920s, sound and moving pictures were combined in "talkies," or what we now call movies. The drive-through movie theater can be said to be a forerunner of multimedia, as the audience could drive up in their own cars and be served food, which engages the taste buds. Art movements of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s saw a spike in the use of multimedia, with such movements as Dadaists in Europe and the Beats in the United States began incorporating words, music, and lights into their events. Other advances that helped shape multimedia into what it is today include the laser pointer, the slide projector, television monitors, touch sensors and motion detectors for interactivity, and of course the personal computer.