Location Based Services Categories (cont.) Mobile Commerce Services –Help users shop or purchase goods/services from the retailer closest to their current location. –(Businesses can) send special offers to users in proximity to one of their establishments. Safety Related Applications –Help public or private safety organizations find or track mobile users in need of assistance. –Help locate stolen property.

Multimedia? Multi+media?

“Multi” “numerous” “media” “medium intermediary”

Graphics/ Image Text Video Sound

Yahoo-Movies

Multimedia means that computer information can be represented through audio, video, and animation in addition to traditional media (i.e., text, graphics drawings, and images).

Multimedia is the field concerned with the computer-controlled integration of text, graphics, drawings, still and moving images (Video), animation, audio, and any other media where every type of information can be represented, stored, transmitted and processed digitally.

Two keys elements of multimedia 1.Presentation of information through text, graphics, audio, images, animation, and full motion video. 2.Nonlinear navigation through applications for access to information on demand.

Multimedia History 15,000–13,000 BC—Prehistoric humans paint images on the walls of their caves (including a narrative composition) in the Grotte de Lascaux, France.

1940—Dorothy Kunhardt’s Pat the Bunny is published. A simple book employing multimedia and interactivity, it will teach millions of children to think outside of the box. 1952—Bwana Devil, the first 3-D film using polarized lenses, is released. 1976—Personal computing’s other two wunderkinder, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs form Apple (the name is licensed from the Beatles) Literary Machine (Hypertext) by Ted nelson

1989—British physicist Tim Berners-Lee proposes a global hypertext system, the World Wide Web. During the next few years, he will develop the standards for URL, HTML, and HTTP.  1991—James Cameron releases Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The film sets a new standard for the use of computer-generated special effects.  1995—Disney releases Toy Story, the first feature-length movie totally comprised by computer graphics. The 77-minute film takes four years to make, and 800,000 machine hours to render.

What is Hypertext?

Hypertext is a text which contains links to other texts. The term was invented by Ted Nelson around Hypertext is the organization of information units into connected associations that a user can choose to make. An instance of such an association is called a link or hypertext link.

What is Hypermedia?

Hypermedia, a term derived from hypertext, extends the notion of the hypertext link to include links among any set of multimedia objects, including sound, motion video, and virtual reality. It can also connote a higher level of user/network interactivity than the interactivity already implicit in hypertext. The World Wide Web (WWW) is the best example of hypermedia applications.

Multimedia System

A Multimedia System is a system capable of processing multimedia data and applications. Characteristics of a Multimedia System A Multimedia system has four basic characteristics: 1.Multimedia systems must be computer controlled. 2.Multimedia systems are integrated. 3.The information they handle must be represented digitally. 4.The interface to the final presentation of media is usually interactive.

Desirable Features for a Multimedia System Very High Processing Power Multimedia Capable File System Data Representations/File formats that support multimedia Efficient and High I/O Special Operating System Storage and Memory Network Support Software Tools

Components of a Multimedia System Capture devices Storage Devices Communication Networks Computer Systems MPEG/VIDEO Hardware Display Devices

What is Multimedia Useful For? Education – Tutoring systems – Encyclopedias – Instruction manuals Information – Tourist information – Museums / art galleries Entertainment – Games – Art

How is Multimedia Built? Using mixed media – Paper / videos / stereos / film / lasers – Art works using mixed media have been around for years – Not very portable! Using computers – Digitization of media – Output on computer monitor or projection display – Replaces separate devices – Almost ubiquitous

Offline – Installations / kiosks Single site with known hardware – CD-ROM / DVD / Software download Multiple sites with no control over target hardware – Just you and the computer – No feedback or interaction Online – Communication over networks Limited bandwidth – User requires plug-in – Feedback and interaction possible How is Multimedia Delivered?

Styles of Presentation card / page based time based icon / event based

Card / Page Based Presentation consists of 2D pages Elements arranged in the way text and images are laid out in books and magazines – Text, images, videos, sound Time-based elements – occupy a fixed space – Controls to start/stop playback Links between pages: hypermedia Hypercard, Toolbook, World-Wide Web (HTML)

Adobe Image Ready

Icon / Event Based Presentation is an event-driven system – User does something (e.g. clicking an icon) and something happens in response (a movie is played) – Contemporary GUIs Associating actions with events Events initiated by user (mouse clicks, key presses etc) or generated internally (movie finishes, time passes etc) Actions (behaviours) predefined or scripted (playing a movie, changing images, doing the unexpected…) Authoring tools include Macromedia’s Authorware

Macromedia Authoware

Time Based Time is the organizing principle Elements arranged on a timeline – presented in sequence (e.g. like a slide show) – parallelism: more than one thing going on at once – synchronization (e.g. display text while video is playing) May still incorporate some user control De facto standard time-based authoring tool is Macromedia’s Director, Flash

Macromedia Director

Multimedia Applications World Wide Web Hypermedia courseware Video conferencing Video-on-demand Interactive TV Groupware Home shopping Games Virtual reality Digital video editing and production systems Multimedia Database systems

Trends in Multimedia World Wide Web -- Hypermedia systems -- embrace nearly all multimedia technologies and application areas. Ever increasing popularity. MBone -- Multicast Backbone: Equivalent of conventional TV and Radio on the Internet. Enabling Technologies -- developing at a rapid rate to support ever increasing need for Multimedia. Carrier, Switching, Protocol, Application, Coding/Compression, Database, Processing, and System Integration Technologies at the forefront of this.

Tutorial 1 Questions Multimedia is an important part of a business environment- both in an office and on the internet. The office environment applications are often used for training purposes. But why and how is multimedia used in business on the web? To complete: Evaluate three websites that use multimedia for business, compares the sites include the following information: The name of company, the type of business, and URL. An example of how each site uses multimedia to enhance its site.