Term Papers on Multimedia

Term Paper Title	Multimedia
# of Words	1481
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.92

Multimedia

As a technology, it is called multimedia.  As a revolution, it is the sum
of
many revolutions wrapped into one: A revolution in communication that
combines the audio visual power of television, the publishing power of the
printing press, and the interactive power of the computer.  Multimedia is
the
convergence of these different professions, once thought independent of
one
another, coming together to form a new technological approach to the way
information and ideas are shared.
     What will society look like under the evolving institutions of
interactive
multimedia technologies?  Well, if the 1980’s were a time for media
tycoons, the
1990’s will be for the self-styled visionaries.  These gurus see a dawning
digital
age in which the humble television will mutate into a two-way medium for a
vast
amount of information and entertainment.  We can expect to see:
movies-on-demand, video games, databases, educational programming, home
shopping, telephone services, telebanking, teleconferencing, even the
complex
simulations of virtual reality.  This souped-up television will itself be
a powerful
computer.  This, many believe, will be the world’s biggest media group,
letting
consumers tune into anything, anywhere, anytime.
     The most extraordinary thing about the multimedia boom, is that so
many
moguls are spending such vast sums to develop digital technologies, for
the
delivering of programs and services which are still largely hypothetical.
     So what is behind such grand prophecies?  Primarily, two
technological
advances known as digitization (including digital compression), and fibre
optics.
Both are indispensable to the high-speed networks that will deliver
dynamic new
services to homes and offices.  Digitization means translating
information, either
video, audio, or text, into ones and zeros, which make it easier to send,
store,
and manipulate.  Compression squeezes this information so that more of it
can
be sent using a given amount of transmission capacity or bandwidth.
     Fibre-optic cables are producing a vast increase in the amount of
bandwidth available.  Made of glass so pure that a sheet of it 70 miles
thick
would be as clear as a window-pane, and the solitary strand of optical
fibre the
width of a human hair can carry 1,000 times as much information as all
radio
frequencies put together.  This expansion of bandwidth is what is making
two-way communication, or interactivity, possible.
     Neither digitization nor fibre optics is new.  But it was only
this year that
America’s two biggest cable-TV owners, TCI and Time Warner , said  they
would
spend $2 billion and $5 billion respectively to deploy both technologies
in their
systems, which together serve a third of America’s 60m cable homes.  Soon,
some TCI subscriptions will be wired to receive 500 channels rather than
the
customary 50; Time Warner will launch a trail full-service network in
Florida with
a range of interactive services.
     These two announcements signaled the start of a mad multimedia
scramble in America, home market to many of the world’s biggest media,
publishing, telecoms and computer companies, almost all of which have
entered
the fray.  The reasons are simple:  greed and fear:  greed for new sources
of
revenue; fear that profits from current businesses may fall as a result of
reregulation or cut-throat competition.
     Multimedia has already had a profound affect on how these
businesses
interact with one another.  Mergers such as Time Warner, Turner
Broadcasting,
and Paramount have set the stage.  These companies continue the race to be
the first to lay solid infrastructure, and set new industry standards.
Following in
the shadows will be mergers between: software, film, television,
publishing, and
telephone industries, each trying to gain market share in the emerging
market.
     So far, most firms have rejected the hostile takeovers that marked
the
media business in the 1980s.  Instead, they have favored an array of
alliances
and joint ventures akin to Japan’s...

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