Although multimedia is a very broad term, and also rather ambiguous, that can now be used to describe a variety of forms of text, audio and video, each type has five basic elements. These elements are: Their history, their function, types, misconceptions and benefits. Below is a further explanation of each of these elements.
The term multimedia was first used frequently during the mid 1960's when it was used to describe a rock concert that incorporated the use of experimental lighting, performing arts and cinema. Over the time, the meaning of the word began to change. During the 1970's, multimedia became used to mean a slide show that was synchronized to music and presented using a projector. However today, the word multimedia is used to describe any video or audio presentation and even home videos with narration and computers games.
The basic function of multimedia is that it is used as a way of displaying information in a manner that is interesting. Multimedia will fuel any kind of process including business presentations that are made up of pie charts and graphs to a laser light show at a concert.
As mentioned before, the word multimedia is rather ambiguous and can be used to describe anything from a specialized presentation with various media forms to a book with pictures in it!
A lot of people have a few misconceptions about multimedia for example, a music CD is not considered to be a form of multimedia. This is because the content is only in one format. There must be at least two different forms of content for something to be considered multimedia.
The main advantage of using multimedia is that it is an excellent way of getting the viewer's attention. The viewer will then be able to enjoy the multimedia experience and may even learn something from it.
