Multimedia

Initially, computers were able to work only with numbers. A little later they learned how to work with texts and graphics. And only in the last decade of the 20th century did the computer master the sound and moving image. New features of the computer are called multimedia (multimedia - multiple environments, that is, a medium consisting of several components of a different nature). Multimedia is a combination of hardware and software that provide the creation of sound and visual effects, as well as the influence of a person on the progress of the program that provides for their creation.

New features of the computer are called multimedia

A vivid example of the use of multimedia capabilities are various encyclopedias in which the output of a text of an article is accompanied by the display of text-related images, fragments of motion pictures, synchronous scoring of the output text, etc. Multimedia is widely used in teaching, cognitive, game programs. Experiments conducted over large groups of students showed that 25% of the material heard remains in memory. If the material is perceived visually, then 1/3 of what is seen is remembered. In the case of combined exposure to sight and hearing, the proportion of assimilated material increases to 50%. And if multimedia training is organized with interactive, interactive communication of the trainee and multimedia training programs, up to 75% of the material is absorbed. These observations indicate the tremendous prospects for the use of multimedia in the field of education and in many other similar applications.

The term multimedia is also used to designate storage media that allows you to store large amounts of data and provide fast enough access to them (the first carriers of this type were CDs). In this case, the term "multimedia" means that a computer can use such media and provide information to the user through all possible types of data, such as audio, video, animation, image and others, in addition to traditional ways of providing information, such as text.

Multimedia can be roughly classified as linear and nonlinear. An analogue of the linear representation method can be a movie. A person viewing this document in no way can influence its output. A non-linear way of presenting information allows a person to participate in the output of information by interacting in some way with the media display. The participation of a person in this process is also called "interactivity." This way of interaction between a person and a computer is most fully represented in the categories of computer games. A nonlinear way of presenting multimedia data is sometimes called "hypermedia".

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