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Multimedia encompasses various types of content, each serving different purposes:
Multimedia can be recorded for playback on computers, , , and other electronic devices. In the early years of multimedia, the term "rich media" was synonymous with interactive multimedia. Over time, hypermedia extensions brought multimedia to the World Wide Web, and streaming services became more common.
On August 10, 1966, Richard Albarino of Variety borrowed the terminology, reporting: "Brainchild of song scribe-comic Bob ('Washington Square') Goldstein, the 'Lightworks' is the latest multi-media music-cum-visuals to debut as discothèque fare." Two years later, in 1968, the term "multimedia" was re-appropriated to describe the work of a political consultant, David Sawyer, the husband of Iris Sawyer—one of Goldstein's producers at L'Oursin.
In the intervening forty years, the word has taken on different meanings. In the late 1970s, the term referred to presentations consisting of Multi-Image timed to an audio track. However, by the 1990s, 'multimedia' had taken on its current meaning.
In the 1993 first edition of Multimedia: Making It Work, Tay Vaughan declared, "Multimedia is any combination of text, graphic art, sound, animation, and video that is delivered by computer. When you allow the user – the viewer of the project – to control what and when these elements are delivered, it is interactive multimedia. When you provide a structure of linked elements through which the user can navigate, interactive multimedia becomes hypermedia."Vaughan, Tay, 1993, Multimedia: Making It Work (first edition, ), Osborne/McGraw-Hill, Berkeley, pg. 3. This book contained the Tempra Show software. This was a later, rebranded version of the 1985 DOS multimedia software VirtulVideo Producer, about which the Smithsonian declared, "It is one of the first, if not the first, multi-media authoring systems on the market."
The German language society Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache recognized the word's significance and ubiquitousness in the 1990s by awarding it the title of German 'Word of the Year' in 1995. Ein Jahr, ein (Un-)Wort! (in German) Spiegel Online The institute summed up its rationale by stating, "Multimedia has become a central word in the wonderful new media world". Variety, January 1–7, 1996.
In common usage, multimedia refers to the usage of multiple media of communication, including video, still images, animation, audio, and text, in such a way that they can be accessed interactively. Video, still images, animation, audio, and written text are the building blocks on which multimedia takes shape. In the 1990s, some computers were called "multimedia computers" because they represented advances in graphical and audio quality, such as the Amiga 1000, which could produce 4096 colors (12-bit color), outputs for TVs and VCRs, and four-voice stereo audio. Changes in removable storage technology during this time were also important, as the standard CD-ROM can hold on average 700 megabytes of data, while the maximum size a 3.5-inch floppy disk can hold is 2.8 megabytes, with an average of 1.44 megabytes. (2025). 9780121709600 ISBN 9780121709600 Greater storage allowed for larger digital media files and therefore more complex multimedia.
The term "video", if not used exclusively to describe motion photography, is ambiguous in multimedia terminology. Video is often used to describe the file format, delivery format, or presentation format instead of "footage" which is used to distinguish motion photography from "animation" of rendered motion imagery. Multiple forms of information content are often not considered modern forms of presentation, such as audio or video. Likewise, single forms of information content with single methods of information processing (e.g., non-interactive audio) are often called multimedia, perhaps to distinguish static media from active media. In the fine arts, for example, Leda Luss Luyken's ModulArt brings two key elements of musical composition and film into the world of painting: variation of a theme and movement of and within a picture, making ModulArt an interactive multimedia form of art. Performing arts may also be considered multimedia, considering that performers and props are multiple forms of both content and media.
In modern times, a multimedia device can be referred to as an electronic device, such as a smartphone, a video game system, or a computer. Each and every one of these devices has a main function but also has other uses beyond their intended purpose, such as reading, writing, recording video and audio, listening to music, and playing video games. This has led them to be called "multimedia devices." While previous media was always local, many are now handled through web-based solutions, particularly streaming.
Multimedia games and simulations may be used in a physical environment with special effects, with multiple users in an online network, or locally with an offline computer, game console, simulator, virtual reality, or augmented reality.
The various formats of technological or digital multimedia may be intended to enhance the users' experience, for example, to make it easier and faster to convey information. Or in entertainment or art, combine an array of artistic insights that include elements from different art forms to engage, inspire, or captivate an audience.
Enhanced levels of interactivity are made possible by combining multiple forms of media content. Online multimedia is increasingly becoming object-oriented and data-driven, enabling applications with collaborative User innovation and personalized on multiple forms of content over time. Examples of these range from multiple forms of content on Web sites like photo galleries with both images (pictures) and titles (text) user-updated to simulations whose coefficients, events, illustrations, animations, or videos are modifiable, allowing the multimedia "experience" to be altered without reprogramming. In addition to seeing and hearing, haptic technology enables virtual objects to be felt. Emerging technology involving illusions of taste and odor may also enhance the multimedia experience.
Multimedia can be live or recorded:
Learning theory in the past decade has expanded dramatically because of the introduction of multimedia. Several lines of research have evolved, e.g., cognitive load and multimedia learning.
From multimedia learning (MML) theory, David Roberts has developed a large group lecture practice using PowerPoint and based on the use of full-slide images in conjunction with a reduction of visible text (all text can be placed in the notes view' section of PowerPoint). The method has been applied and evaluated in 9 disciplines. In each experiment, students' engagement and active learning have been approximately 66% greater than with the same material being delivered using bullet points, text, and speech, corroborating a range of theories presented by multimedia learning scholars like Sweller and Mayer. The idea of media convergence is also becoming a major factor in education, particularly higher education. Defined as separate technologies such as voice (and telephony features), data (and productivity applications), and video that now share resources and interact with each other, media convergence is rapidly changing the curriculum in universities all over the world. Higher education has been implementing the use of social media applications such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc. to increase student collaboration and develop new processes in how information can be conveyed to students.
Within education, video games, specifically fast-paced action games, are able to play a big role in improving cognitive abilities involving attention, task switching, and resistance to distractors. Research also shows that, though video games may take time away from schoolwork, implementing games into the school curriculum has an increased probability of moving attention from games to curricular goals.
First introduced to social work education by Seabury & Maple in 1993, multimedia technology is utilized to teach social work practice skills, including interviewing, crisis intervention, and group work. In comparison with conventional teaching methods, including face-to-face courses, multimedia education shortens transportation time, increases knowledge and confidence in a richer and more authentic context for learning, generates interaction between online users, and enhances understanding of conceptual materials for novice students.
In an attempt to examine the impact of multimedia technology on students' studies, A. Elizabeth Cauble & Linda P. Thurston conducted research in which Building Family Foundations (BFF), an interactive multimedia training platform, was utilized to assess social work students' reactions to multimedia technology on variables of knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy. The results state that respondents show a substantial increase in academic knowledge, confidence, and attitude. Multimedia also benefits students because it brings experts online, fits students' schedule, and allows students to choose courses that suit them.
Mayer's Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning suggests that "people learn more from words and pictures than from words alone." According to Mayer and other scholars, multimedia technology stimulates people's brains by implementing visual and auditory effects and thereby assists online users to learn efficiently. Researchers suggest that when users establish dual channels while learning, they tend to understand and memorize better. The mixed literature of this theory is still present in the fields of multimedia and social work. (2025). 9781617358678 ISBN 9781617358678
Multimedia reporters who are mobile (usually driving around a community with cameras, audio and video recorders, and laptop computers) are often referred to as mojos, or mobile journalists.
Multimedia is also allowing major car manufacturers, such as Ford and General Motors, to expand the design and safety standards of their cars. By using a game engine and virtual reality glasses, these companies are able to test the safety features and the design of the car before a prototype is even made. Building a car virtually reduces the time it takes to produce new vehicles, cutting down on the time needed to test designs and allowing the designers to make changes in real time. It also reduces expenses since, with a virtual car, making real-world prototypes is no longer needed.
Head-mounted display (HMD): Users wear a headset that covers their eyes and ears, providing visual and auditory stimuli. These headsets are equipped with screens that display the virtual environment, and some may also have built-in speakers or headphones for audio.
Motion tracking: Sensors track the user's movements, allowing them to interact with the virtual world. This can include head movements, hand gestures, and sometimes even full-body movements, enhancing the sense of immersion.
Input devices: Controllers or other input devices are used to interact with the virtual environment. These devices can simulate hands or tools, enabling users to manipulate objects or navigate within the virtual space.
Computer processing: Powerful computers or gaming consoles are often required to generate and render the complex graphics and simulations needed for a convincing virtual experience.
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