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 ...
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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 ...
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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 loose-knit Keiretsu business groupings. TCI's boss, John Malone, evokes "octopuses with their hands in each other's pockets-where one starts and the other stops will be hard to decide." These alliances represent a model of corporate structure which many see as mere ...
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As A Technology, It Is Called Multimedia. (2007, May 25). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/As-A-Technology-It-Called-Multimedia/65385
"As A Technology, It Is Called Multimedia." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 25 May. 2007. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/As-A-Technology-It-Called-Multimedia/65385>
"As A Technology, It Is Called Multimedia." Essayworld.com. May 25, 2007. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/As-A-Technology-It-Called-Multimedia/65385.
"As A Technology, It Is Called Multimedia." Essayworld.com. May 25, 2007. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/As-A-Technology-It-Called-Multimedia/65385.
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