MultiMedia Resources

The following are some sources you can chase down to begin an exploration of the impact of multimedia on narrativity (assuming you find this interesting like I do). I recommend looking at Hans and Beverly Reiser's article in conjunction with David Miles. Together, they give you an idea of how multimedia is harking back to film, music, text and graphic design, as it pushes forward into new territory. Also, Sonya K. Foss' article is worth looking at as she tries to set up a schema for analyzing images rhetorically. I think eventually, such a schema should be developed for multimedia (hey, maybe I'll do it, if only you'd help.) And of course, I recommend playing/reading Myst (at least I enjoyed it- how's that for a rec).

* Reiser, Hans and Beverly. "Aesthetic considerations Unique to Interactive Multimedia." IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications. May 1995, v15, n3, p24.
-explores questions of aesthetics in relation to multimedia

* Miles, David. "The CD-ROM Novel Myst and McLuhan's Fourth Law of Media: Myst and Its 'Retrievals'." Journal of Communication. Spring 1996, v46, n2, p4.
-looks at the beginning of a new media (multimedia) and McLuhan's 4th law

Miller, Rand and Robyn. Myst. CD-ROM game, Cyan, Broderbund. 1993.
-the game itself, well worth exploring to see an attempt at narrative in multimedia

Miller, Rand. Myst: the Book of Atrus. New York: Hyperion, 1995.
-believe it or not, a book based off the game. Multimedia in action

Communication Arts Interactive Design Annual Palo Alto, Cal: Coyne and Blanchard, 1995.
-a CD-ROM that allows the reader to explore issues of multimedia and interactivity

Barrett, Edward and Marie Redmond. Contextual Media. Cambridge, MIT P, 1995.
-a collection of articles about interpreting and using multimedia

Multimedia Technology. (parts 1-5) St. Paul, MN: MnSAT, 1994-95
-looking at applying multimedia to enhance learning in classroom settings

Von Wodkte, Mark. Mind over Media. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.
-exploring how to think about multimedia in terms of creativity

Richmond, Wendy. "Using Your Imagination." Communication Arts. July 1995, v37, n3, p159.
-a short piece on imagination and interactive multimedia

Bly, Sara A. "Media Spaces." Communication of the ACM. Jan 1993, v36, n1, p28.
-the affects of opening work environments through video conferencing

Anderson, Holmqvist, & Jensen. The Computer as Medium. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993.
-explores the computer as a medium for communication

* Foss, Sonya K. "A Rhetorical Scheme for the Evaluation of Visual Imagery." Communication Studies. Fall-Winter 1994, v45, n4, 213.
-attempts to lay out a scheme for analyzing images for their rhetorical affects

Gibson, William. Neuromancer. London: Gollancz, 1984.
-author who coined the term cyberspace and imagined it as a VR multimedia world

Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. New York: Bantam Books, 1992.
-a novel that has a multimedia MOO world that is real and dangerous

Books By McLuhan, Marshall.
-throughout his career, he explored the semiotics and communication of media themselves

• McLuhan, Marshall and Eric McLuhan. Laws of Media. Buffalo: U of Toronto P, 1988.
• ---, Eric McLuhan and Kathryn Hutchon. Media, Messages and Language. Skokie, Il, National Textbooks Co, 1980.
• --- and Quentin Fiore. The Medium is the Massage. New York: Bantam Books, 1967.
• --- and Quentin Fiore. The Medium is the Message. New York: Random House, 1967.
• ---. Understanding Media. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1964.
• ---. Verbi-Voco-Visual Exploration. New York: Something Else Press, 1967.

URLs

• Berkeley Multimedia Research Center
  -a homepage for the exploration of multimedia possibilities
• LeapFrog
  -a good example of how businesses are jumping at multimedia
• The Palace
  -Time-Life's VR multimedia MOO, explore away my friends
• Macromedia
  -the makers of Director and Shockwave, multimedia for the web
• WAXweb
  -an online interactive multimedia story, of sorts

drew.davidson@mail.utexas.edu