DEBATE - RAPID RESPONSES

Discussion

What is Multimedia?

There have been several occasions recently when it would have been useful to be able to reach for a handy definition of multimedia. The amorphous nature of multimedia in information services is both an advantage and a disadvantage: we can lay claim to almost anything when we need to, but if it is necessary to be more focussed it is sometimes hard to be specific. In advertising terms I suppose we would have to say that we do not have a strong brand image.

What is important is the views of librarians working with multimedia on a day to day basis. What does multimedia mean to you? The rest of this piece is an attempt to start a debate, so please respond to it.

Multimedia could be:

• A presentation of information in a range of forms and formats. This information could be digital, but whatever form it appears in it must be designed to exploit the special characteristics of multimedia.
• It can refer to the automated systems which take care of the routine aspects of running libraries: the creation, storage, management, retrieval and preservation of the multimedia artefacts.
• It should also include the organisational and human aspects of how we run multimedia libraries: structures, roles, communication, responsibility and other managerial aspects.
• It is obviously applied to collections of material in different formats. These are organised as a coherent whole and complement each other, containing traditional and electronic material as well as three-dimensional objects.
• How much of it is hardcore IT? Not much, I would say.
• How much of it is hardcore ITC? Not too much, I would say.
• Should we be bothered with issues like the rights and wrongs of downloaded popular copyright music?

What Aspects of Multimedia are Important to You?

Tell us what you think.

To join the debate please e-mail your comments to the editor - lyndon.pugh@virgin.net. Replies will be posted on this page.