::.:: Interactive Media ::.:: What’s that?,Who’s involved?

::.:: Interactive Media ::.::

What’s that?

Who’s involved?

Interactive media - what’s that?

For those people that have been part of the digital revolution this
query seems rather trivial. But it is experience and expertise that
allow people to discuss terminology without actually defining the
terms. It is easy to forget how long it takes to get up to speed! For
those people starting off on the quest or for people like career
advisors trying to offer initial advice on the subject, there appears
to be no easy way into this unmapped territory.
The relevance of this paper is not just for new entrants: many
in the industry have a fragmented perspective without realising it.
So in an attempt to clarify the position, we take an aerial
perspective related primarily to the UK.

The definition

Interactive media is the integration of digital media including
combinations of electronic text, graphics, moving images, and
sound, into a structured digital computerised environment that
allows people to interact with the data for appropriate purposes.
The digital environment can include the Internet, telecoms and
interactive digital television.
No wonder it is difficult for new entrants to understand. The
important concepts to hold on to are ‘interactive’ and ‘media’
across a range of ‘delivery channels’ or ‘platforms’.

What causes the confusion?
The terms used ...

There are many terms used to denote the interactive nature of
digital applications—multimedia, new media and interactive design
are common examples. Because the interactive sector has quickly
evolved through phases, the terms have often been coined to
reflect a phase that then gets surpassed. A quick historical
overview will give the background that causes confusion for those
joining the dynamic sector.

The word Multimedia used to have a specialist connotation for
the audio-visual industry. Uses of multiple or mixed media in such
analogue systems as slide shows or overhead projectors were
known as ‘multimedia’. But this specialist use was superseded by
the arrival of digital technology. Integrated digital media was
termed interactive multimedia and usually shortened to plain
multimedia for convenience.

The need to differentiate between analogue (linear) and digital
(interactive) uses of media spawned other terms like New Media
and Digital Media. The term ‘New media’ carries it’s own problems
as the media associated with the original term are replaced with
newer instances of the ‘new’. Obsolescence is endemic in the
interactive arena. However, the term remains in use although
Digital Media and Interactive Media are more stable terms and are
being used increasingly. The term Interactive Media highlights the
interactive connotation that is a key characteristic of the difference
between the older style media and the new.

When the Web quickly became the largest hardware platform,
and development for it became the most common form of
interactive development, the emphasis on ‘media’ was dropped.
This may have been because the capacity for using media other
than text on the Web was and remains limited. Skill sets such as
Web Design, and Web Development came to the fore and these
more specific terms overshadowed the more general terms like
Digital Media and Interactive Media.

The irony is that ‘multimedia’ is the preferred term still used by
telcos (telecommunications companies) because when they
entered the interactive arena only a few years ago, they did not
have any previous use of the term and did not find it confusing.
In the wider technological context, terms like ICT (Information
and Communications Technologies—favoured in the education
sector), the Digital Revolution, and Convergence began to be used
in an attempt to define the pervasive changes that interactive
technologies were causing within traditional business sectors. They
are used in a strategic way, since as soon as a particular delivery
channel is mentioned—DVD, iTV or Web for example—the
emphasis shifts from trends to specific forms of production. This
shift in perspective is important because it explains why some
people see connections across forms of digital media and skill sets
while others only relate to a particular area of specialism. This will
be developed further during this paper.
At the moment the strategic buzz word is ‘Broadband’. This
refers to an upgrade in the communications infrastructure needed
to allow faster more media-rich access to digital content. It will be
explained more fully below.

Why do the terms seem to keep changing?
Originally the expensive niche collections of hardware that allowed
interactive application of multimedia depended on innovators from
many fields. The systems such as interactive videodisc, CD-i and
proprietary computer-based training solutions were expensive and
(as a result) exclusive. They did not win a large-enough market to
arouse the interest of mainstream business and the main business
processes were unaffected by the technology.

The spread of computers, combined with the success of the CDROM
format, started a process of consolidation. As prices became
affordable and computer literacy increased because of wider
general use of the computer within businesses, the use of
computers for leisure, games, reference, training, general
education and home-based education increased accordingly.
The successful games sector grew. Driven by its particular
needs and audience, it formed a stable and lucrative market. It
needed specialised hardware to provide the speed, quality and
media versatility in the form of games machines like the Sony
Playstation. The youth market continues to demand constant
media innovation and interaction. Games developers respond to
this market need. They work in an intense, creative, high-tech
industry which has more in common with the music business than
with information technology. Their methods of defining a product
and their methods of production differ from many other parts of
the industry accordingly.

Meanwhile, although CD-ROMs appeared to promise the
emergence of a market substantial enough to splinter into healthy
industry segments, the World Wide Web spread faster, overtook CD
ROMs and established itself as the first global, accessible,

affordable, computerised hardware and software solution.
Businesses and the public were happy to sacrifice interactive
media components in return for access to (at the time) mainly
text-based information such as instant news, electronic mail,
reference data, archive material among others.

The training community is a good case study to demonstrate
how quickly the digital revolution can spread. It had always had its
small group of devotees to technology-based training and great
resistance from the majority of traditional trainers. But the World
Wide Web forced a rapid conversion across the industry fired by
the overwhelming need for more training in the IT sector. They had
to use any and every means for training to keep up with demand
and they had to offer the same accreditation for courses across all
delivery platforms in order to gain acceptance. The web offered
logical access for IT personnel who were already computer literate.
As general computer literacy and access to the web spread to the
general business population, the model of training delivered across
the web has spread like wildfire. In just four years e-learning has
become a major sector worth a serious amount of money.
The web is becoming part of general business for
communications, sales and services. It is changing business
practices. Its technical limitations affect the amount of material
and speed of access to material. The web primarily depends on
phone line connections so the better these are across a territory,
the more reliable the service. The inherent limitations of passing
large amounts of digital information down phone lines affect the
type and quality of the media that can be used effectively. These
limitations affect the nature of the interaction allowed by the web.
There are ways to increase the performance by improving the
technical limitations but this depends on having a readily available
infrastructure that can deliver more data faster and reliably. The
infrastructure necessary is called Broadband.

Phone lines alone cannot be upgraded sufficiently to create
access for all. For example, people who live further than a few
kilometres from a suitably-equipped telephone exchange will not
have access to the so-called DSL high-speed connection. DSL
works by piggy-backing high frequency signals on top of the usual
voice-frequency signals and will work satisfactorily over just a few
kilometres. There are patches of broadband capability in the UK
linked to cable-TV connections and satellite connections are also
possible as, in theory, are local radio-based networks. But there is
no quick way to achieve extensive, cheap broadband connections
to allow better quality interactive web and TV services. The UK is
less broadband-ready than many other countries and this is seen
as a barrier to the interactive market particularly for the embryonic
interactive television sector.

Who is involved in multimedia?

The short answer is everyone and anyone! If you found the shifting
terminology used to delineate interactive media something of a
mish-mash then defining the people in the interactive arena is
even harder. In terms of development of interactive media, there
are the widespread group of specialists as well as specialist
management roles,
Management roles can include all levels from Directors in
interactive media companies to Heads of Departments in large
corporates who may need to devise company-wide strategies for
interactive media as part of their general responsibilities for
communications, marketing, training and so on

On the other hand, there is an increasing number of people
inside traditional businesses who are responsible for
commissioning new media work from external contractors. These
commissioners may not have any formal knowledge of developing
interactive media although it becomes part of their responsibilities

Yet other people at middle management levels of business will
have an in-house development unit amongst other units as part of
their responsibilities. These development units might be found in
any of the business departments from IT, marketing,
communications, advertising, to media, training and e-commerce

You only need to read through several job descriptions across all
job sectors to see how pervasive experience and knowledge of
working with particular interactive media and platforms has
become.

The development environment.

The core team members for developing interactive media come
from programming, media production—or asset production as it is
increasingly known—and interactive content development. The
programmers decide and develop the technical structure for a
project. The media production specialists concentrate on the
design and development of the relevant text, audio, video,
graphics and animation assets. These need to work effectively
within the technical structure. The content definition determines
the type and amount of information that will serve the specific
purpose for developing the application. Defining the interface—
exactly how the users will access the pieces of information—is
often negotiated between members of the core team because it is
such a key part of development.
Some people can straddle two or all three of these skillsets up
to a certain proficiency level so there are graphic artists who can
manipulate packages to produce web pages, and programmers
who define the content to go into applications. But, as soon as
more complex developments are needed, specialists become
necessary across the sets
At this higher level, none can operate effectively without the
other. This highlights a key characteristic in the sector: it is interdisciplinary.
Traditional sectors have in the past been represented
by single disciplines. Single disciplines define their boundaries
while interdisciplinary sectors blend together and so the skills
blend as well.
Although there is a core development team, there are many
other people who feed into the process. Specialist advice from
interactive lawyers can be essential, for example, and specialist
skills might be needed for market sectors like e-learning, online
marketing, information architecture, precise technical testing and
so on.
Meanwhile, because the use of new technologies is becoming
part and parcel of general business, yet more people are involved
in the development cycle. Some manage interactive teams as part
of their overall remit; others commission interactive developments
for their companies as part of their general responsibilities, as
previously explained. These people—particularly if they are nonspecialists—
need enough understanding to make informed
decisions about the complex process they are trying to manage.

How do the core team line up with subject specialisms?

Many people see themselves in terms of the subject areas that
they have studied rather than the role they take. But the
interactive media industry is breaking down such distinctions.
Those concerned with tailoring information for different
purposes approach the idea of multimedia from a traditional
subject boundary perspective such as graphics, broadcasting,
sound, education, training, publishing, games, advertising, music,
law, marketing and so on. They all have been and continue to be
affected by the digital revolution but each has a specialist
perspective as well as digital needs. They tend to approach the
technology from the stance of ‘how can I utilise it as a carrier of
information?’
Others from subjects like IT, computer science,
telecommunications, broadcasting and engineering approach the
idea from the hardware or the technologies involved in the
content’s delivery. They tend to have deeper technical knowledge
about the major hardware platforms and their perspective is
affected accordingly. They understand the limitations of a delivery
system in terms of what it will allow on a scale running from ‘easy
and cheap to produce’ to ‘hard and expensive to produce’. They
tend to approach the technology from the stance of ‘what is this
system technically capable of doing?’ and ‘does it allow me to add
to it and if so to what extent?’
The business perspective takes the stance of ‘how can this be
turned into profitable business streams’, or ‘what business
processes can be made faster, more efficient and/or cheaper by
interactive technology?’, ‘what can it offer our customers?’ and
‘how can it aid our services or sales?’ Specialists from business
studies and marketing would take this stance.
Everyone can use interactive media for their own ends in fact.
The stances are not exclusive but are used as indicators here. All
specialist stances have a tendancy to blind the people involved to
the commonality that is actually shared between them. They all
meet similar dilemmas but try and solve them alone. This possibly
holds up progress because the business processes and structure of
information depend on what the technology allows. The subject
specialists, the business specialists and the technologists need to
communicate together to establish what they will achieve for a
particular job in a timescale for a given amount of money that will
satisfy the business objectives and the users
The user often gets left out of the picture but in interactive
applications, the response from the user is critical. If they and
their needs are ignored you can end up with an acclaimed creative
web site, for example, that baffles people. The classic example of
this is the rise and fall of Boo dot com. Users found it difficult to
navigate to buy the products and would leave the site. The
opposite is also true. Too much text and scrolling when the user
wants to skim and hone in on a particular item of information in a
web site also has the effect of the users leaving the site. It is up to
the project manager to focus all the people involved on the needs
of the user as a common aim.

What is the extent of the interactive media revolution?
Because there are many people involved across all sections of the
information industries, media and computer programming together
with telecommunications and broadcasting, it is difficult to take an
overview. However, for the present, each represents a minority
within its own sector. Online training development is seen as part
of the traditional training specialism although it embraces new
skills, production methods and business models. Interactive
broadcasting fulfils the same minority for the broadcast industry.
Online editing of web site content is the new branch of journalism
and publishing. Interactive law, interactive graphics, interactive
health and so on follow the same pattern. The people involved
share the important characteristic of being interactive change
agents within their areas.

The digital revolution is capable of affecting all facets of life.
Each of the specialisms has a digital inroad created by the change
agents. But one of the key characteristics of change is that it
causes resistance from the traditionalists. They can delay change
and even stifle it by building barriers. They tend to have the
upper-hand in influence within their own sector and even higher
levels such as government and other administrations. Their
traditional mindsets work, often unconsciously, against the new
ways of thinking that don’t fit into what have become the accepted
categories.
In the UK, interactive media industry statistical data is not
captured by the SIC (Standard Industry Classifications) or SOC
(Standard Occupational Classifications) that are fed into
government to make decisions about things like what and how to
fund. Education and training are vital to ensure wider
understanding and acceptance. Change agents need protecting
and nurturing within organisations and discipline specialisms. The
traditionalists lack credibility with the change agents because of
the mindset clash—and then so much more hinges on this
communication barrier.

Traditional Subject or Sector Areas
Broadcast
E-commerce
Law
Training
Education
Graphics
Journalism
IT
Health
Interactive Media
Change Agents

ATSF White Paper—Interactive Media UK—©2002 ATSF 10
This may explain why some ‘emerging’ countries that have
embraced the information society have been able to leap ahead
with initiatives. They don’t suffer with the same baggage!
The process of change happens in waves. When the innovative
practices become the norm, the change agents have succeeded.
So the measure of change lies in looking at the differences in
business practices. In terms of the digital revolution this means
checking on how many digital functions have been integrated into
core business practice in each of the areas.
All the subject specialisms are contributing either to e-business
(synonymous with e-commerce), or e-communication. They are
trying to sell services or goods and/or trying to get information of
different types to people.
Where does this leave us?
Well, maybe you’ve been able to decide if and where you fit into
interactive media or whether you might become part of it as it
engulfs your specialist subject, your profession or your business
processes.
It is a dynamic environment that is affecting everyone from
those directly involved to those who have to manage it and those
who use it. It is not going to go away but it may well change its
shape and form from fixed to mobile, limited media to rich media,
limited interaction to real time interaction. There will be new
markets to create and old market segments to revamp and build
up. There will be new challenges for developers and designers with
the emerging interactive mobile and broadband technologies.
This paper hasn’t been able to address all the factors causing
confusion but we hope that the issues we have tackled got you
thinking more clearly about your present or future position in the
interactive arena.