This chapter consists of the following sections:
Learning takes place at different levels and in different modes. At its most basic, multimedia can enable the recognition of words, terms, and their contextual meaning. These are the simple vocabulary trainers for foreign languages or technical terms. They are the multimedia equivalent of multiple choice tests for the learning and testing of contextual meaning.
At the next level, perception begins to play a role as shapes and colors, graphic elements, and movement through space and/or time allows the user to ask questions about the contents of pictures or sequences of movement. Multimedia computing still offers many unexploited possibilities for this kind of learning, especially in the field of art history.
Interactive learning can also be achieved via role playing and situational games or communication with other users. For example, multiple users govern a simulated medieval town or discuss a picture with a gallery visitor in another location via the Internet.
Multimedia computing can also be used to pursue the didactical aim of furthering creativity: finding a suitable description of an art object, manipulating scanned pictures, rearranging the pictures in a digital exhibition, or simply grouping colors and shapes, all exercise visual learning and perception.
Brainstorming is one method of gathering spontaneous ideas from a group of users about a topic or question. This method, which is often used during guided tours, can also be used in multimedia computing. This can take the form of an interactive exchange of ideas with other users or of adding a comment to an existing on-line list.
The synectical method tries to make strange things familiar and familiar things strange. The synectical theory or system of problem-stating and problem-solution is based on creative thinking that involves free use of metaphor and analogy in informal interchange. Well known pictures or objects can thus be made to seem out of the ordinary or put into a totally different context in order to attract the audience's attention to specific stylistic or social sets of rules. Other examples of this method are programmed conflict situations, mistakes or provocative questions.
Trial-and-error navigational exploration in multimedia applications facilitate discovery and learning. Users can move freely within a program, make enquiries and comments or give answers to questions without other users ridiculing them or teachers scolding them.
One important principle of didactics is the use of several different channels of sensory information at the same time. It is possible to retain about three times as much information with multi-sensory input compared with the use of just one channel. It is thought that the retention rate after hearing is on average around 20%, after seeing around 30%, after hearing and seeing together 50% and after hearing, seeing and touching around 70%. The retention rate, of course, also depends on factors such as motivation, sensitivity and presentation.
An important element in the use of multimedia computing, especially for a younger audience, is "action". New information is acquired more quickly and easily if linked to something exciting or attractive. This is the realm of contemporary advertising design. Even changing the character of familiar information has an attracting effect. Addressing users by name or encouraging and applauding them have a motivating effect. This is called interplay of incentive and award. The same holds true for multimedia applications which directly respond to users entering information.
The display of results or grading in competitions may give incentive to users by awakening ambition. Some programs give a scoreboard of the last or the best competitors. In others a voice says 'well done' and gives a personal comment. Other applications are meant to make people curious offering an amusing response when clicking with the mouse or touching a feature on screen. People are likely to look for hidden responses in this type of program.
Compared with films or slide shows, multimedia computing has a decisive didactical advantage. Users influence the working of a program and may even communicate with other users. They can choose from a menu or shortcut, repeat or prolong ongoing processes. They may even be able to piece together information and present it to other users. Intelligent interactive programs take note of the users' responses, adjust to their success in learning or to their mistakes and prepare the subsequent learning units accordingly.
Multimedia educational experiences in the museum setting can range from one user working with a multimedia display to several users each working on their own system but linked by a network to each other and/or to a teacher. Theoretically, the sytsems could be located in different museums throughout the world. Using a communication program, a dialogue between two people from different cultures could develop.
In a different scenario a teacher or museum educator could control the individual systems (as in a language laboratory) and pre-selects specific decision-making situations. This scenario is suited for courses in which work processes are taught (e.g. restoring an object), for fixed questions (where the answers cannot be reduced to one exact word or figure), for descriptions or re-creations of cultural objects. The more varied the possibilities for interactivity are, the more complicated the development of multimedia systems.
Interactivity can be enhanced by the use of simulation and virtual reality (VR). For example, simulating the effects of chemicals on objects of art as a result of conservation or environmental influences. VR enables movement within three-dimensional, virtual reconstructions of historical buildings or towns, communicating the conditions of life in earlier times.
The target audience for the multimedia application needs to be defined at the outset of the project. A profile of the audience should be developed, including age, education, interests, computer literacy, etc. The individual steps for learning, the volume of information and its complexity must be adapted individually to each user or group of users. If a group of users consists of people who are still afraid of using computers, a program without too much interactivity may be best. An essential aspect of didactics is to adjust to the learning rhythm of some users and to offer them a slower or quicker paced way of learning.
The aim of the application should be clearly defined. Is it meant to be a training program, a game, a point-of-information kiosk, a medium of communication, a slide show, an interactive film, a virtual reality application? In what way is the audience supposed to benefit? What is the topic supposed to be about? What are its limits? Where will the installation be placed? Is it the principal carrier of information or part of an exhibition or topic? Is it displaying something which could otherwise not be displayed? Does the multimedia installation fit in with the rest of the exhibition?
The right hardware, software and other additional equipment has to be chosen during the planning phase. An estimate is needed of how many multimedia units have to be installed as well as a decision on how many users should be able to work at any unit at the same time. Is the choice of equipment appropriate to the intended aims? Usually equipment and input devices such as touch screens, mice or key boards can only sensibly be used for specific installations. It may even become clear that some didactic aims can be achieved much more economically through traditional media such as video or slide shows. Multimedia computing should not simply be used because they are modern and because they are there, but because they can sometimes achieve better learning results than other means.
Testing the pedagogic aims of a multimedia program should involve the group that it targets. Teachers, pupils and members of the project development team should discuss the installation in order to find out what people remember, what they particularly liked, what needs to be changed. These results should be compared against the goals for the application. Monitoring routines in a multimedia application can automatically register statistics about use, including which learning steps have never been taken and which have most frequently been used, which questions have often been answered wrongly and which correctly, where help was required most frequently, and how long sessions took. If names of users and their answers are stored, users should be informed about it in advance. Care should be taken to preserve the anonymity of any users involved in testing.
During the test and improvement phase one should also be working on the instructions for use. Here too, educational experts should be involved since it is necessary to write these texts in a clearly structured and motivating way. Teachers also require documentation along with instructions, including the profile of the intended audience, the learning targets, the methodological and didactical background, the average time involved, and, if available, first practical experiences. A member of the project team together with a teacher can then prepare the presentation of the installation to the pupils.
Well designed computer displays appeal to the user. They must contain title, contents, picture and cross references in a clear and easily accessible way. Too much information and too many graphic elements per screen can have a tiring and demotivating effect on users. A text of about 500 characters with about three cross references and one picture is considered to be a reasonable quantity. Different typefaces, sizes, styles and colors of texts should also be used sparingly.
Still better are spoken texts, that is if other museum visitors are not disturbed by them. When describing pictures, details can be marked by moveable arrows or circles and text used only for the title and important key words. In this way information is shared between different graphical and acoustical means possibly increasing retention. In order to increase the retention rate even further, the user could be asked, after about every fifth screen, to identify details within a picture which go with specific key words. A correct identification could then be rewarded with the appearance of special icon, re-enforcing the user's confidence.
Multimedia installations can be made inviting in different ways. Users should always have access to an on-screen table of contents. Forward and backward scrolling are elementary functions and should preferably always be at the same place on the screen. Moving videos in multimedia installations are particularly attractive. Individual sequences should not be too long. Nowadays the trend in television and multimedia is toward a maximum sequence of one minute per topic. This trend is unfortunate and poses problems for museums which want to put across well researched information.
This diverse field requires active and intelligent collaboration between museum educators and multimedia specialists. Only the continuous exchange of ideas and experiences can ensure progress in this interdisciplinary field.
2. Multimedia in Exhibitions
4. Multimedia in Research