Finished Work from Media 111
Multimedia may be the most effective teaching tool there's ever been. Delivered via computer, thus interacted with by the user, with what is on the screen directly chosen by the user, if the content is anything like what it was described to be, it can't fail to be exactly what the user wishes to see. As each successive part is chosen, the message comes closer to filling the need that the user had, until he finds out or sees exactly what he sought. A book goes linearly from beginning to end, or the reader must skip around in hopes of getting to the nuggets of information quicker. Billboards on the sides of buses might flash past people's vision and one might happen to be something interesting, but what are the chances? While a multimedia presentation on the computer, guided by clicking, hits the spot every time.
With a properly designed multimedia presentation, the user's experience follows his interest, so that the questions that were inside his brain are replaced with the correct images now before his eyes.
Nowhere is this more effective than in exploring a foreign country. In a such a new, unfamiliar place, there may be interesting new sights around every corner, and the same can be said about a good travel website. Anything that looks interesting can be clicked on to find out more about it, so the experience imitates reality.
It's very exciting to become part of making such experiences happen. I love creating graphics from photos and merging them together into a coherent whole. The process is doubly as interesting for the creator as for the user, deeper and richer in every way, yet I always hope to be able to pass on some of that excitement for those who view the end product.
Sample Rollover Buttons
