13.1) Multimedia as part of your world

  Business and industry  
    Presentation software (powerpoint), LCD screens, LCD projectors
  
  Education and training
    Learners retain 20% of what they hear, 40% of what they see, and 75%
	of what they hear, see, and do.  Enter multimedia, allowing learners
	to hear, see, and do a multitude of things readily and easily
	
  Entertainment and games
    Children's games can tech children basic academic skills while teaching them
	computer literacy at the same time.
	Some companies are using popular game engines to train their employees.  For
	example, doom is used to create a 3D world where employees move around and
	must answer technical questions to beat the 'bad guys'.
	
  The Multimedia Computer
    to create multimedia, the book recommends a minimum system.  My handheld
	computer is that powerful.  If you're serious about multimedia, I suggest a
	much more powerful computer.
	
  Creating Multimedia
    1) project specifications
	2) plan and budget your production
	3) prepare a treatment and a storyboard
	4) Design a user interface to finalize the look and feel
	5) Prepare a prototype
	6) Acquire content
	7) Author and program
	8) Test and evaluate
	9) Prepare title for distribution - typically a CD-ROM
	
  Acquiring content
    standard file naming convention and version control number
	Description of contents
	File format specifications (color depth, resolution, track length, sampling
	rate, max size, platform)
	copyright licensing and royalty information
	Media service vendor's name
	Author, developer
	
  Note: having custom made media, while it is more expensive, avoids the 
  complications of royalties and usually makes for a much better finished
  product
	
  The media Database is usually an OODBMS - contains the following
    text
	graphics
	sound
	animation
	video

  The authoring process
    There are many user friendly authoring softwares available for various 
	purposes
	
	Multimedia presentation software - powerpoint
	
	Multimedia authoring software - Macromedia Director
	
	Multimedia CBT Authoring software - Computer Based Training - Macromedia
	Authorware
	
  Career Opps in Multimedia
  
    Producer/director
	Scriptwriter/content expert
	Editor/Proofreader
	Interface designer
	Artist/illustrator
	Animator
	Audio technician
	Video technician
	Programmer
	Evaluator/tester
	  
13.2) Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  AI is supposed to emulate the way a person thinks and sees the world.
  
  Robotics - machines that can do work normally done by people.
  intelligent robots or perception systems - gather and interpret information
  using senses that emulate human senses
  
  tasks that seem simple to humans can be difficult to program into a robot.
  If a robot becomes too intelligent, what will keep it from not doing work?
  
  Natural Language processing - robots are being developed that can interpret
  human speech.  One application is in the post office, the postal worker reads
  an address outloud that is missing a zip code, and the computer will supply
  the zip code.
  
  Fuzzy logic - traditional logic is either or (1 or 0, on or off)  fuzzy logic
  has shades of gray that make it closer to human thought and more useful for 
  certain applications.  One example is an elevator.  Traditional elevators
  simply send the closest elevator.  New elevators that employ fuzzy logic
  will take into account the number of passengers on board.
  
  Expert Systems - Human expertise in a computer.  3 components:
  
  1) Knowledge base - database of knowledge
  2) Inference Engine - controls the search of the knowledge base
  3) User Interface - what appears on the screen that the user interacts with.
  
  MYCIN - an expert system that uses fuzzy logic to diagnose a disease and
  prescribe a treatment
  
  see pg. 13.16, AI grades essays.
  
  Building an expert system - a knowledge engineer provide an expert system
  with knowledge in a way that the system can understand.  EMYCIN is MYCIN 
  without the medical knowledge, a knowledge engineer can program it to
  become s different type of expert system.
  
  
  Implications for business - help them make better business decisions by
  sorting through vast amounts of data in an unbiased way to propose strategies.
  The number of implementations has exploded from the hundreds to the thousands.
  
  Neural Networks - different hardware components talk to each other via a 
  resistors.  Simulates a human brain and is able to process information using
  fuzzy logic.  Although very powerful, still not as fast as a human neural
  network.
  
  Genetic algorithms - sections of code are 'born', compete to complete a given
  task in the shortest amount of time, and have offspring.  The code that is 
  less efficient can become 'extinct'.  The end result is that the best code 
  survives, and it was all written by the computer.  This may result in 
  solutions that humans are not capable of conceiving.
  
  Artificial Life
  if code can be born, have offspring, and die, is it alive?  What is life
  anyway, and can we create it out of silicon and chips?  This is referred
  to as artificial life.  
  
  The Turing Test
  a test that is supposed to determine whether a machine has self awareness.
  Judges converse via typing to computer programs and real people.  They
  try to determine which are real people and which are computer programs.
  Supposedly, if the computer fools enough people, it is considered to be
  self aware.  No one has succeeded yet.  In one case, a person was pegged
  for being a computer.
  
  see quote p. 12.13.
  
  Ethics
  expert systems are shaped by the ethics and morals of the people who create
  it.  In William A. Wallace's book Ethics and Modeling (prof at RPI) talks 
  about this practice, and how one expert system unfairly uses age as a negative
  factor for determining price of health insurance.
  
  Virtual Reality (VR)
  a 3D artificial world that be navigate through using special equipment.
  headgear, glove, and software are the 3 components necessary to make it work.
  Used in games, but more importantly used in simulators. 
  
13.3) Intelligent agents, information filtering, and avatars

  Intelligent agents - electronic assistant that mines for data and performs
  secretarial tasks.  e-mail filters, clipping services, and Internet Agents
  are examples.
  
  Avatar - a graphical representation of a person or running process on a 
  computer screen.  Example - Sim people.
  
  Create an interface that's more comfortable for people.
  
    
  
Homework 13:
Due: 4/24 
in Interactive computing book
PP Ch. 2
2.22 #2 
Checked out during lab