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From: nick@abblund.se
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: Multimedia, Hypermedia, Hypertext?
Message-ID: <1991Feb04.124036.340@abblund.se>
Date: 4 Feb 91 12:40:36 GMT
Organization: Asea Brown Boveri Corporate Research
Lines: 33

Our group is looking into multimedia, but we have found no good
definition of what multimedia really is. Also the terms "hypermedia"
and "hypertext" perhaps need defining properly.

Our current working definitions are:

MULTIMEDIA: Mixed media. In some way "integrated". Not necessarily 
interactive. Media include text, graphics, animation, photographs, 
video, and sound.

HYPERMEDIA: Same as multimedia but interactive. Interaction is via 
associative links.

HYPERTEXT: Same as hypermedia, but text only.

There are a couple of questions about these definitions:

1. Should other media be included? If so what? 

2. Many people say "multimedia" when they mean "hypermedia". Should
we distinguish between these terms. Is non-interactive multimedia
even interesting?

3. Are subjects like Virtual Reality (or Cyberspace) part of multimedia?

Does anyone know of better definitions, or would anyone like to try
to define them? 

-- 
Nick Hoggard                                   Phone: + 46 46 168524
Man-Machine Communication Lab                  Fax:   + 46 46 145620
ABB Corporate Research, Dept KLL               Email: nick@abblund.se
Ideon Research Park, Ole Roemers vaeg 5, S-223 70 Lund, Sweden