1. When will multimedia strengthen your writing? The technical writers of today’s
world should be well versed in multimedia tools that can be successfully and used
to effectively convey the author’s intent, a large part of these tools fall into the
multimedia category, use them wisely and effectively. Here are somebasic
guidelines to follow when considering multimedia in your writing, or project.
Firstremember that a multimedia presentation is a like a vehicle for getting
across your primary message. Some things to consider what are you trying to
communicate? What feelings, information, and ideas do you want your audience
to get fromthis? For example does music fromwhatever sourcecommunicate
something importantto your target audience or is it irrelevant and annoying, now
there is some serious food for thought! Will that special clipart communicate your
primary messageproperly? Consider designing or taking photographs thatserve
to enhance and illustrate your messageclearly and effectively, not merely to
make it flashy and pretty. Whether it’s a Web page, You Tube video, database,
spreadsheet, clipart, or a poster, always ask the magic question, what important
value the medium adds to the contents.
Some of the other multimedia effects are worth incorporating into your
project; they include, but arenot limited to; slideshows, usually self running,
balloons are small popup windows linked to specific on screen elements.
Animations where two or more things work together change their state creating
an animation effect. There are also video, sounds, interactiveforms for capturing
and manipulating information content.
