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DVD Interfaces, New Media Possibility

Current DVD technology provides opportunities for instructional design through new video and display possibilities. More than simply packaging a 'movie' in a larger digital space, DVD technology is enabling paradigms of augmenting learning and enhancing digital archiving through the medium specificity inherent in the DVD's larger digital and non-linearly accessed storage space. This entry abstracts current DVD interface technology, to reflect on new media learning possibilities for universities and university libraries.

Criterion collection's BRD Trilogy is a four DVD set, surrounding filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder's masterpiece trilogy: Marriage of Maria Braun, Veronica Voss and Lola. The set consists of three DVD's surrounding the trilogy and a supplemental DVD with paratextual material and booklet with various essays surrounding the films and filmmaker. Each film is contained in a DVD. The film may be played from beginning to end or may be referenced digitally through various chapters. Within each DVD is a menu interface that simply and elegantly references larger choices. In the Lola DVD, interface menu choices read on a single screen: Lola (film text), Audio Commentary by Fassbinder biographer, Christian Braad Thomsen, Video Interview with Lola Star Barbara Sukowa, video interview with Fassbinder's coscreenwriter Peter Marthesheimer.

After a movie has been viewed, it may be examined again with the 'expert helping commentary of Fassbinder's biographer. Commentary is accomplished as an overall lecture type presentation (over the actual film's visual track) or in counterpoint and in a play-by-play of various scenes (Veronica Voss). Other films in the trilogy present Fassbinder's editor, cinematographer and various Fassbinder scholars in talking heads interview format. The supplemental DVD to the trilogy contains further paratextual material including an interview with Fassbinder's editor, hard to find early 'tv' documentaries, interviews with Fassbinder and also early and more widely contextualizing histories.

What is going on here? Methodologically, the possibilities of 'video' and increased digital storage space are being used to present a larger 'epistemologic' space. To think more abstractly about the strategies, the 'text' may be 'Fassbinder's Trilogy' but it equally could be a major 'subject area website (say molecular biology or a sociology of the Cuban Rafter Phenomenon) and ancillary appropriate paratextual material (other Sociologists expert in the topic, various expert scientists versed in the 'central text). The central 'text' could be website, video or book. It is more important to notice that the 'text' is used in two ways: one, as a 'primary document' and anchor, secondarily as a 'text' that can be critiqued in real time (audio commentary segwaying in and out over the site). Other DVD's such as Antonioni's La Notte parcel out paratextual information differently (filmography, links to Antonioni online). Interestingly, the low budget 'talking heads' video interviews done especially for this DVD illuminate the central text.

The trick is to begin to take this methodology and bring it into dialogue with other relevant research areas.

Zoomifyer Applications

This entry continues from a previous entry that introduced the Zoomifyer application with a focused look at a few specific applications that Zoomifyer is currently used for and future digital library possibilities. The standard edition of Zoomifyer is being implemented by leading edge libraries, cultural and scientific institutions while the technologically more complex and robust enterprise edition with accompanying interesting possibilities has yet to see widespread application.

In microscopy, the Zoomifyer is used to study details of very small objects (i.e. cells, parts of cells). With regards to art historical application, The National Gallery of Art uses the Zoomifyer with an application that combines art historical investigation with an elegant Flash interface. A thumbnail is used to link images and from here images may be examined more closely. The applications seems to be becoming derigeur in high end art history/museum exhibitions. Thumbnails can be viewed in a small space and then zoomed to their details. Many applications further customize the 'navigational' interface. Others look at large text manuscripts such as those presented on the Nathaniel Hawthorne Archive for manuscript originals. On medieval manuscripts and rare books, the Zoomifier is excellent for scholarly research. Similarly, on panoramic photographs and large images zoomifier is put to very good use - refresh rates a bit slow. In National Geographic's Lewis and Clark Exhibition, the Zoomifyer is used extensively to enlarge artifacts. In presenting scale detailed photographs such as the tribute to the World Trade Center Disaster, the Zoomifyer is a very useful tool.

To generalize, the Zoomifier is becoming a standard in leading edge cultural, scientific and educational institions: the Getty, Harvard, National Geographic, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonion, British Library, National Library of Medicine, National Gallery of Art, etc. What is evident is that it is now the time for the Zoomifyer to be creatively exploited to bring out its creative possibilities not intended by orthodox prescription. As famed Xerox Parc research scientist Alan Kay has put this in a different but apropos context, the trick is not to give the application to a room full of thirty-something Ph.D.'s in a high end research lab but rather open the door for a classroom of fifteen year old hackers, let them play and be open to new possibility through creative misuse and unexpected remixes.

New Media 2004, The Continuing Edge

Each year "Communication Arts Magazine" presents a series of 'winning' projects in its Interactive Design Annual. The projects are a good indication of the present state of interaction design. This entry glances at a few of the winning 2004 entries to reflect on directions in interaction design but also to present a critique for digital libraries. The examples here are from advertising, but models presented may be easily reoriented to a spectrum of academic and robust digital library models.

To begin, The Aiga Vancouver Culture Guide makes elegant use of 'the new Flash Zoomifyer' discussed in a previous entry to present a map of Vancouver. Elegant use of 'hot spots' are used and the reduced color pallete presents an innovative navigational archive to Vancouver's culture. Audi makes fairly standard use of Flash video to present a model menu for cars. The menus here are 'too' multi-layered to see a big picture and visuality without substance is 'excessive'. Similarly, the Bahama Island Tour presents an example of clean design but with too heavy a download expectation (55 megs). Interesting to note are the amount of people involved in these projects. Production models are taken from film. To create a single site a team involves: creative director, art director, developers, technology director, graphic designer, writer, producer, project managers, photographer, video director, digital video producer, production artist (Bahamas site, 6 months, twenty people).

Other entries use new technological possibilities: blogs, voicemail, new touch screen technology and DVD interface possibilities. Architectural and 3D paradigms continue to struggle forward with still clunky downloads. Some entries make use of previous analogue metaphor (paper folding, cut-out figures) to represent digital artifiacts but this type of technical virtuosity is not overly effective. Others present product libraries. The interface and way of filtering could be put to good use in a digital library forum. Trends in design are again oriented towards clean design with strong lines and plenty of whitespace. Joshua Davis's design influence in information architecture is well evident.

More interesting entries such as CBC radio 3, innovatively use browser specificity (maximum screen size, Javascript elimination of browser buttons). This 'online radio magazine' adopts a Rolling Stone-type look to present a new media pop journal. The navigation is disconcerting but high-res images are used to excellent effect and flash design is elegantly tailored to each article. The other prevalent model in these designs comes from film and hearkens to the 'movie' metaphor. The trend overall is towards higher image resolution for photos and more use of video for DSL lines. Another example of this use of imagery may be seen at http://www.commarts.com/ca/interactive/cai04/33_ia04.html

Discussed in an entry last August, Macromedia's Intro Networking Application continues to use technology at a higher level. This is a 'social networking tool' and really should begin to be built into academic digital libraries. We have yet to see the impact. To generalize, while many of these 'winning' entries provide an excess of visuality in information design, digital libraries could take a lesson and begin to adapt, remake, remodel and remix interfaces. Most are still working from an opposite command line extreme.

New Visual Technologies, Multimedia Possibilities

In her study of Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century, Berkeley Scholar Svetlana Alpers makes the assertion that advances in 'visual technologies' resonate large cultural advances. Alpers uses this to analyze Dutch renaissance painting using notions of the 'telescope', 'microscope'. Recently, online 'networked' visual possibilities have begun to open up with similar 'new' sets of visual technologic possibility. This entry glances at 'zoomifyer' for Flash and what it means for digital libraries and online cognitive possibility.

Zoomifyer is a new imaging technology that allows 'zooming' in on an image without loss of resolution. Why is this important? For one, it allows, a new way to present 'visual' image libraries(150 k jpeg), (18 megabyte TIFF, Caimanera Cuba. , With contextual window, hotspot links, 200 zoom and preset view ), hotspots on a cartographic map. For another, it solves problems of 'image' compression by tiling images and progressively downloading larger images so that image searching becomes seamless and (download) size becomes a non-issue. The image viewer presents the user with a simple intuitive set of buttons for zooming into, out of, and around the image, while a window preserves context for larger zooms. The value is apparent and ranges from art history to geographical imaging problems to military (click on security demo) to scientific, to medical (click on medical) such as studying cells of the body. A recent MX Developer journal article goes so far to conjecture that this technology represents the next stage of static image delivery on the web. The technology also allows dynamic visual annotation of zoomed materials, 'visual hotspots', zoom slideshows, panoramas, 3-D object rrotation and zoom-type VR.

The parallels with Alpers' previous work here are worth reflecting upon. Because of its new visible 'proof', the telescope brought observation of previously distant 'planets' and a new cosmologic idea of 'solar systems' to the naked eye. This 'instrument' also opened up new scientific disciplines (i.e. astronomy) and sophisticated techno-political military possibility (ie. naval navigation, naval warfare, naval trade, the British Empire). Here similar visual resonances are opened for the 'static image' in a networked online environment (the Internet). The effects are complex and will be widespread. To look at a single example, for medicine, the microscope and its evolution opened up medicine to new areas (microbiology, biochemistery, now 'molecular biology') and further development. The zoomifyer places these technological visualization possibilities into a networked online global instantly accessed environment where the term 'resolution' is given new meaning.

The possibilities for both enhanced searching and discovery become rich when a set of these images are attached to a online database (i.e. Oracle, MySql) as a digital image library or networked in an international environment to assemble global expert opinion (i.e. medicine). For more advanced application possibilities, hotspots in images (ie. URL links or descriptions) can be incorporated with text captions. Similarly, combined with new GPS technologies, aerial photos, databases and space imaging the possibilities have yet to be seen.

New Flash Online Video Possibilities

With the entrance of Macromedia Flash 2004 Professional, new online video possibilities have opened. Currently, the main multimedia products for integrating video online are the Real Player, Quicktime 6, Windows Media Player and the new Flash Video. While Real and Windows Media essentially follow a 'television' model with limited interactivity, both Quicktime and Flash allow more robust models with new possibilities for film/video, information architecture, interactivity and online multimedia possibility. This entry explores a few new Flash video possibilities for multimedia and online digital libraries.

The Flash Video gallery essentially presents a contact sheet interface with a 6x6 set of thumbnails of various Flash video projects. The database can be queried (filtered) in one of two way (by industry, by region) through a series of radio buttons and checklist submenus. Interactively, the database responds interactively visually 'alphaing' (whitening out) thumbnails that are not in picked categories. When a thumbnail is pressed, an elegant larger information window opens on the left hand side of the interface with a miniaturized version of the website and a brief description of the site and link to developer. The website can then be launched in a large window if further examination is warranted. To abstract, the innovation is the 'searching' capabilities enabled in online video with a combination of 'thumbnails' and database querying mechanisms.

Technically, the video gallery is made up of an SWF file, actionscript files, XML to supply external data and the videos that are stored in separate files. This application is deconstructed and source code provided at http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/vidgal_structure.html

Another innovative model presents, a spokesperson type video presentation with a synchronized graphics powerpoint style presentation. On the left, a presenter caught in video close up speaks while a Powerpoint style presentation occurs frame right illustrating points. Underneath, a set of thumbnails chronologically stamp the presentation's progress. Again, this presentation combines audio video and animation and is captivating as a learning tool.

A third possibility combines video with thumbnails of various sequences of a longer narrative (say, a wedding) with accompanying metadata describing events (i.e. arrival of guests, ceremony, etc.). This methodology is useful for longer chronological videos. It effectively combines 'text' and iconic based (thumbnails) navigation. Text is able to be 'embedded' directly onto the video through an alpha layer which relates to the different 'chapters of events' and could be used both as 'metadata' or commentary. The other example here (Sports video showcase) effectively presents a large amount of video in an elegant and easily navigable information space.

In all examples presented, the key difference with previous antecedent video technologies is the enhanced interactivity and opened 'search capabilities'. Medium possibilities of the computer in tandem with a digital video library are used more effectively. Technically, videos can be streamed, embedded or made into progressive downloads. To stream, either the Flash communication server or a publicly available service is available. In short, further experimentation with this technology should be pursued as the possibilities here seem a clear direction towards the future.