Multimedia in sport – between illusion and realism [chapter]

J. Wiemeyer
2008 Computers in Sport  
Multimedia has much to offer to sport and sport science. However, research and experience clearly show that multimedia is not a panacea for all the unsolved problems of information, communication, research and education. In this contribution we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of multimedia. Existing experience and future potentials are promising, but multimedia requires deliberate use and continuous critical refl ection. In 1995, the term 'multimedia' was elected 'word of the year' by
more » ... he Society of German Language. The reason for this was that this term was the main focus of public discussion on modern information technologies. Literally, 'multimedia' means 'many means'. In order to demonstrate the technological innovation this term refers to a technological or electronic system that allows users to independently produce, use, manipulate, store, communicate or combine different time-dependent and time-independent media like texts, pictures, videos and audios [1]. Multimedia systems show several features that offer unique options for many applications in science and practice of sport: interactivity, fl exibility, ubiquity, authenticity, multimodality and multicodality are only a small sample of buzzwords indicating the new and fascinating potentials of multimedia, particularly for learning. Therefore, the vision of multimedia is to improve information, communication, research and education and to solve at least some of the so-far-unsolved problems in these areas. Although there is no doubt about the potential surplus values of multimedia learning, existing experiences and research results have been inconsistent. There seem to exist critical factors having a strong infl uence on the effects and effi ciency of multimedia. Therefore, the question arises whether the potentials of www.witpress.com, ISSN 1755-8336 (on-line)
doi:10.2495/9781845640644/11 fatcat:oeo4235l2fhfjdvrl4lsturbii