Week Five Guide

Welcome to Week Five! Here's how to get started.

1. Read both Chapter Five about Content Assessment and Treatment and Chapter Six in the textbook about information architecture.
2. Read the additional reading linked below.
3. View the multimedia examples assigned to you and develop a short flowchart that accurately depicts the organization of the application.
4. Describe free multimedia development tools.

Here are the objectives for Week Five -- in other words, the most important concepts I want you to "get" by the end of our first week:

1. Describe the importance of good information architecture for multimedia development
2. Develop a flowchart that describes the organization of a multimedia product

Let's Talk

First, thanks to Gail for sharing the proposal documents earlier this week.

Let's talk about about multimedia design specifications. Early on in the initial design process, you need to create as detailed a design specification as possible to clearly delineate how the multimedia project will be designed, what multimedia components it will contain, and what technical specifications it will require. If you don't do this early on, the project can veer off course as content and capabilities are added later and as the project is built without clearly identifying the final delivery platform on which it should run.

Chapter 4 says you should "define before you design". This is true of all technical communication project, but is especially true for multimedia projects. The book recommends that an effective multimedia design specification include the following components:

1. Target user profile -- who is the audience?
2. Technology profile -- what is the delivery platform? What is the lowest common denominator in user machines?

Specifications

The chapter lists specific questions for defining specifications for multimedia applications that will run on a personal computer, Internet-enabled applications, and device-specific applications. Essentially this part of the specification are the user system requirements, where you plan the multimedia to be able to run on the intended delivery platform, which is the user's machines. Targeting the lowest common denominator is important, because if even one of your users is using computer with dial-up access (it happens), your multimedia program will have to be able to run successfully on such a machine, as well as the higher-end machines other users may have.

Testing / Quality Assurance

The chapter also discusses testing of multimedia products. Often this is done in an alpha-beta arrangement, where the alpha test seeks to uncover major unknown bugs, revisions are made, and the beta test attempts to identify any remaining design or technical problems. These tests are usually conducted with potential users. Quality assurance is a form of testing that should precede alpha/beta tests. The multimedia product should be fully checked for quality according to standard quality guidelines that should be identified before development begins. QA is usually done in-house by qualified personnel, with recommended revisions given to developers before the product is sent out for testing with actual users.

Readings this Week

NOTE: See the sidebar for peer review information regarding your multimedia interviews.

Here's the additional reading for this week. Let's talk about some resources regarding multimedia design specifications and quality assurance. First, read the NeoFuturist design specification that goes along with the NeoFuturist case study in the book. It is short, but clearly delineates the technical specifications expected for the project. Do you think this covers everything that should be in a design spec?

Next, I want you to examine this design blueprint (another word for a specification) written by a student for a multimedia project. How is this different from the NeoFuturist design spec and in what ways is it a little more comprehensive?

I will discuss multimedia treatments in class.

For Class Discussion Monday, September 23

Take a look at the Exercises on p. 61 of the textbook. I'd like for each of you to take one of the exercises and generate a very brief sample technology specification that you can share in class on Monday night. Simply prepare a short, one paragraph or so description of the technology required to meet each need. Let's do it this way:

1. Stay-at-home moms who want up-to-the-minute tips on childcare -- Nancy
2. Educational games that parents can install for children ages three to ten -- Michelle
3. An online recipe service for people who do not like to cook -- Anita
4. Technology news feeds for executives in the telecommunications industry -- Ken
5. Cell phone users who want maps and directions to specific locations -- Tammy
6. Animated online greeting cards targeted toward seniors -- Gail
7. E-learning for corporate training on company intranets in dealing with difficult people -- (I added this one to the list) -- Janice

Be prepared to discuss what technical specs might be needed for your situation. This is intended only as a prompt for discussion and will not be graded.

Discussion Topics for Monday night, September 23

1. Prepare to discuss multimedia design specifications.
2. Prepare to discuss the additional reading for this week.
3. Prepare your response to the scenario provided in Chapter 4 of the textbook.

Assignments for Week Three

• Due by COB Monday, September 23 -- Multimedia Interview Part B for peer review
• Participate in Webex discussion on Monday night, September 23, from 8pm-9:30pm.  Be prepared to talk about the questions listed above for the chapters and article.