My Science School

          Computers have become an integral part of our lives today. Their invasion into every sphere of our life has made them indispensable for us. And the field of media is no exception. Multimedia is the outcome of a sophisticated blending of both visual and audio communications. This explanation is just the tip of the iceberg, the fact remains that it is the integration of various communication networks into our desk that produces amazing results.

          But what is multimedia as we understand it today? Multimedia software combines two or more media for presentation or analysis. It is the result of a co-ordinated work of video, audio and graphics. The earlier personal computers were monomedia as they displayed only one medium. The monomedia computers could not play sounds when they displayed the text on screen. A platform for multimedia emerged with the gradual development of newer technologies that extended the power and scope of personal computers.

          Now one fundamental question arises: what specific functions does a multimedia computer perform? A multimedia computer can recreate the sounds of musical instruments and also it can playback recorded sounds. It can show pictures and movies on the monitor. It can also access information stored on a computer disc. Recorded sounds, movies, pictures and texts have been around for years but what a multimedia computer does is to intertwine these things and produce a combined effect of all these mediums. It can show animated images and create graphic designs. The computer based learning is another gift of multimedia. Learning becomes easier and quicker when the text is supplemented with audiovisual assistance and for this reason it has become an effective mode of education for children as well as adults. The text on the screen is supported by audio instructions and visual aids which add to the grasping ability and memory retention of the students.

          All multimedia programs include six common elements - texts, pictures, movies, animation, sound and increased control. 

         Basing on the nature of interaction with the user, multimedia is divided into two types: Non-interactive and Interactive. In Non-interactive programs we simply receive information presented to us which are prepared in advance and processed by the computer with little or no intervention from the user. The images, sound and animation etc. are projected from the desktop directly onto the large screen, using a computer projection system or can be just seen on the computer screen. On the other hand, Interactive multimedia is meant for individual use that is, the user is in direct communication with the computer, receiving immediate responses to the input data. This type of multimedia usage is more common now-a-days.

          Multimedia requires storage of high quality images (graphics), texts, animations, sound, music and video for which high capacity storage medium is needed. The use of floppy disks is of no help though they are convenient to distribute. For this reason, multimedia information is usually stored in CD-ROMs (Compact Discs-Read Only Memory). A CD-ROM can contain upto 600 megabytes of data in it. For example, the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in all volumes can be stored in just one CD-ROM which can be carried in one’s pocket. 

          As we know, Orkut was perhaps the first social networking website developed on a grand scale at a time when the world did not have enough advanced tools for communication.

          The service greatly helped people connect with others, with lost friends, with kith and kin staying far away, not just by chatting, but by sharing photos too.

          It was also a platform that enabled setting up of online ‘profiles’ that are very common today. In 2009, when the site was redesigned, it came out as faster, simpler, and more customizable. It also included video chat, promotions and easy navigation.

           Orkut was very popular in Asian countries as well as in others including Brazil. By 2014, Orkut met with strong competition from its successor sites including Facebook, YouTube, and Google+. On September 30th of the same year, it was officially shut down.

           However, Orkut remains a milestone in the history of IT for its contributions, and for being the idea behind the later social media services. 

       WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization founded by journalist Julian Assange on October 4th, 2006. It is known for publishing secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources across the world.

       Founder Assange is the director and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks. In his words, the site is a giant library of the world’s most persecuted documents. Initiated in Iceland, the site claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. It is funded largely by volunteers, and is dependent on public donations too.

       In April 2010, WikiLeaks published the Collateral Murder video which showed the killings of many Iraqis. The following year, it released secret files about prisoners detained in the US military’s Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

       Julian Assange has received threats, as well as support from all over the world.