WHERE TO USE MULTIMEDIA
   
　　Multimedia is appropriate whenever a human interface connects a human user to electronic information of any kind．Multimedia enhances traditional text-only computer interfaces and yields measurable benefit by gaining and holding attention and interest；multimedia improves information retention．When properly woven，multimedia can also be profoundly entertaining．
   
1．Multimedia in Business
   
　　Business applications for multimedia include presentations，training，marketing，advertising，product demos，databases，catalogues，and networked communications．Voice mail and video conferencing will soon be provided on many local and wide area networks（LANs and WANs）．
After a morning of mind-numbing 35 mm slide and overhead presentations delivered from the podium of a national sales conference，a multimedia presentation can make an audience come alive．Most presentation software packages let you add audio and video clips to the usual“slide show”of graphics and text material[1]．
Multimedia is enjoying widespread use in training programs．Flight attendants learn to manage international terrorism and security through simulation．Mechanics learn to repair engines．Salespeople learn about product lines and leave behind software to train their customers．Fighter pilots practice full-terrain sorties before spooling up for the real thing．
As companies and businesses catch on to the power of multimedia，and the cost of installing multimedia capability decreases，more applications will be developed both by themselves and by third parties to allow businesses to run more smoothly and efficiently．
       
2． Multimedia in Schools
       
　　Schools are perhaps the most needy destination for multimedia．Many schools in the United States today are chronically underfunded and occasionally slow to adopt new technologies，but it is here that the power of multimedia can be maximized for the greatest long-term benefit to all．
In March 1995，the White House challenged the telecommunications industry to connect every classroom，library，clinic，and hospital to the information superhighway by the year 2000．The White House has also taken steps to provide governmental support with a program of “Challenge-Grants for Technology in Education”，a ＄27-million effort to support state-of-the-art technology in about 20-low-income rural and urban school districts．Vice-President A1 Gore is often seen pulling wire in inner-city school labs，promoting installation of computers in schools[2]．
Multimedia will provoke radical changes in the teaching process during the coming decades，particularly as smart students discover they can go beyond the limits of traditional teaching methods．Indeed，in some instances，teachers may become more like guides and mentors along a learning path，not the primary providers of information and understanding—the students，not teachers，become the core of the teaching and learning process．This is a sensitive and highly politicized suhject among educators，so educational software is often positioned as“enriching”the learning process，not as a potential substitute for traditional teacher-based methods．

3．Multimedia at Home

　　From gardening to cooking to home design，remodeling，and repair to genealogy software，multimedia has entered the home．Eventually，most multimedia projects will reach the home via television sets or monitors with built-in interactive user inputs．The multimedia viewed on these sets will likely arrive on a pay-for-use basis along the data highway[3]．

4．Multimedia in Public Places

　　In hotels，train stations，shopping malls，museums，and grocery stores，multimedia will become available at stand-alone terminals or kiosks to provide information and help．Such installations reduce demand on traditional information booths and personnel，and they can work around the clock，even in the middle of the night，when live help is off duty[4]．
   
5．Virtual Reality
   
　　At the convergence of technology and creative invention in multimedia is virtual reality，or VR．Goggles，helmets，special gloves，and bizarre human interfaces attempt to place you“inside”a lifelike experience．Take a step forward，and the view gets closer，turn your head，and the view rotates．Reach out and grab an object；your hand moves in front of you．Maybe the object explodes in a 90-decibel crescendo as you wrap your fingers around it．Or it slips out from your grip，falls to the floor，and hurriedly escapes through a mouse hole at the bottom of the wall．
On the World Wide Web，standards for transmitting virtual reality worlds or“scenes”in VRML（virtual reality modeling language）documents（with the file name extension ．wrl）have been developed．
Using high-speed dedicated computers，multi-million-dollar flight simulators built by Singer，RediFusion，and others have led the way in commercial application of VR．Pilots of F-16s，Boeing 777s，and Rockwell space shuttles have made many dry runs before doing the real thing[5]．At the California Maritime Academy and other merchant marine officer training schools，computer-controlled simulators teach the intricate loading and unloading of oil tankers and container ships．

NOTES
[1] slide show指幻灯播放。
[2] pull wire在这里指网络布线。
[3] pay-for-use指付费点播。
[4] around the clock意思是昼夜，一天24小时。
[5] dry run表示“演习、排练”。

KEYWORDS
information retention　　　　　　　　　　　　信息保持力
genealogy　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　系谱，宗谱
convergence　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　汇聚，收敛
VRML（virtual reality modeling language）　虚拟现实造型语言