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Multimedia Technology

Multimedia Developer

What is Multimedia?

Multimedia is the use of text, pictures, graphics, animation, audio and video to deliver web or disk-based information.

Nature of the Work

A multimedia developer works with today's newest advances in desktop computer technology. A developer draws on the skills of the computer programmer and the visual artist to integrate graphics, text, and digital audio and video with interactivity. This multimedia content can be delivered on CD-ROM, over the World Wide Web, or even on floppy disk.

The field of multimedia is changing on an almost daily basis. New advances in hardware and software make the tools available to the developer more powerful with each revision. Yet multimedia is still in its infancy. The people who are making multimedia work are taking newly created tools and inventing the ways in which the tools are used. Anyone who is working as a multimedia developer today probably started as something else-a graphic designer, software engineer, writer, publisher, educator or in one of the many other fields which contribute to what we think of collectively as multimedia.

Since the field of multimedia has only been in existence for a few years, it is filled with self-educated people. Colleges and universities are beginning to offer multimedia courses, but they take some work to find in a course catalog, as they may be listed in a variety of departments, including communications, visual studies, education, or computer science.

» Multimedia at Richland College

Job Outlook

Because multimedia is a new concept, traditional employers are in the process of formulating their needs. As a result, many multimedia developers are self-employed and they frequently work on a freelance basis. The nature of this employment situation provides an opportunity to work on a variety of projects, such as designing a web site, authoring a commercial CD-ROM title, creating an interactive promotional demo, building a user interface prototype, integrating networking technology into an interactive kiosk, or animating an educational presentation. In addition to freelancing, multimedia designers may also work for Web development companies, interactive software publishers, and media production companies designing marketing presentations and trade show interactives for corporations.

Earnings

» Hoovers Online Salary Wizard

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