Multimedia from Wagner to Virtual Reality: Overture

This introduction to the text to follow went far to show the links between early theorists and artists to the progression of multimedia.

Early on in this section, one would mostly map the infancy of multimedia directly to that of computer science, as if multimedia draws its roots solely from the technological advancements following the Second World War. The work of notable thinkers in this period all seem primarily concerned with the development of new computing technology be it in the form of Bush’s Memex, or Engelbart’s NLS, the ancestor of the now-pervasive Internet.

Later in the section, however, there is a closer study of the underlying themes of multimedia itself: crystallized as the five concepts of integration, interactivity, hypermedia, immersion, and narrativity. Examples are given as to how the work of various individuals far before Bush (Wagner, F.T. Marinetti, and others), and also after Bush but with approaches less concerned with computer technology, have forwarded all these ideals in creative and overall culture.

It is hard to postulate whether the development of these new technologies and concepts came from the utopian reaching toward improvement of the human condition or rather simple, practical necessity be it in the military, governmental or business realms. I would venture to say that as many other collaborations between the established powers able to fund such ventures and the creative minds able to imagine and implement them have been, it was an amalgam of both. This is evidenced by the employment of many of these early dreamers by the government or large corporations, and the ultimate applications found for their work.

I find it interesting that the Worldwide Web, a construct now taken for granted and that is almost a perfect example of all five multimedia concepts, was foreseen so long ago and with such clarity. But, while from a technological standpoint I believe these individuals got it right, I think they were mistaken as to what larger social impact this new construct would have on global society. Until the barriers between man and machine and therefore perhaps between man and man no longer exist; the Web and its future offspring will remain as their ancestors--the ancient communicative technologies of the past have been--merely tools, still only as effective as their imperfect, isolated operators.