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Up
1- Introduction
2 - Products and Evaluation
3 - Hardware, Op Sys, and Software
4 - Text
5 - Graphics
6 - Digital Audio
7 - Digital Video and Animation
8 - Product Design
9 - Authoring Tools
10 - Multimedia and the Internet
11 - The Development Team
12 - The Development Process
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Interviews with Multimedia Developers
Ever wonder about the people behind the products and
technologies? This page will give you some insights into their experiences on a
personal level.
I wish to thank all who participate in these interviews for
their time and effort in providing these interviews.
| Jeffrey Helman, President, Interactive Technologies, Inc.
Personal Comment: Jeff is a very talented producer of
multimedia products. He is especially adept at grasping what technology can do and
applying it to a project. |
| 1. Describe what you are and do? |
Interactive Technologies develops software
that is aimed at promoting commerce. This software may be used in customer kiosks, CD-ROMs
and on the internet. The goal is to enhance the business process through the effective use
of technology. |
| 2. What do you feel is your strongest
offering to potential clients? |
My strongest offering is my background and
understanding of both marketing and technology. This enables me to design software that is
technologically sound without losing site of the business objectives. My background also
enables me to communicate effectively with both the business and technical sides. |
| 3. How do you see technology affecting the
marketing of products and services? |
I think that we have just scratched the
surface of integrating technology with the marketing of goods and services. I believe that
computer technology will become an even more important part of the marketing process in
the next few years. |
| 4. What do you find to be most challenging
in bringing technology to your clients? |
The real challenge is to use technology in
a way that enhances the marketing process. To accomplish this requires the application of
sound marketing before deploying technology and to resist the temptation to include
technology just because it's cool. |
| 5. What are one (or two) of the biggest
lessons you have learned in your efforts? |
I have learned that you can never
"overplan" when developing software. Someone told me that Alfred Hitchcock was
famous for storyboarding movies, frame by frame before he would begin shooting. It saved a
great deal of time and money. The same is true of software development. There is no such
thing as overplanning. |
Linda
Johnson, Graphic Designer
Personal Comment: I've worked with Linda on a number of
projects and have found her to be the consumate professional. |
| 1. What do you do and what is
your background? |
More consistently than any
other art form, I find that painting has threaded a line through these past twenty years,
mostly through works in oils and acrylics on canvas, with a smattering of work in mixed
media and fiber art. In the past two or three years, I’ve concentrated more on
"electronic" art, preparing images for print, and most recently creating images
for web sites. For the past six years, I’ve also worked as marketing coordinator for
Montgomery College, Maryland. |
| 2. How do you feel your background in
communications helps you to develop graphics and web sites. |
My degree is in communications, with a
minor in art and English. I’ve never been able to reconcile which medium has more
impact: the Word or the Image. Both hold incredible power. I’m watching web
development to see if it will provide an avenue for artistic convergence of word and
image, hopefully with a fluency not easily rendered through more traditional mediums. Communication is the key. Web technology is a tool like any other. A good
tool in the hands of a poor communicator doesn’t amount to much. People who intend to
use web sites to deliver practical information or not-so-practical concepts must be able
to convey ideas effectively. |
| 3. In your experience with
web site development, what do you feel are the most important things that a web site must
do? |
First, it must be understood.
When you build a web site, you must always keep in mind who you’re communicating
with. In the simplest sense, through imagery and content, someone entering a site should
almost immediately begin to understand what it’s about. Is it corporate? Is it
providing a public service? Is it just for fun? The site should never leave the viewer
confused, unless, for whatever reason, confusion is the purpose of the communication. In
my experience, confusing sites are always unfortunate accidents. |
| 4. How would you like to
combine your traditional artistic skills, e.g., painting, with technology, e.g., web sites
and multimedia. |
The basics are the basics are
the basics. Color, form, balance all play a part in any artistic medium. To reach the
viewer, I believe there must be some connection that is understood: a convention that is
recognizable even if it is pushed into the abstract. If you lose the viewer then the cycle
of communication is broken. Breaking communication can be a deliberate artistic approach,
but it’s not one that I find very satisfying. As I
mentioned before, I’m finding that the web seems to provide a fluency not easily
achieved in other media. Artistic effects that would take me weeks to perfect with paint
and canvas take only a few hours using some of the more sophisticated software packages.
The speed with which blends of color and light can be altered, and skewing and distorting
can be achieved allows for follow through on a spontaneous inspiration more so than other
methods. On the other hand, though, speed must be used cautiously. Time and patience often
render the better creation. And even though web design has many advantages, I think
I’ll always find a need to return to the tactile and textured world of paint and
canvas. |
| 5.How do you stay on top of
technologies and tools? |
Probably not the smart way.
Generally if I have a job to do or an image I want to produce, I learn what I need to
learn to get it done. Fortunately, the range of projects I’ve completed over the past
few years has allowed me to acquire a fairly decent set of skills. But there’s no
mistaking the fact that there’s always a lot to learn, but there also is a wealth of
training programs available to help you learn it. I’m
currently involved in a few projects in which the "techno-bugs" are driving me
crazy. There are always bugs. The trick is to portray an idea as close as you can to how
you envision it. I’ve never been able to get it exactly right; that’s the allure
of the creative process. Once in a while I’ll come close. And if someone understands
it, I’m satisfied. |
Lisa
Santy
Project Manager, Delmar
lsanty@delmar.com
Personal Comment: Lisa is one of the sharpest, most
dedicated, managers I have ever known! |
| 1. Describe what you are and
do? |
I am a Project Manager for software
development at a publishing company in upstate New York. The scope of my job is fairly
broad but my primary job is to conceptualize new technology product, establish costs and
budgets, and manage product development from start to finish. |
| 2. A project of yours was
nominated for a Codie - what was the project and how did you feel about it? |
The project was entitled AccuCalc: A
Comprehensive Dosage Calculation Learning System targeted at 2 and 4-year nursing
students, hospitals and nursing homes. This was a great project to work on for a number of
reasons, one of which was that it was the first stand-alone software product our company
published. This product evolved from a previous more basic application that focused on one
method of dosage calculation. The exciting thing about AccuCalc, was that we were able
maximize our initial investment and develop a more robust learning system that covered
three methods of dosage calculation as well as a variety of new content related
enhancements. I nominated AccuCalc in the Software Publisher's Association Annual Codie
Awards with little expectation of winning. Much to my disbelief, in December of 1996, I
received a congratulatory letter from the President of SPA, notifying me that AccuCalc
made it to the finalist of 900 products submitted. Although it did not ultimately win
first place in its category, it was a rewarding experience for me and my organization to
be placed in the top five of its nominated category. This kind of encouragement, and my
inherent nature motivates me to continue developing award winning products, not only for
the Codies but for our customers. |
| 3. How do you see technology
affecting the publishing industry? |
Technology overall has had dramatic
affects on publishing. In the past 6 years that I've been in publishing, I've seen
substantial changes in the types of product we develop, the mediums we use to deliver
product, the avenues we use to market product and how we manage internal business day to
day. I believe the internet is the future in publishing. Where we once focused on
delivering content in the tangible printed book form, we now have many more options to
consider. With the internet moving full steam ahead, everyone is an author and those
individuals or companies who use the internet to convey information can reach the masses
without a publishers backing and formal distribution channels. |
| 4. What do you find to be
most challenging in applying technology to your projects? |
Quite frankly, the most challenging aspect
of applying technology to product is the never-ending changes in tools and trends. There
is "always" something new on the market that works better and faster. Different
from book publishing, technology product enables publishers to support a more rapid
revision cycle and it does afford us the opportunity to update content quickly with
generally little expense. |
| 5. What are one (or two) of
the biggest lessons you have learned in your projects? |
There is always a lesson to learn and I
feel that I learn something new daily. However, there a few things that stand out the
most:
- Never assume the user is as computer literate as yourself.
- If time permits, allow for usability testing.
- Think about how you and others can reuse assets. Maximize your
investments so that other products can benefit from what you've done.
- Share expertise. Work with others so they can learn from you and you
from them.
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