Multimedia Books

In Easy Digital Home Movies, computer expert Jake Ludington provides able, step-by-step instruction in just how to go about making flawless home movies with just a camcorder and a PC. Ludington utilizes a visual, four-color approach that is completely accessible to even the most novice student. Easy Digital Home Movies provides illustrative and detailed instruction on how to capture and edit home movies, how to e-mail movies, how to stream movies on the Web, and even how to transfer movies to DVD for later viewing. If you want to get into the fascinating and creatively rewarding field of digital movie making, then Jake Ludington's Easy Digital Home Movies is the ideal instructional reference book for you!

This very easy to read and look at book talks about how to use the most popular music programs from MP3 Player prorams, to music managers, to iTUNES. It helps you choose your MP3 player, install your Player....use Napster and even burnmusic discs....how to use a USB Jump drive...and even set up your wireless router. Eight easy to read and use chapters range from:
1) Understanding Digital Music -- what is an MP3 (this will tell you) 2) Getting Digital Music with Media Cretor 7, 3) Using Napster 4) Getting Organized with Media Manager 5) Enjoying Your music on the PC 6) Editing your music 7) Distributing your Music and 8 Using Popular Music Programs.....Great screen shots...and plenty of tips -- more visuals than text-- as it should be --- very easy to use -- from age 14 and up -- great for teens and for gray hairs who are mystified by digital music....

I bought a number of books on using final cut pro and found this book to be the clearest, best-written of them all. When I have questions, I always turn to this book first. It's a fairly short book (130 pages), but it's all great info with very good images.

It is a given that people take design for granted. So it is not surprising that many people have adapted to the rich multimedia interfaces they encounter each day. What is surprising however, is that the design community is only now just reacting to this shift and is struggling to cannonize "E-Design". It would seem that the design world is no different from any other sitting monarch reluctant to budge. If you are diving into 'E-Design', then you no doubt have noticed that the traditional design community fears you. This book was written with you in mind. It is the manifesto to the revolution. This collection of wonderful essays comes straight from the cutting edge thinkers in desgin today--some of them professors, who delight in throwing out references to critical theorists such as Foucault and Derrida. This book is long overdue and I am delighted to have found it as it helps to define the importance of E-Design in the future of design. Natalie Zee's writes, "Digital designers are at the forefront of the industry, those that are helping to define the dicipline, and those that are creating all the innovative interactive experiences...They are Design Technologists."
For all those traditional designers who don't take E-Design seriously, please read this book. As Charles Traub puts it in his essay, "The advent of the computer did not create the technical tangle of multimedia, but rather manifests a pre-existing need in our culture for a more democratic, universal, and diverse way to communicate."

Hackbarth, S. (1996). The educational technology handbook: A comprehensive guide: Process and products for learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.

This excellent handbook by Steven Hackbarth strives to help pre-service and in-service K-12 teachers improve the quality of their instructional efforts by initiating applied research on instructional strategies and media in their own classrooms. It is a timely, vigorous, and convincing attempt to integrate educational technology with classroom practice. The Handbook truly is a comprehensive guide, as its title allows. Each chapter contains a thorough list of resources: references, source materials (free and otherwise), home study courses, an annotated bibliography. Hackbarth also includes illustrative examples, such as a helpful letter from an Eastman Kodak representative responding to a request by the author for further information comparing two types of cameras. Further, study items and suggested activities pay off the content matter of each chapter. The Handbook offers a 24-page source list for supplementary books, media publishing houses, and other media, with popular software titles and with addresses, phone numbers, and Internet/Web addresses when applicable. It even includes a "start-up checklist" of suggestions and resources for becoming an active educational technologist.

The Handbook also provides a strong background on instructional design and learning theory. As the notes and references concluding each chapter attest, the author has a scholarly and well-balanced perspective which he conveys in clearly understood terms. For example, in a discussion of integrated learning systems (ILSs), Hackbarth notes that one condition of success (according to ILS research) is that the educational process be simulated accurately. He wonders whether any complex social system can be simulated accurately, and follows this musing with a paragraph on how differently theorists in the fields of education and psychology view the learning process. For those readers who appreciate his arguments and want to know more, an annotated note at the end of the chapter gives an even more in-depth look at the issue, proffering excellent quotes from leading, contemporary theorists and references for those who wish to consult the primary source. I found myself deliberately seeking out Hackbarth's chapter notes as a section in themselves, for he couples theory with much useful, practical information on finding, understanding, and evaluating the wealth of products that can enhance the learning process.

The Handbook is divided into two sections: the first examines instruction as a systematic process, while the second looks at products to support learning. Each "product" chapter offers practical guidelines for development, use, and evaluation of media. Advice is offered for integrating those media into the larger universe of computer-based learning, interactive learning environments, and the Internet. In a recent article in Educom Review, Lewis Perelman, author of School's Out (1993), asserted that the marketplace is calling for people who can manage work environments "where knowledge represents the key factor of success." Hackbarth's chapter on the Internet recognizes the power of the Internet as a classroom tool for knowledge management, earning him extra credit in my book. Teachers need to understand that to be able to search for relevant, useful information efficiently and effectively is to possess a marketable commodity. Hackbarth discusses how the Internet can open up the world to students, not just because they can become sophisticated procurers of information, but also because they can explore and learn about so many content areas. Hackbarth also describes the benefits and dangers of Internet travel, with respect to the problematic tasks and decisions school technologists must face. Further, he gives his opinion on the issues of freedom "to cruise," and again wins my respect and extra credit:

"Why shouldn't we encourage our students to have as much fun on the Net as we do? Let them cruise in a spirit of high adventure, and chat with the expectation of (supervised) meetings. And let them err, as Neil Postman has suggested... and err again, just like the rest of us, including the best of historians, theologians, philosophers, and scientists throughout history (p. 265)."

I would almost think such an admonition to teachers unnecessary. Of course students should be allowed to cruise the Net, making mistakes and learning as they go! But my own son's school experiences, fueled by teacher inexperience and fear of memory errors, system crashes, and viruses, have suggested to me that there are probably many practitioners who need to hear Hackbarth's advice.

Delightful captions for chapter illustrations are just one example of the pleasing voice the author uses to complement his thorough treatment of the subject. I found myself wanting to meet the man who can so reassuringly reveal the confusions of a novice. On first entering an America On-line chat room, the author had signed on with the ID 'HackbarthS':

"During my first evening of interacting 'live' with diverse people across the country I found myself among the few with a recognizable 'handle.' As the exchanges about current news events and issues heated up, my support for a Clinton Administration peace overture was greeted with 'Let's hope so Barth.' I began regretting my naivete- me, a global village idiot!" (p. 257)

In the writing and editing process, Hackbarth asked for and received plenty of feedback on his manuscript from researchers, faculty, teachers, and other practitioners in the field. Benefiting from the many voices who contributed their thoughts and experience to this book as well as from his own impressive range of experience, the author has provided us with a well-rounded perspective (and a well-grounded research base) into the processes involved in utilizing technologies to support and enhance learning and teaching, and the products that help practitioners achieve those ends. If even half of all teachers read and used this book, our field of educational technology would truly be a part of the educational system, and the system an integral part of us.

Jeannette S. Berkley (jbn0@lehigh.edu)
Instructional Designer
Doctoral Student, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

Having had the priveledge of reading a pre-release of this book it my pleasure to share my findings. The book is a great place for people new to Authorware to start. Yet, there are many chapters that even an experienced Authorware programmer can gain from. The book is written in a light and easy to understand fashion. As well, the Author has a good sense of humor that make's reading this title even some-what fun. I highly recommend this title to those intersted in picking up Authorware.

I have wanted to learn about Dreamweaver for a while because I've produced Web Sites using other programs. This book proved to be a readable introduction to the program. Even when I wasn't on a computer, I could understand what the authors were describing. This book will sit on a shelf near my computer so that I can use it later to reference anything from importing different kinds of files to creating layers in Dreamweaver.

This book was such a great value. It came in better condition than I expected. Also tons cheaper than the retail price the school's stores offered. If you are looking to find a really good text book then here is the place to look! The seller got this product to me fast and in a safe shipping method.

Finally a book on copyright for the web written in right-brain language that a non-lawyer can understand.

The web is the modern day equivilant to the Old Wild West in which images are freely copied, modified and redistributed, all over the world, where they might be seen, and re-used by portentially millions of people. The rights of the individual author and artist are blatantly disregarded, to some extent because of willful disregard for the property of others, but mostly because of ignorance. The notion that the web is for everybody is all the justification some people need to plunder your images.

This book explains our rights and copyrights as artists, designers, and content providers and tells in plain words what we can do to protect ourselves from being the victims of web crimes.

Mary Carter's strength is in her ability to condense large mountains of infomation into small bitesized bits of information.

This book is extremely well written, and unlike most books written by lawyers, it is written with wit and charm.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Gary W. Priester Graphic Designer

In the interest of full disclosure, I took three classes from Professor Limburg at Washington State University. He's a good guy and teaches in such a way that the subject is understandable and relevant to his students. That's reflected in this book. He uses case studies that directly challenge the reader. It's aimed at people who will or already do make decisions in broadcasting. Limburg also includes the basic history behind media ethics. To gain the full benefit of the material, you really should engage in discussion with other people. The book is a good base.