Survival of the fittest

Abstract

Multimedia is an art-world term, often credited to designers Charles and Ray Eames, that describes the fusion of media such as painting, sculpture, photography, music, and video. Within the world of computers it is used broadly to describe almost any combination of media, ranging from simple text and graphics through to the Eames’ vision [Preece et al. 1994; Shneiderman 1992]. This diversity raises questions about the origins of multimedia interface styles, emerging genres, and widgets. In the natural world such diversity is elegantly explained by Darwin’s theory of evolution through survival of the fittest. In the case of technology, market forces determine which novel designs survive. Predicting change is hard but we now know much about the preferences and limitations of humans interacting with computers. Principles can be drawn upon that help explain why some interfaces survive and others become extinct. For example, interfaces that are predictable and consistent, allow users to undo their actions easily, protect against errors, and provide help at the right time tend to survive (see e.g., Nielsen [1995]). We identify seven multimedia eras: Nascent, Control, Construction, Ubiquitous, Collaborative, 3D Virtual, and Visualization, and make tentative predictions for the future. As in nature, these eras coexist and overlap, and there are also sudden “ice-age” transitions. Around 1980, at the dawn of the personal computer age, the primordial soup of multimedia consisted of green screens and videodisc images on separate monitors. This Nascent Era produced many chaotic and short-lived species with rigid interfaces that left the users frustrated victims of machines they could not control. Examples include the five-minute video without a stop button or choice sequences that could not be reversed or cancelled. These species died out quickly because of their poor usability. As advancements in high-resolution displays and fast chips spread, still and then moving images, animations, and sound flourished. The evolutionary force coming from both technical development and the demands of users, particularly video-game and home-computing enthusiasts followed by advertising, films, and education, assured their future. In parallel with these developments, interface complexity grew and users needed better and more direct ways of controlling them. This gave rise to the Control Era, in which direct manipulation became the dominant interface form. Instead of modal dialogues and rigid se-