Multimedia Experts Research Articles

Facilitating the collaborative design of flexible learning materials: Investigating the synthesis of content and multimedia knowledge and expertise

This paper discusses how teachers of English as a Second Language (TESOL) and educational multimedia experts collaborated in order to design a CD-ROM aimed at assisting international students to prepare for the International English Language Testing Service (IELTS) English Language Speaking test. The research focuses on the synthesis of content and multimedia knowledge and expertise. It shows how this synthesis occurred, and makes suggestions for how the collaboration necessary for such design work can be facilitated.

Making Multimedia Work for Control Education

Using multimedia in control education is still a privilege of multimedia experts in the control community. In this paper an upgrade strategy is described which should allow also the non-expert lecturer to make uncomplicated use of multimedia presentation and illustration elements in his lectures, later on to develop the ability to transform traditional textbooks into hypertext documents and finally to design multimedia presentations for lecture and laboratory - and this with acceptable effort scalable to individual needs. The strategy has heen developed in a TEMPUS project aimed at the design of a professional undergraduate course in control engineering from which first practical experiences are reported.

Transtheoretical individualized multimedia expert systems targeting adolescents' health behaviors

The transtheoretical model has advanced research and practice for many health behavior changes among adults, but few applications have been developed and applied among adolescents. This paper will describe an innovative and promising computer-based technology for standardized assessment and individualized theory-based intervention delivery called expert systems. Two different studies utilizing multimedia expert systems technology for assessing and intervening with adolescents targeting several health behaviors will be described. One study includes high school students and targets smoking cessation or prevention, sun protection, and dietary fat reduction. The other study includes urban adolescent female clients recruited in family planning clinics and targets condom adoption and either smoking cessation or prevention. The advantages and disadvantages of expert systems technology are reviewed. Multimedia expert system technology has the potential to enhance health promotion and adherence by integrating the strongest components from both clinical and public health models of intervention.

Computer-assisted diagnosis of pediatric rheumatic diseases.

AI/RHEUM is a multimedia expert system developed originally to assist in the diagnosis of rheumatic diseases in adults. In the present study we evaluated the usefulness of a modified version of this diagnostic decision support system in diagnosing childhood rheumatic diseases. AI/RHEUM was modified by the addition of 5 new diseases to the knowledge base of the system. Criteria tables for each of the diseases included in the knowledge base were modified to suit the needs of children. The modified system was tested on 94 consecutive children seen in a pediatric rheumatology clinic. AI/RHEUM made the correct diagnosis in 92% of the cases when the diagnosis was available in the knowledge base of the system. It was also shown to be effective in the education of pediatric trainees through its multimedia features. AI/RHEUM is an expert system that may be helpful to the nonspecialist as a diagnostic decision support system and as an educational tool.

A key for freshwater invertebrates using fuzzy logic.

This paper summarizes a biological key using a fuzzy logic expert system. This approach allows the user to make some errors, be uncertain about some answers and not answer questions if unsure, but have an opportunity to identify unknown specimens correctly. This approach was adopted in order to develop a 'forgiving' key for users with little or no prior knowledge of identification. The system was implemented using a multi-media expert system builder, 'Matcher', operating in a Microsoft Windows environment. The paper reports the design issues for a key to identify freshwater invertebrates to family level and describes the types of questions used within the key, the fuzzy inference engine, the structure of the system and the methodology adopted for testing it. Following this, an empirical test is reported of the hypothesis that a fuzzy logic expert system can improve identification accuracy for a sample of intended users. Finally, the discussion considers the practicalities of using such a system as an aid to organism identification.

Merging expert systems with multimedia technology

Traditional methods of interaction with ES can be a burden to users who are forced to translate conceptualizations of problem attributes and characteristics into text form and then convert back to conceptualizations in interpreting and recommending solutions. This burden can be relieved by merging ES with multimedia technology. In addition to text, the user would be able to selectively access information with graphics, full-motion video, or animation; and hear with stereo sound, voice recording, or music. Such a combination provides a powerful interactive interface enabling the various facets of expertise to be more fully communicated to the user. This article describes multimedia expert systems and considerations for implementing them.