Page 19 - DLIS105_REFERENCE_SOURCES_AND_SERVICES

Reference Sources and Services

Notes Multimedia is also entering entertainment market in a big way. Now you can get a documentary
film, a feature film, a circus show, a cultural function, and so on in CDs.

Hypertext
While discussing multimedia, we have used the word ‘hypertext’. Now let us see what this hypertext
is. Hypertext is defined as ‘a system of storing images, text, and other computer files that allow
direct links to the related text, images, sound and other data’ [Encarta: p94]. To understand hypertext
we are reproducing a small text from Macmillan Science and Technology Encyclopedia. The text
reads as follows:
Palynology Study of SPORES, SEEDS, and POLLENS. It is a part of such disciplines as archaeology,
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY, and PALAEONTOLOGY [Macmillan: p268].
You can see that in the above text, SPORES, SEEDS, POLLENS, PALAEOGEOGRAPHY, and
PALAEONTOLOGY are all in capital letters. These capitalised words indicate that there are separate
articles in the encyclopaedia on these topics. If somebody does not know the meaning of, say,
palaeontology, he/she can go through the article on the topic included in the encyclopaedia by
turning the pages and can read it to have some idea on the topic. If you find this in multimedia, you
will simply have to click on the word PALAEONTOLOGY, immediately the article on the topic will
appear on the screen. The same text in hypermedia like World Wide Web (WWW) will showcase
the list of websites containing the word PALAEONTOLOGY on the computer screen in serial order.
Now you will have to check the websites one by one to see which one provides the answer to your
satisfaction. After clicking the selected website, you will get the article on the topic on your screen.
From the above discussion it is clear that for linking broad, related and narrower topics appearing
in the text you will have to highlight the words either by capitalising or by using different colours
or some other means so that the reader can go to any of the words to get its meaning as well as other
details. In the text already discussed, the words have been highlighted using capital letters. In
Compton’s Concise Encyclopedia in CD-ROM, the topics have been highlighted in crimson. For
images, a camera has been used as an icon, clicking which you can get the picture, and for chronology,
a clock has been used as an icon, a click on which leads you to related timeline event.
You can see that in hypertext, words in the text are highlighted to link related topics existing in
cyberspace, i.e., World Wide Web or Internet. This is not all. In hypertext, as in multimedia, we get
sound, visual image including animation. Suppose we are reading an article on India in hypertext.
There, in one section, the text of our national anthem Jana gana mana is included. In one corner,
there is a musical symbol indicative of sound. Now, if you click on this symbol, immediately the
computer system will reproduce the song along with the music. Similarly, if you click on the symbol
of national flag, the flag will appear on the computer screen.

Hypermedia
We have already discussed print media and multimedia. In print media, we find text and graphics
printed usually on paper. In multimedia we find text, graphics, sound, animation, and sometime
mechanism for interaction. Multimedia products are in digitised form and usually available in
CD-ROMs. If information is presented along with graphics, sound, animation and interactive
mechanism in hypertext then we say that information is in hypermedia. Thus, hypermedia is defined
as ‘a hypertext system that supports the linking of graphics, audio and video elements and text’.
[Encarta World English Dictionary: p926]. The World Wide Web is a beautiful example of
hypermedia.

1.4.3 Cybermedia

Both Internet and World Wide Web function in cyberspace. Hence, these two media are being
considered here as cybermedia. It may be noted that cybermedia and cyberspace are two different

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