A few years back a edited a 1989 set of note from the first course on multimedia communications I taught at MIT. I think some of the students grasped some of the ideas. I also thought it may be worth posting my Preface from the update:
This is an edited version of the 1989 class notes on Multimedia Communications which I taught at MIT. I have tried to keep all the original material and eliminated some material which is so out of date that it has little use. However, in view of the slow growth of multimedia communications over this some thirty plus years, I felt an edited and useful version may be of interest. This is NOT a view from the current time but an edit of what was known in 1989. It is worth looking at this and comparing what has been accomplished and what is left undone. The basic and fundamental issues and ideas have not changed. The technology has advanced but the integration of that technology into a true and working multimedia communication environment has not. The current virus pandemic has placed an emphasis on the need for true multimedia communications as presented in this old notes. Two areas are of most import are education and medicine. Students are left with useless laptops trying to participate in classes using the limited abilities of a Zoom or some other primitive form of communications. In medicine we have telemedicine that uses the same limited technology and, in my opinion, does less than what I was doing at Harvard in 1986-1990. Instead, the current technology implementation has, in my opinion, wasted decades on such things as Apps while leaving the two areas just mentioned a wasteland.
There is a philosophy of multimedia communications, a philosophy as to what we are trying to do as humans in interacting with one another human or group of humans and even our environment. Multimedia communications is displaced human interactions. It tries to erase the sense of displacement; it tries to bridge the gap of technology qua technology. None of the systems currently available have even tried to understand this human interaction challenge. One cannot accomplish this with a screen on a smart phone. A laptop shining in one's eye glasses creates an ethereal image of unreality. Poor speakers and microphones present an almost comedic interaction, and of course the background is more like a reality home show than a true normal interaction. Finally, the technology itself gets in the way of interacting .In 1989 I tried to understand and remedy such issues with a philosophy of multimedia communications. Unfortunately, most technologists who design and deploy today's systems are devoid of any understanding of human interactions. Multimedia Communications must be "displaced human interactions". It is a simple concept but complex to execute. It must be a seamless and as Heidegger noted "ready at hand" and a simple "thing" that disappears when used, making the users act and communicate as if the distance was not there. This is a highly complex challenge. It requires understanding human interaction, human linguistics and the very nature of humanity at the highest level.
This current viral pandemic has demonstrated how poorly we have achieved this goal. Just the thought of using a smart phone to take university classes, or even primary school classes is an insane idea. This is the App world of Silicon Valley, a short term monetizable artifact that has set humanity back, and not allowed us to move forward. How can a Second-Grade teacher interact with her students? Clearly not with what we have now. How can a father read to his daughter, not as we have now? How can a Physician interact with a cancer patient unable to come to the clinic, not as we have now? Thus, the issuance of this slightly modified revision I believe has value and merit .I want to also provide a belated thanks to Professor Muriel Medard (MIT) who was my Teaching Assistant during this first course. She did a magnificent effort in assembling key references and sources and in managing the class structure. It is to her and my many other students to whom I dedicate this revision.
Terrence P. McGarty Thornton, NH January 2021
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