By Tim Clukey

WHY SOUND?
Why me?
As a musician, as an audio technician, and as an avid fan of almost all types of music, I would prefer to pose the question, "Why not Sound?" In the realm of mediated interaction sound provides the addition of one of the most sensuous elements of multimedia (Vaughan, 1998). It has wide-ranging capabilities being able to inform (with narration and sound effects), to inspire (with music), and to entertain (with all of the above). However, many of the elements involved in the processing of digital audio are technologically complex, second only to the complexity of interactive multimedia as a whole. Still in its infancy, the development and processing of audio is undergoing constant growth pains. This site was designed to look at some of the current audio options available and in use today, as well as to explore some of the more cutting edge solutions hoping to be available and in use tomorrow. The information here is by no means comprehensive, but merely peeks into the crystal ball of future possibilities. As well, in many disciplines information which is 2 to 3 years old is considered current. This is not the case in the rapidly obsolescent world of technology where only milk spoils faster than the latest developments designed to make us "oooou" and "aaaah". Please keep that in mind as you proceed. And as my dad always said, "Thanks for the visit."

WHERE TO GO        Today-----------------------------Tomorrow?

Feel free to click on one of the choices above,
or click on one of the section summaries listed below.

Sounding Off - Playing tag with the speed of sound: Why technology has its hands full.
MIDI - A MIDI-life crisis: Good & bad sides to one of the few techno-industry standards.
Mpeg Layer 3 - Instant record store on the Internet. Just add artists.
BeOS - To Be or not to BeOS: An operating system ready to make the jump to hyperspace.
RMF - Not blinded by science: It's playtime online with Headspace's Rich Music Format.
Mediated Invisibility - Why media programmers strive not to be seen.

REFERENCES
Giving credit where credit is due. Find the sources of my inspiration, many of which allow you to cyber-leap to where the muses actually live.

Just Visiting?
Thanks for visiting my site. Please send submissions, comments, questions to me via e-mail at timothy.clukey@plattsburgh.edu.

This site was last updated on April 22, 2003.