LOOK & LEARN, FEEL & FORMULATE:

To maximize the effectiveness of multimedia, we must learn to COMPOSE AN IDEA WITH THE FIVE SENSES. In interactive composition, we can learn to use our five senses by applying the available technology to each of our sense responses. The user must be able to HEAR AND SEE; the flavour of honey, the smell of perfume, the feeling of wind rushing up a mountain.

Are there more than two multimedia senses? The 'touch' of the navigational interface, different kinds of software 'feeling'? Mouse vibrations? What about web-cam experiences?

Human experience and sensations are what all writers must try to convey, and in multimedia we make connections between the interactive messages and the user’s physical senses as they interact with their computer. All of the senses can come into play and ultimately you're mixing and matching sights and sounds to convey the best experience to your user.

“I smell pictures more than see them. And I hear pictures more than I smell them.” Mick Rock, photographer

IMAGINE NEW WAYS OF COMMUNICATING - Examples of alternative sensory descriptions:

1: The SIGHT - of what an echo looks like, or the flavour of wine.

2: The SOUND - of what a secret is like, of greed, or a sunset.

3: The TASTE - of agony on the battlefield, or a honeymoon night.

4: The SMELL - of hunger, of passion and despair, or wealth and poverty.

5: The TOUCH - of a marriage ceremony, a first day at school, a first date.

REMEMBER TO THINK WITH YOUR SENSES: Writing stories for multimedia requires us to provide possibilities for answering questions, ultimately supplying a range of choices that allow positive and sometimes negative outcomes for the user to experience. The writer’s task is to convert their impressions from all the other senses into a stimulating sight and sound activity, 'transforming' their own sensory input into a visual and auditory experience for the user.

Some interactive applications hold up a mask, some hold up a mirror. Writers must make the user wonder “How did they know that about me?” Memories of images and sounds, anticipation of outcomes, our virtual senses and reality overlap. Remember, if you aim for the general you may get nothing, but if you aim for the specific you may strike upon the universal.
Show an idea rather than an object, and show a dream rather than an idea.

EXPERIENCE WITHOUT SENSATION: Virtual experiences are no replacement for an actual event in real life, which is what makes interactivity such a fragile estate. When you read a book, you know that the page will stay there until you turn to the next. In multimedia, there is no such reassurance; the server may die, the page disappear or the browser crash.

The worldwide web-is not as familiar as a book, and some users are very wary of the new spaces they explore. They know that virtual reality is not real, and it is sometimes perceived as high-tech 'trickery'.

Solving these problems is about being USER-FRIENDLY.

An interactive writer must keep the user comfortable by providing visual equivalents for their immediate context; e.g. the metaphorical symbols like the magnifying glass and trashcan on the Apple desktop. Point and click!

Current software relies on only two of the physical senses, SOUND AND VISION. Who knows, soon it may be others.

Planning is the number one priority in developing interactive applications, so how can we best describe flavours, odours and other sensations with only sight and sound?