The Future of Multimedia Communication

Abstract

For several years past we have been regaled in both popular and leamed-society publications by speculations about the exciting future awaiting us in the area of multimedia communication. I share some of this excitement about the future, and am myself engaged with colleagues and students in engineering research designed to bring it about. But I note that large sums of money are being invested by companies and universities on the basis of rather simple assumptions about what is likely to happen. In this paper, I should like to turn aside from the detail of the technology and ask, as well as attempt to answer, two questions. The first is important though apparently rather academic, and the second more practical: I . Is it possible to say anything useful at all about the &ture of multimedia communication? 2. Given the answer to I , what strategy will lead to a maximum return on investment in this area? With regard to the second question, I should point out that we do not need to be business people to be concerned with optimizing investment; academics and other research workers invest time, energy and resources pursuing selected research goals according to their beliefs about the future.