Metrics for multimedia languages

Abstract

Software engineering researchers have attempted to improve the software development process for over two decades. A primary thrust in this process lies in the arena of measurement: "you can't control what you can't measure". This research applied software metric techniques to the development of multimedia products. Problem areas such as education, instruction, training and information systems can all benefit from more controlled approaches to development with multimedia tools. As an example, we focus on one multimedia language for creating multimedia products: Macromedia's Authorware. This paper describes the measurement of various distinguishing properties of this language, together with an evaluation of the measurement process. The evaluation gives insight into the next step in establishing the goal of control, through measurement, of the multimedia software development process.