One theme running through this book has been the push to make your intranet interactive and incorporate multimedia. Along with hyperlinks, these are the two most important elements that differentiate an intranet from other information-and-communication systems; they have the capability to make computer networks powerful tools for helping organizations achieve strategic objectives. Without them, an intranet is a flat, one-way, text-and-graphics publishing system that merely transfers images from paper to the screen. There are still advantages to that approach, to be sure, based upon the ability to distribute to a broader audience more quickly at lower costs, but it still fails to capitalize on what truly brings an intranet to life.
Brief examples of multimedia applications have been incorporated into various other parts of this book, and in this chapter we will take a closer look at how to apply multimedia using tools that add dimension and depth to an intranet. A combination of elements, strategically planned and implemented to solve business problems and meet real communication needs, can add significant value to your intranet.
In this chapter, we will cover:
The bandwidth many companies currently have in place is inadequate
for much of the multimedia capability that is available. Offering
value-based multimedia on your intranet can help employees understand
issues, access information, share in discussions and presentations,
speed processes, and solve problems. It can also slow your system
to the speed of butter churning through a garden hose-or bring
it completely crashing down. Offering a video stream is fine if
the system can handle it; however, if ten people accessing the
video stream simultaneously brings your system to its knees, it's
probably not something you want to offer; at least not yet.
| NOTE |
The odds are that your organization will expand its bandwidth capabilities in the foreseeable future for any number of reasons, and this will allow you to take advantage of the power of multimedia applications that would choke your bandwidth today. |
You should keep your eyes on developments that are in the works with multimedia applications. When ice hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky was asked how he can possibly be so much better than everybody else in the sport, Gretzky replied, "It's easy; I skate to where the puck is going, not where it is." These are powerful words for those planning an intranet. Even for applications on the World Wide Web, I counsel clients to think like Gretzky and plan for capabilities that are around the corner rather than those in place right now. In many cases, by the time you actually implement the capability, the infrastructure will have caught up. The odds are that your organization will expand its bandwidth capabilities in the foreseeable future for any number of reasons, and this will allow you to take advantage of the power of multimedia applications that would choke your bandwidth today. And, if you are shy one or two compelling reasons to enhance existing bandwidth, the potential for multimedia applications on an intranet can be the compelling reason to push approval of such an enhancement over the top.
Meanwhile, many developers are working to find ways to send sound and video through unused or little-used spectrums of the bandwidth. Radical new compression schemes will narrow the amount of bandwidth required. In many organizations, limited bandwidth of existing networks precludes the distribution of multiple streams of audio or video, which would choke the network.
Providing access to sound over an intranet is probably the simplest form of multi-media available to you, and one of the least likely to cause server problems. One of the key reasons audio can be so hassle-free is that it is available in two fundamental formats: as a file that must be downloaded before it can be heard, or as a real-time stream. Many audio files are made available to Web users in both formats, with the choice indicated as shown in Figure 12.1 below. The ability to choose allows employees to accommodate the multimedia capabilities of their own computers. It also enables employees who do have the ability to play audio through more than one application to select the method that best meets current time commitments and other needs. A real-time audio stream might be great, but this employee needs to copy the file (of a vice-president's speech, for example) to a disk and send it to a vendor or customer). You can even store such sound files in an FTP archive for employees to download at their convenience.
| NOTE |
The potential uses of audio in an intranet are vast speeches, events, interviews, advertising and publicity. |
The potential uses of audio in an intranet are vast and limited only by the uses you can think of in relation to specific issues, needs, opportunities, and intranet applications. Some of the more common uses of which any organization can take advantage include the following: speeches, events, interviews, advertising and publicity, Web Page environments, and sounds.
Some people might be surprised at the number of speeches that are delivered by representatives of an organization, not just at the executive ranks (although these are certainly the most visible), but often by specialists in various fields in which the company maintains expertise. Many large organizations maintain professional speech writers on their staffs; other organizations often contract with freelance speech writers. There are companies whose business is helping individuals improve their speech-giving abilities and presentation skills. Speeches are a common business activity, and they are delivered to a multitude of audiences, including:
Invariably, what these speeches have in common is that they give information about the company the speech-giver represents. Employees should have access to this information which is, after all, provided in a public setting. Making the information conveyed in these speeches available to employees could:
For years, several organizations have distributed copies of speeches in print to employees. What takes a few minutes to hear in a passive mode, however, takes a concerted effort to read, and many employees simply skim the text, missing potentially valuable information. Thus, offering employees audio speech files can encourage employees to pay attention to all the material in the message, which they can easily listen to while engaging in other activities.
The presentation of speeches is not limited to one long file. If you visit the National Public Radio (NPR) section of the RealAudio site at http://www.realaudio.com, you will find that NPR's flagship programs-All Things Considered and Morning Edition-are available as either complete audio files that permit the listener to hear the entire broadcast, or they are also broken into segments that allow the listener to select only those stories and reports that are of particular interest. The same practice can be implemented on an intranet. You can take the chairman's 20-minute speech to shareholders that provides a broad overview of the company, and break it into chunks. This way, an employee interested only in what the chairman has to say about the company's research and development plans can elect to listen to that segment, while another employee who wants only to hear about financial performance can choose to listen only to that portion of the speech. It could be that both employees would ignore the speech if only the entire 20-minute speech was available, but will absorb key information important to them in their jobs if they can be selective about the parts of the speech they listen to. Figure 12.2 suggests how a speech might be presented to employees.
Figure 12.2 : An executive's speech can be presented in its entirety, or broken into key sections.
Links to speeches should be provided from wherever it makes sense in addition to the "latest-news" sections. A listing of all speeches should be maintained, and it would be valuable if employees could cross-reference information; some employees may want to find a speech by topic, others by the executive who delivered the speech, still others through a chronological approach. A speech on the company's financial condition also should be linked from appropriate finance pages, while a talk about potential layoffs should be linked from the Human Resources page. The same approach should be taken to parts of speeches that are made available. The segment of the chairman's speech at the shareholder's meeting about research and development, for example, should be linked from the R&D page.
In addition to offering speeches saved as files, RealAudio and other emerging technologies enable the presentation of live speeches. If the chairman is going to deliver a talk at the shareholder's meeting, why not enable employees to listen in from their workstations? Those who will be working at 10:00 a.m., when the talk is scheduled, can be notified in advance to tune in and hear the chairman's comments as they are made. Those who will not be at their computers during the speech are still invited to listen to the file as soon as it is uploaded to the server. This approach creates an environment in which employees know that they have access to information at the same time as other audiences, and that the information will be available to them on an as-needed basis after it is delivered, accommodating the receiver-driven model of communication. Such an approach is sure to improve morale since employees will believe that they are just as important to the executives delivering the information as the audience (in this case, shareholders) for whom the information was intended.
This approach to broadcasting important or interesting events and activities is applicable to intranets even more than it is to the global Internet. Consider some of the kinds of activities and events organizations have that all employees may be unable to attend:
In Canada, several of the local chapters of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) join together to host an annual communication awards competition. Each year, a different chapter hosts the competition and the awards banquet. Because of the geographic distances between chapters, only members of the host chapter tend to go to the banquet. In 1996, the problem of other members not being able to attend was resolved when an enterprising member of one chapter provided a live RealAudio feed of the banquet over the Internet. Thus, members of the other chapters were able to listen in as award-winners were announced.
Too often, employees learn what was said at these activities by reading reports prepared after the fact or, worse, by hearing about it through the grapevine. By providing a live audio feed of the events, employees can feel a part of the activity and obtain critical information at the same time it is presented. Entire programs, or selected parts, can be retained for listening at a later date.
Another tremendous use of video can be applied to the support of text. Consider a news story that appears on the employee home page announcing a major new company initiative. An icon could permit an employee to click in order to hear the president's own words on the subject. Hearing rather than reading what a key executive has to say can be a far more powerful tool, since when the president speaks, you can hear the sincerity in his or her voice, the passion, the concern, or the commitment. Reading the same words allows employees to attach their own inflection to those words.
Apple Computer offered an example of this technique on the home page of its demonstration intranet for the fictitious Acme Fruit & Nut company. The lead story appearing there introduces a new key executive, while the RealAudio link allows employees to hear some of the new vice president's thoughts in his own words, as shown in Figure 12.3.
| NOTE |
Hearing rather than reading what a key executive has to say can be a far more powerful tool, since when the president speaks, you can hear the sincerity in his or her voice, the passion, the concern, or the commitment. |
Much of a company's image is projected to the outside world, and making what has been said available to employees can help them understand how the company is positioning itself and how the media is reacting to it and reporting about it.
Commercials are a prime example of company-generated material that can be made available over the intranet. Radio commercials-if the company produces them-are an obvious component, but given a lack of means to deliver full video, the audio tracks of television commercials also are useful items to include. Employees like to know how the organization is positioning itself (through institutional-type advertising) and its products (through sales-oriented advertising), not only in their own markets but in other markets as well (such as international locations).
Similarly, employees like to hear what is being said about the company and its products. Most public relations departments in mid- to large-sized companies track mentions of the organization and the industry in which it functions through relationships with media tracking companies. Some of these firms specialize in radio and television feeds, and can provide companies with audio tracks in fairly short order. Making news segments available to the employees about the company from networks, affiliates, and local stations will help the employees better understand the marketplace, consumer and customer reaction to reports, and company responses. Additionally, it can help employees gear their efforts to better serve the company in light of public comment.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer (version 3.0) allows Web developers
to embed MIDI sound files in Web pages. These sounds load and
play automatically when a user calls for that page. One of the
Microsoft Network's projects-a Star Trek site produced in collaboration
with Paramount Studios-plays music and sounds from Star Trek each
time you visit a different page: Go to the Original Series page
and you hear the Star Trek theme, while a trip to a data collection
page offers the sound of the Enterprise computer at work.
| NOTE |
Informative material can be included, such as hints to where key information might reside. |
This technology can apply easily to an intranet, mainly by allowing content owners to include brief introductions to the home pages of their site. "Welcome to the Marketing Site" is the type of introductory comment most would be inclined to include, but more informative material can be included, such as hints to where key information might reside. A visit to the intranet's top-level home page could highlight the day's top news or offer an important reminder.
Many of the current crop of Web browsers include the ability to play sound files without the addition of plug-in software or helper applications. The formats these browsers tend to incorporate are:
Video can add a new and powerful advantage to your intranet. Video, after all, is the primary way in which people currently receive information of all kinds. Television is without a doubt the most powerful communication tool ever invented. By passively sitting and watching, people are able to absorb vast quantities of information, to see events as they unfold (or as they unfolded). Statistically, we get information more through television than any other medium-or any other media combined! Video presentation of information has become the standard, and corporations and other organizations have embraced video production with a passion-corporate video represents one of the largest segments of the video production industry. It is used for training, for communication, and for a host of other uses.
Bandwidth being what it is, it does not yet make sense to offer the organization's entire video library through your intranet. Bandwidth isn't the only issue. Even the best TCP/IP-capable video systems and file formats come nowhere close to approximating the quality of real video presented over a television screen. They play in tiny windows and present frames-per-second at only a fraction of the speed a true video format can handle.
However, in organizations where visual events and activities are important parts of the business and/or culture, the inclusion of some video files can provide employees with an advantage. The presentation of television commercials and media clips also can be of significant value. Let's look at just a couple of potential video applications for the Intranet meetings, advertising and publicity, training, and live presentations.
As I have noted earlier, most of the major corporations for which I have worked have conducted the ritual known as the quarterly managers meeting. In every instance, this meeting was held at or near corporate headquarters and only employees that were in the local area could attend. Video-teleconferencing was an expensive solution to the problem, but then the meeting would have been restricted to those in a time-zone conducive to attending. The solution at many organizations is to videotape the meeting. At one organization, we started out by distributing a tape of the entire meeting. Of course, if you think sitting through a two-and-a-half-hour managers' meeting is dry, try watching it on videotape-in a language that is not your native tongue! So the company began editing the tape down to its core elements, eliminating pauses, irrelevant chatter, questions-and-answers that addressed issues unique to headquarters, and other unnecessary content. The editing also enabled the company to add some video techniques to make it more compelling and entertaining. This is an excellent approach, since the resulting tape pared the meeting down to the major information covered in about 15 or 20 minutes, making it far more watchable by the company's many management teams around the world. Still, managers need to wade through information that may be irrelevant in order to get to information that is of interest to them. And the editing is not the end of the process, which also includes dubbing tapes in multiple formats (VHS, PAL, and SECAM), and distributing the appropriate tapes to the right locations.
An intranet can add tremendous advantage to the existing process of videotaping and editing a quarterly managers meeting. Some of the advantages include the following:
As a result of employees taking advantage of this on-demand access to information from the meetings, the information that managers need to be effective can be accessed and put to use almost immediately, eliminating the restrictions of time and space.
As with audio, much of the company's image is portrayed to the public through the presentation of commercials and other materials produced by the organization, and by the visual presentation of company-related activities and issues by the media. The ability to provide access to this material is enhanced by an intranet, which allows employees to see what is being said and how the organization is portrayed as soon as the information is available, or when the employee needs to see it.
Television commercials are a particularly valuable resource. Companies
like Levi Strauss make all of their worldwide commercials available
on their intranet, which allows advertising staff members in one
country to see what has been produced by counterparts in another
country. If they see something that can be adapted for their own
market, they can take advantage of material for which the company
has already paid, turning it into a commercial for use in their
own region for the cost of a new language dub and perhaps some
minor editing.
| NOTE |
The company can offer video snips from any number of activities that convey the key information or offer employees a feel for what the event was like, allowing them to share in the experience. |
Beyond advertising, the company can offer video snips from any number of activities that have been recorded, including sales events, major presentations, and trade shows, to name a few. These do not need to be multi-megabyte files, but can instead be brief clips that convey the key information or offer employees a feel for what the event was like, allowing them to share in the experience. When I worked for Mattel Toys, only a very small percentage of employees were able to attend the exciting American International Toy Fair, held each February in New York. If an intranet had existed in those days, I would have used it extensively to provide employees with a sense of that excitement, and video would have been a key tool.
Television news coverage of the organization also can be incorporated into an intranet. Most television news reports are under three minutes in length, so converting them to digital format and making them available for employee consumption can help employees stay up to speed with information the media is presenting to the public about the organization.
Within many training modules, it is critical that employees see a visual representation of a particular activity or procedure. You wouldn't want technicians performing a critical operation that they have not actually seen, after all! While the entire length of a training video is excessive and impractical for today's intranets, brief clips that show a specific procedure can be as short as 30 seconds. Built into an HTML-based training application, the availability of such video clips can greatly enhance the value of the module and lead to far better trained employees. Many of these video clips can be extracted from existing videos or produced as original material destined for online presentation.
VDOLive (on the World Wide Web at http://www.vdolive.com) offers the most recent video technology available for Web browsers. The video equivalent of RealAudio, VDOLive and its competitors offer video that does not have to be downloaded and then viewed on a special helper application or video player. The player can be embedded into a Web page, and the video itself streams from the server to the player in real time. CBS News is just one of the organizations using VDOLive on the Web in its "Up to the Minute" broadcast.
VDOLive also can present events as they happen, enabling the organization to short-circuit the costs involved in a video-teleconference and simply broadcast an event through a server to intranet-connected employees. Enabling managers, for example, to witness a managers' meeting as it happens over a VDOLive connection can be cheap and effective. While it's not exactly motion-picture quality, at these meetings where special effects are not a high priority (or, in fact, any priority at all), the broadcast can make many employees feel more connected to the organization.
(Incidentally, VDOLive already has been used on the World Wide Web for several live broadcasts that would not have been possible otherwise; there simply wasn't a large enough audience to justify a closed-circuit or cable-based broadcast.)
The standard for broadcast-quality video is set by the National Television Standards Committee (NTSC), and translating those standards to digital format is simply not feasible at this point. According to one estimate, a single second of NTSC-quality video converted to full-screen digital images would require more than 25 megabytes of hard disk space; even more is required if you add audio. As a result, we have settled for less-than-broadcast quality for digital video images-in terms of both size of image and number of frames displayed per second-which suggests that the kinds of images to be displayed as video should be carefully considered. Special effects-laden productions-Star Wars-like quality-will not be portrayed faithfully on a screen, while CD-quality sound is getting more and more common for audio transmissions.
The kinds of formats currently being used for video include:
A number of technologies can be applied to delivering animation
to desktops through the intranet, including the video technology
discussed above (an animation can be produced and delivered on
video the same as live action). The question, then, relates to
the value of animation. The answer depends on the kind of business
you are in and the kinds of activities in which your employees
engage.
| NOTE |
Animation often can show accurately and with greater clarity than video the process used to perform an activity such as assembly of equipment. |
As with the brief video clips discussed under the video section, animation can be most useful in training activities. Animation often can show accurately and with greater clarity than video the process used to perform an activity such as assembly of equipment. These animations can be particularly useful to field service representatives and employees whose work takes place primarily on the factory floor. As a species, we humans tend to absorb information best by visualizing it. Text-based information is the least likely to provide us with an accurate representation of how to do something; text accompanied by pictures is the next best; watching somebody actually perform the task is optimum. A simple line animation is the best way to present technical information because it offers a clear view unobstructed by unavoidable elements of video, such as skewed perspectives, hands in the way, shadows, and the like.
An employee who routinely works with equipment and who is regularly in need of instruction on how to perform a specific task could tap into the intranet and view a brief animation that answers the question. Imagine a field service representative working on a piece of equipment with which he or she is unfamiliar able to simply dial into the intranet and see how the work is done. Such animations also can be particularly useful for the introduction of new techniques and processes. Field service representatives expected to handle repairs or modifications to new equipment can learn the appropriate techniques from their home or field offices. The cost of producing these animations may seem high at first, but compared with the cost of bringing personnel in for face-to-face training, it can represent a considerable savings. Of course, not all training should be handled this way; some training needs to be handled in a face-to-face environment, with an experienced and knowledgeable expert on hand to offer advice and answer questions. Some training even requires certification. However, for those practices that can be handled through an online animation, it can be a valuable tool.
Beyond training, animations can be used for a variety of purposes, including the following:
A variety of techniques in addition to video is available to produce animation on a Web page. These include:
Creating three-dimensional models is nothing new for the scientific and design professionals in organizations. Computer-generated 3-D models have represented a significant boon to the industrial side of business, allowing designers, scientists (such as chemists), engineers, and others to develop a model on the screen and use various computer-generated processes to test assumptions about the models, such as how an element will interact with another (such as two molecules), the kinds of tolerances a model will be able to withstand (such as weight on a bridge), and how various forces will cause an item to behave (such as various degrees of an earthquake on a highrise building).
There are many other uses for 3-D models, as well. For training purposes, enabling an individual to study a piece of machinery from every possible angle can make the training far more meaningful than simply viewing a two-dimensional image that resides flat on a piece of paper (or even on a screen). With the technology available today to present these three-dimensional models over TCP/IP networks, there is no reason that organizations cannot identify strategic applications for such models online.
Some of the utilities available for three-dimensional modeling include the following:
(Note: Information about these vendors and how to reach them is covered in Appendix C.)
We tend to think of multimedia applications as those that present images and sounds that we can easily associate with entertainment and games-video, animation, and the like. "Multimedia," however, in its essence, means more than one medium applied at the same time. Viewed this way, multimedia applications also can enable individuals to use the corporate Web as a vehicle to engage in activities and view other media that are not necessarily part of the Web. These applications can work powerfully in conjunction with the collaboration work tools we addressed in Chapter 11.
The most exciting of these tools (at least from my viewpoint)
is a new application from Microsoft called NetMeeting. Designed
specifically as a TCP/IP-based application, NetMeeting allows
two or more individuals to meet over their network-connected computers
through a NetMeeting server. The NetMeeting client software is
free, and Microsoft has no plans to charge for it. Owning your
own server, of course, will cost you.
| NOTE |
NetMeeting offers voice and application-sharing capabilities including a whiteboard where meeting participants can draw diagrams that each participant will see. |
When you connect with others using NetMeeting, you are able to speak to one another through sound-card-connected microphones, similar to the current crop of Internet phones (which I will address briefly later in this section). If Jane in Boston and Bill in Los Angeles are connected using NetMeeting, they can talk without incurring a long-distance charge. Bill has a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet he wants to share with Jane, so he enables NetMeeting's "collaborate" function, which means Jane will be able to see whatever application Bill chooses as long as it is on Bill's desktop. He enables 1-2-3, and now Jane sees the spreadsheet. What's more, if Bill wants to allow Jane to manipulate the spreadsheet, he can relinquish control of it to her. With that control, Jane can change a number on the spreadsheet from her desktop, and the spreadsheet will recalculate. She has equal control over menus and other options-the application is fully under her control. In addition to the voice and application-sharing capabilities of NetMeeting, the program also offers a whiteboard, where meeting participants can draw diagrams that each participant will see.
While it is the first application of its kind, NetMeeting is sure to be followed by other similar products from other developers. Until then, NetMeeting can be downloaded from the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie3/netmtg.htm.
In the meantime, software has existed for some time now that provides for video-teleconferencing over a TCP/IP network, the most popular of which is CU See Me (the CU stands for Cornell University, where it was developed). With CU See Me, cameras mounted atop monitors allow multiple users to appear in windows on the screen while microphones pick up their words. Similar software with greater capabilities is also available, at progressively higher costs. CU See Me is still a freeware application from Cornell, although a commercial version also is available. The cameras that are used to send images to the CU See Me server run for under $100 for black-and-white functionality, and around $200 for color.
At the low end of the scale are newly emerging Internet phone packages. These programs allow TCP/IP-connected users to connect to one another regardless of where they reside, incurring no long-distance charges since the packages digitize voices, send them in packets across the network, and reassemble them in the recipient's computer. Learning to use these packages takes a bit of time since the transmissions are not exactly synchronous, and usually the recipient must wait to hear everything the sender has said before responding. As a tool for saving phone charges, though, they can't be beat.
Finally, a software package called PowWow links multiple users together by voice over a TCP/IP network, while one individual gains control over the browser environment. Ideal for corporate training courses, this would allow the trainer to narrate a class while navigating through appropriate HTML pages on the corporate Web as students, seated at their workstations anywhere on the network, can view the pages the trainer is visiting.
New-hire orientations represent another opportunity for PowWow (and any similar software that emerges that offers the same capabilities). A single new-hire coordinator can lead new employees located anywhere in the world through a tour of policies, guidelines, key information resources, and even forms employees need to complete.
PowWow is freeware available from Tribal Voice at http://www.tribal.com.
Virtual reality is the actualization of the concept of cyberspace. Rather than interacting with text and icons, when you enter a virtual reality environment, you actually are interacting in three dimensions, moving through a plane that exists only as zeros and ones within the network and on the computer. Those virtual reality environments that can be created for and applied to a Web-based environment have tremendous application for corporate activities.
There are two existing types of virtual environments we will cover here, and one that is on the horizon at which we will take a brief look.
One of the more exciting developments to appear on the World Wide Web in recent years is Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), which takes the idea of text and links and turns it into a three-dimensional metaphor. According to Mark Pesce, the programmer who invented VRML, people tend to think in three dimensions and relate more easily to visual representations of reality than they do to narrative descriptions of it. Thus, we find it easier to relate to the instruction, "Walk two blocks down Main Street, turn right on Fifth, and go into the third building on the left," than we do to, "Set your browser to http://www.thingamajig.com/newdirectory/media/flash_in_the_pan.html."
VRML, when first released, allowed Web users to immerse themselves in crude but distinct three-dimensional virtual environments. You could walk into a room, see what was there (a sofa, a bookshelf, a television, a radio), walk through a door into the next room, walk outside, fly above the house and all around it, even visit the house next door. Hyperlinks are a critical element in VRML. In this example, you could click on any book title in order to be linked to a related Web site (either another VRML site or a traditional HTML page), click on the radio in order to hear an audio file, click on the television to launch a video file, and so forth.
As with so many other things, the value of VRML on the World Wide
Web is visceral; in the organizational environment through an
intranet, it can become a productivity tool. We have already reviewed
one use of VRML, as a means of developing three-dimensional models
of parts and machines that employees can view from all angles
and even from the inside.
| NOTE |
Floor plans represent another excellent application of VRML. |
Floor plans represent another excellent application of VRML. Employees can access floor plans in order to take a virtual walk through a facility so they can familiarize themselves with it. This type of virtual model can be used to train employees on the processes employed on a factory floor, as part of a new-hire orientation, to allow employees to find where other employees sit in an office configuration (linked, perhaps, to each employee's listing in the online directory), and to offer walk-throughs of planned facilities or those under construction.
We covered multi-user environments extensively in Chapter 2(under Virtual Reality), looking at such applications as Worlds Chat. These environments differ from VRML in that more than one individual can maintain a presence in them, and the individuals occupying the environment at the same time can interact with one another. So far, the graphic 3-D environments are not as rich as those possible with VRML, and the navigation is much cruder, but for cyberspace-like interactivity with others, there's nothing like it.
In the corporate world, on an intranet (as noted in Chapter 2, such virtual reality applications provide a more manageable conferencing environment than video teleconferencing. Multiple voices can be heard simultaneously because words are typed rather than spoken (although RealAudio capability is likely to be introduced to many of the virtual words applications available). In many instances, virtual reality provides a viable, useful, and inexpensive alternative to video teleconferencing. To be sure, many organizations have made a substantial investment in video-teleconferencing, which has been valuable in reducing travel expenses.
But there are drawbacks to video-teleconferencing. If you've ever participated in a video-teleconference, you probably already know what they are, but let's look at three of the big ones anyway:
Virtual environments eliminate all of these problems. You can "see" every avatar within your avatar's field of vision, and you can choose to read the words each avatar's host is typing. You can move around freely within the environment. And, should you and your colleague need to finish up some discussions before reporting back to the group, you can select a room to go to, "beam" over to that room, finish your discussions, and then "beam" back to the rest of the group, all without ever leaving the virtual world.
The true cyberspace-as depicted in Neal Stephenson's science fiction novel, "Snow Crash"-may be closer than we think, thanks to the game developers at id Software. The developers of Wolfenstein and Doom have recently unveiled their latest shoot-and-kill gorefest, dubbed "Quake." This game, with its extraordinarily realistic three-dimensional environment and fluid movements in all directions within the environment, is notable for two reasons. One, it is customizable by the user. Two, more than one player can enter the environment at any given time over modems and phone lines or a network connection. Ultimately, according to some network specialists, games that use the same protocols will be able to link together, forming a seamless cyberworld that can be inhabited by multiple individuals. I can have a medieval world on my computer, you can have a futuristic one on yours, and somebody else's computer can play host to a peaceful suburban neighborhood. When the three of us are online together, we can move seamlessly from one environment to the other, interacting with one another as we go.
This capability opens the door to several startling possibilities for corporate intranets about which it is too early to speculate. However, it is decidedly not too early to be aware of this evolution in gaming, since games represent the first stages of many of the technologies we now take for granted as productivity-enhancing tools embraced by organizations large and small.
Multimedia tools transform a flat, text-based intranet and its Webcentric interface into a rich environment that makes it easier for people to absorb information and use tools that help them do their jobs better and faster. Integrating sound, video, animation, virtual reality, and a host of unique tools being developed just for the Web as components of an intranet enhances the advantages the intranet provides to the organization.
While it is prudent to be cautious about the impact each multimedia component can have on your system based on its inherent limitations, those limitations should not be a factor forever, and even if your intranet cannot handle certain multimedia elements now, you still can plan for the future and implement what you need to in order to develop an intranet that meets objectives and helps the organization execute its bottom-line strategies.