APRIL 1996 / $3.50 AVRIL 1996 / 3.50 $
Multimedia makes its mark at UVic
Glitzy graphics, moving images and stereo sound effects are increasingly popular options many computer users can now apply to their work. These multimedia software applications represent one of the fastest growing branches of the computer industry. Learning to use multimedia software can pose a formidable technical task, but it may be even more difficult to understand how it should be used. At the University of Victoria, both challenges are being met at the Multimedia Arts Centre, a unit within the department of arts in education, where students learn the finer points of presenting information in new ways. “Multimedia is one of the fastest growing concepts in our culture,” says Don Bergland, the centre’s co-founder. ‘It has rightly been called the new language of the future. “We find it extremely exciting as a new kind of literacy for the next century, along with the power it gives people.” The Multimedia Arts Centre offers three undergraduate courses to introduce students to the techniques and skills required for multimedia production. Rapidly changing technology will affect the course content, but the goal is to enable students to do much more than manipulate the tools of the trade. We teach first and foremost that it’s not the technology makes agood multimedia product, it’s the creativity behind it,” says Dr.	Bergland. “Many people come to the course thinking that multimedia is just flashy game-type stuff. We try to show them that it’s comprehensive. Anything that you can think or do or say or want to communicate can be done using the multimedia structure.” Dr. Bergland’s approach to multimedia has been influenced by his career as a visual artist. After a year of working as director of visual arts for Electronic Arts, one of the world’s largest interactive entertainment companies, he was struck by the expanding size of the multimedia market. He noted that such businesses have trouble finding people with the right skills, who can earn much more than a traditional artist. Dr. Bergland began working closely with Dale McIntosh, a department colleague with a background in electrical engineering and music technology. Two years ago, they established the centre to train teachers of multimedia, but it is also attracting students in creative writing, physics and engineering. “There are quite a few multimedia studios on campus,” says Dr. Bergland, adding that theirs is by no means filled with state-of-the-art equipment. “But we’re the only one that actually teaches courses on how to do multimedia.” Some 60 undergraduates and a handful of graduate students sign up for the centre’s courses each year.
AVRIL 1996	AFFAIRES UNIVERSITAIRES 29