A Media Time Travel

The aim of this conference in the environment of scientific research and application practice of multimedia technologies was an analysis of the development history of digital media, combined with an attempt to forecast development trends and discuss new research approaches. Significant milestones in multimedia technology were discussed and their economic, social and scientific potential was examined in greater detail.

The lecture program was opened by Professors Mittendorfer, Johannes Kepler University Linz and Overstreet, Old Dominion University Norfolk. Both helped shape multimedia technology in very different ways from its earliest beginnings. Professor Mittendorfer founded the MacUser Austria Club as early as the mid-1980s in order to make multimedia technology accessible to a broad public together with like-minded people and to open up new areas of application. Professor Overstreet, on the other hand, concentrated on the use of multimedia technology for new technical forms of communication and its application for continuing education and distance learning. The economic dimension of multimedia and communications technology was also highlighted by Dr. Schmid in the first block, using the development of Alcatel AG as an example.

The other blocks of presentations ranged from current multimedia applications and computer games to the use of media technology for the simulation and prognosis of complex systems and the use of multimedia technology for mobile applications. The conference concluded with an attempt to give a vision of how media technology will influence our lives in the next decade. The critical exchange of ideas between the speakers and participants on the use and further development of modern media, information and communication technologies was the main focus here.

Download: Programme II. KuI 2005