The social construction of knowledge
Multimedia, Hypermedia, and the Social Construction of Knowledge
Edited by Edward Barrett
Sociomedia continues the assessment of hypertext and hypermedia systems begun in Text, ConText, and HyperText and The Society of Text. It examines the use of integrated multimedia to support social or collaborative research, learning, and instruction in the university, one of the best environments for developing and analyzing the effects of computing technologies on our understanding of complex sets of information. The twenty-five contributions discuss critical design issues in the creation of advanced multimedia computing technologies, describe the systems now in use, and assess the effectiveness of this emerging technology.
Barrett’s opening essay further explores his original and thought-provoking application of social construction theories of knowledge to the development and analysis of multimedia systems. The chapters that follow look at the effectiveness of particular multimedia systems across the curriculum, from medicine, sociology, and management to language learning, writing, literature, and intergenerational studies.