FAME 2010+Edinburgh Sector Summaries

(Edinburgh output documents No. 5a,6a,7a,8a)

*Education
*Entertainment
*Shopping and Retailing
*Scotland


Education, Training and Multimedia

Education and Training


The education and training sector is a major industry with political, social and economic importance, which is characterised by the delivery of a service that is a highly individual and personal experience. Multimedia could bring significant changes in education from the individual sphere to the most general socio-economic structures. However, as much as multimedia is important to education, the education sector is strategic for the overall development of multimedia. Many key technologies and uses are being pioneered in education. The sector is a major source of demand for multimedia materials of various sorts. Tomorrow's generations of multimedia developers and authors are trained within the sector. Perhaps more importantly, the next generation of multimedia users will be exposed to the technology and skills in their learning, preparing them for use of multimedia in other fields of life.


The Sector

Multimedia should not be seen as causing change in education, but as an enabling or confounding factor in profound restructuring of education systems and priorities world-wide. New priorities and changing resources within the education sector, including technology will change the opportunities and motivations open to learners, teachers, institutions and society. Of particular importance is the development of lifelong learning, with more people having to take responsibility for their education and retraining, and having the opportunities to do so. This also reflects a trend towards 'learner' centred education and training, where the motivations, resources and skills of the learner are the focus of pedagogy and learning facilities.


Multimedia

Current research and experience indicate that multimedia facilities and packages can improve learning times and retention considerably over many traditional approaches, and a great many experiments and evaluations of use of IT in all domains of education have conclusive results. However multimedia is only useful if it is intelligently integrated into full pedagogic package, and much technology has not been designed with this in mind. Not only must the technology deliver useful, cost effective learning aids, but also be practically useable in classrooms and homes. More importantly best practice is only just beginning to be established for existing technologies, so the majority teachers, managers and students do not know how to integrate more advanced multimedia use into teaching and learning in the most effective way.

While computers and other mm equipment may easily find a place workplace or tertiary education establishments with sufficient resources and expertise to manage them, schools often do not have the resources. Issues of funding for equipment, teacher motivation and expertise, priorities for head teachers, physical school security etc vary widely between schools and regions. These are factors which broader policy initiatives on education must address.


Future

By 2010, many schools in the developed world will be very well equiped. To sustain investment and fund backup, many eduction establishments, from schools to Universities will be incresingly open to returning learners. Schools and small businesses will be consumers of multimedia material. Universities and large business will develop and customise applications and material.

Multimedia technology will be used regularly as a teaching aid, but the importance of teachers, the cost effectiveness of books, paper and television will limit its use. However learning multimedia skills will become increasingly important part of the curriculum.

Distance education will develop, around the more innovative universities, colleges, schools and private training companies, who will use computer communications and multimedia to provide better communication and a competitive edge.

Much in-house training will be done using multimedia packages, and a large industry will develop specialising in customising standardised training packages.

Those without skills, the environment or resources to access learning technology will find themselves even more marginalised than before.

At least 50% of the population will have access to more advanced multimedia equipment at home, with the easy possibility of reliable network connections. Education will continue to be one of the most important reasons for getting 'computer' style multimedia and communications technologies into the home.

Driving Factors

A number of 'events' could dramatically increase the uptake of the technology. For example,

Confounding Factors
Policy Issues


Policy makers and educationalists have come to the conclusion that multimedia is a very powerful support tool for teachers and learners, when they have sufficient resources and skills. The key policy initiatives must be to:
  1. Develop best practice and disseminate results
  2. Raise awareness of the possibilities of new technology to teachers and education decision makers
  3. Provide continued pedagogical and technical resources and back up for teachers as well as initial training.
  4. Make sure that the general development of educational policy takes account of the realistic uses of new technology, ensuring quality access to opportunities, supported by IT, rather than poor quality IT mediated education and training.
  5. Support the training and retraining of everyone in basic computer skills.
  6. Support the development of open credit transfer and common standards for packages multimedia.
Conclusions

Multimedia will undoubtedly open up new opportunities for educational activity, and new forms of delivery. However, these opportunities will only be exploited as part of the wider scale changes in education and training. In general multimedia will supplement the existing conventional structures in education, especially over the time scales of the present study. The powerful position of existing educational institutions, and their important non-teaching roles will dampen down changes in the overall sector. It may bring about collaborations between commercial educational system developers and educational certification agencies, but this will be to reduce existing rigidities. Multimedia will certainly enable the opening up of the education system, but it may reduce the opportunities for many people to experience learning in a real institution.


Multimedia will provide a vehicle for exploring more comprehensively than hitherto the learning process and its ingredients. focusing on the effectiveness of alternative teaching and delivery modes. One of the key findings (indeed to some extent there is already evidence) in this field will be a better appreciation of the importance of personal intermediation in education, for a host of reasons. These include the communication of values, indications of significance, and the generation of motivation. Effective teachers are authoritative and charismatic. It may be that these supremely human aspects remain beyond any simple replacement logic of multimedia. Ultimately, the education sector will settle in to a new dynamic balance, with an identifiable multimedia strand or stands, as one and only one amongst other strands of educational activity. Multimedia will not consume the whole sector. Education will not evolve towards multimedia, although multimedia will undoubtedly increase hugely in importance

Entertaiment and the Entertainment Industry

Entertainment and the entertainment industries are at the forefront in the development and hype around multimedia. This is largely due to the multimedia nature of much of the production of the entertainment industry - from television to computer games, and the 'interactivity' inherent in much of our entertainment activities. The entertainment industry is also highly concentrated: wealthy and presents a very high profile, the conditions for high investment and publicity which attracts the attention of the public and analyst alike. These players are exceptionally market oriented, and the investment in new products is considerable.

There are three ways multimedia technology could change entertainment and the entertainment industry.
  1. The technical and social and psychological development of traditional technology-mediated or centred entertainment such as television, games and gaming, especially the likely increase in home based provision of entertainment.
  2. Multimedia may change the entertainment supply industry with convergence and changes in the power of intermediaries, as the the number of electronic delivery channels increases dramatically, but the cost of production, and cross marketing arangements and finance favours a more centralised industry.
  3. Multimedia may bring new technology and commercial interests into other leisure activities.


The home is the centre for entertainment in many societies, but multimedia technology is unlikely to increase the overall amount of home based leisure activities unless there are other social changes which favour this. It will increase the range of activities accessible from the home and open up new social spaces for many people otherwise deprived. Multimedia technology will bring electronic communications and information into many more entertainment activities of all type, possibly increasing the financial cost of those activities, and certainly changing the distribution of the revenues. Entertainment will put multimedia terminals into more homes than any other service, and as such will be key in shaping the future development of more advanced services and technologies.

Public entertainment outside the home will not diminish appreciably with multimedia technology. Cinema will continue to thrive, and public venues with the latest technology will become ever more popular among the early adopters of entertainment Indeed, entertainment and leisure in public spaces will be the place where most people will come into regular contact with the latest technology, and this will be important in setting expectations. Access to more information and direct experience in the home is as likely to increase the popularity of public entertainment and encourage travel and tourism. Much of the content for these services will be adapted for home use, building the market for home multimedia products.


The content providers - television production, magazine production, games companies etc. will not loose their market share is they adapt to the new technology. Their skills will be increasingly in demand. The telecommunications companies will continue to profit from increased communications traffic. The often predicted convergence of telecoms and broadcast companies is unlikely under present regulatory regimes, and the organisation and industry cultures are so different as to make this unlikely to be a success. However there will be continued realignment and convergence in the content industry - with multimedia publishing houses being the rule. Nonetheless the actually production of television, CD ROMs, Internet facilities will still remain separate on the ground for most projects, for practical reasons, and institutional reasons in the short term.

Driving factors

Confounding Factors

Key developments
Policy makers still have to face up to many issues related to entertainment. The dominance of local culture by an 'international culture' is a worry for many policy makers, and efforts should be made to make sure that regional and local culture is preserved and developed. The technology and the systems such as the Internet and cheap video production should favour this, but skills and access should be the target of specific actions. The regulation of pornography and gambling will continue to be important, and the successful solutions will be those based on controlling the production and consumption rather than the technology. There will certainly be an increasing number of particular cases over the next 10 years that will focus public and government attention on this perennial moral issues.

Advertising and marketing will be key to the development of new media and mass market entertainment systems. It will be increasingly difficult to escape from commercially-mediated environments that collect information on personal entertainment in return for cheaper access.


Entertainment is a factor that is increasingly 'built in' to many other activities - work, education, rehabilitation etc., in recognition of the power of fun and enjoyment. Multimedia can enhance this, and industry and commerce will continue to pursue this path successfully.


In conclusion, huge demand for entertainment will be one of the most powerful factors influencing the development of multimedia. However the paradigm for entertainment is different to that of simple information retrieval, communication or rational goal oriented use of technology. The role of culture and society in defining entertainment and the creative input into providing entertainment makes it one of the more difficult sectors to predict the exact outcome, but also one of the easiest in which to say there will be a considerable uptake and use of technology over the next 15 years.


Multimedia in Retailing and Shopping

Shopping is an essential part of everyday life for most people, and the retailing industry is key part of the economy. Shopping is part of a sophisticated web of relationships, expectations and habits that surrounds the consumption and supply of products and services. Interactive Multimedia and network technology have been hyped as a force that could revolutionise both the way we shop and the retailing industry. Technology could create new ways of shopping, and disintermediate existing retailers, enabling customers to do directly to suppliers for information and have goods delivered directly. It could allow the increased decoupling of presentation of the product, the distribution and the payment, currently combined in the shop, with the introduction of widespread remote ordering, home deliveries and electronic cash. It could also enable retailers to gather vast amounts of information on consumers, and target marketing and product development at individuals and groups as never before.


The retailing industry, traditionally conservative, but comfortable with Information Technology and information management, is experimenting with new multimedia technology. So are many regular shoppers, the advertising and broadcasting industries, consumer magazines and banks. Direct retailers, catalogue shopping companies and television shopping companies are all predicting interactive multimedia will be the future of their industry. Technology companies and the network and media distribution companies have seen shopping as an important service that will sell their new products for many generations of new technology.


Information and Shopping

Shopping is a popular leisure activity, it is also a chore. Shopping today means choices and convenience for the consumer; competition and customer relationships for the retailer. Multimedia allows information to be packaged and shared in many new ways. It offers consumer the chance to gather and share information about brands, products, retailers and producers, but also give the retailers the possibilities of gathering information on individual consumer purchasing patterns and preferences, and present information about their products in ever more engaging means.


Multimedia

Technology also opens up new payment possibilities, and the channels to delivery information goods directly on-line. These technologies are proven technically, but have not been scaled up to serve substantial markets. More importantly, many retailers and consumers do not see the technology as important to their business or shopping activities, making it very difficult to predict how and who may use it.


Multimedia and the Retailing Industry

This study looks at shopping as a social and functional experience that is partially mediated by a conservative and risk averse retailing industry. The increase focus on the customer, and industry competition has created significant interest in the new technology. However this is not the first time. Why should the technology work this time? Use of technology does not have to be widespread for it to be a successful business. The home PC is becoming a common artefact, many people are at ease using it. On-line services of various kinds are growing fast, if not for home use, then at work. All children in developed countries grow up using computers, and increasingly the Internet. The are a great number of businesses that rely on advertising, comsumer reports, home delivery, home shopping and direct selling without the benefits of new technology. However compared to the TV and paper adverts and direct selling of today, interactive, personalisable, multimedia will bring much more of the shopping experience such as marketing, expert advice, and customer information into the consumer's home and office.


Home shopping and banking have frequently been used as a key services that new technologies have been designed and launched round. Few are succesful. The successful technologies today, such as television and now the Internet allow a wide variety of information to be presented and shared in an environment of other information and entertainment. This mirrors the way that shopping and consumption of goods takes place in a broader social environment, where the decisions, process and use of the goods and the services of retailers are a integrated part of everyday life.

Drivers of Multimedia

Confounding Factors

Major Industry Changes

The major issues include:


Conclusion

New technology will not change how much we buy, but it could have some effect on who buys and what we buy. It is very likely to change who we buy from. However, as consumer retailing is an open market, with already entrenched suppliers in various parts of the supply network, there will be considerable innovation in the more traditional forms of retailing to maintain market share. Shops, traditionally public spaces, still have a considerable advantage over home based systems in terms of creating an environment to present products and for social interaction.


Advertising and promotion of goods is the key to understanding the development of much of the new media. Home delivery and payment systems will remain major physical barriers to large growth in home shopping. For today, the early promotion and e-commerce services over networks have a very high symbolic value, that may come to have real value in the longer term.



Multimedia in Scotland


Scotland, despite being a peripheral region of the EU, is for the most part a nation with highly developed industry and internal infrastructure, an educated population, a strong cultural heritage, and considerable output and consumption of IT and media. Key factors in the shaping of multimedia are the geography, an IT industry heavily dependent on inward investment, and a strong sense of cultural and national identity.

Scotland is highly influenced by the rest of the United Kingdom in its economy, society and government policy. As a nation it has relatively little control over the large scale policy and commercial decisions that may shape the development of multimedia. It is not a particularly wealthy region, and suffers from a peripheral position in the European political and economic arena. However, a repeat of early Scottish development based on skills, enterprise and excellent marine communications are a possible, if slightly romantic, outcome of the 'multimedia age'.


Scotland and Scottish based industry is certainly not a major influence on the development of multimedia content or technology. While the central region is strong in IT manufacture, it is weak in industrial R&D. However in a number of sectors, often based around higher education and media, such as multimedia for education, medicine, Metropolitan Area Networks, media content production and museums, Scotland could make an important contribution to the development of applications and uses. Experience of trials conducted in the country will also have effect on the future development of those services. For the most part Scotland will not be important to the development of mass market technologies or regulation and policy, but will be considerably more important than many other similar sized regions.


Scotland will benefit from multimedia and networked services in several ways. As a centre for manufacturing of computer equipment the expanding market will ensure jobs and investment by multinationals. This will depend on the workforce remaining competitive, a supply of educated engineers and technicians and government support for inward investment. Indigenous business in software, media content and multimedia services will also benefit from an increasing global market. Again, this will depend on continuing support for industry with infrastructure, education, exposure to the latest developments and help in developing export markets.


Internally Scotland will also profit from multimedia in many ways. Networks can bring education and business opportunities to the rural areas, especially the Highlands and Islands, through distance learning, teleworking, access to markets and information. They will bring wealth, and more importantly employment opportunities which will encourage people to stay in or move to these areas. The tourist industry will benefit, by the promotion of the region on electronic networks, and in providing better facilities to the visitor and industry alike. Again these opportunities can only be exploited by the continued support for an infrastructure, education and training programme to the population.


However the majority of the population do not live in these rural areas, but in the urban centres. This is an important issue, for Scotland is frequently treated as a common region. Indeed, even between the urban centres of Edinburgh and Glasgow there are considerable differences in culture, population and industry. The developments of infrastructure, and the investment by the local media groups in Scottish multimedia are likely to bring some multimedia service to the urban population as quickly as in any other region. The support of local government and enterprise boards is important to exploit or compensate for the liberal approach of UK central government to development. Although much of the funding may come from UK and EC sources regional (Scottish) and local initiatives may be the best able to react to opportunities and requirements. Successful promotion of networks and inward investment could be continued for the next generation of technology and economic development. The culturally and economically rich cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow will benefit from considerable private investment in the technology bringing new services and opportunities. However the urban poor in the depressed industrial towns will not be affected unless there are considerable government supported efforts in industrial and social programmes to exploit the benefits of multimedia in parallel with conventional development programmes.


In conclusion, the development of new multimedia and network technologies are important for the Scottish economy and society, and the culture and trends in infrastructure development make it appear likely that many of the potential benefits will be realised. By 2010 much of Scotland will have access to advanced networks at prices affordable to most businesses and many households. Scots will be familiar with multimedia technology and services, it will sustain the development of high technology industry and will be important for other industries, local government, and commerce, both internal and external. Multimedia is not going to create a huge economic boom and solve the social problems of the cities, but it will certainly be important to the maintenance and development of Scotland's economy and cultural life.

The full reports can be obtained on line by e-mailing James Stewart at the RCSS, University of Edinburgh. Other FAME outputs and the complete report will be available from EC DG XII.