Memo 011

The Operative Qualities of “Multimedia” and “Enhancement”

Nicholas Chung, 16 October 2023



Multimedia or multi-media, generally refers to the communication of information using a combination of expressions. The prefix multi- is derivative of many, and stems from the Latin word multus. Cognitively, it signals an inherent appreciation for both diversity and adaptability in the transmission and reception of multiple sources of stimuli without requiring negation or devaluation. Media, which is plural for medium, can both be a specific modality or the general system​(s) that various modalities operate within. In the context of a globalizing world, which implies the collapse of space-time instead of homogenization, multi- also reflects the reality of living with politics of difference. “Multimedia” as a term emerged in the 1960s and saw a rapid spike in usage during the 1980s to early 2000s, coinciding with the exponential fetishization of technocracy that ended with the dot-com bubble bursting and a subsequent disillusionment experienced across society writ large. Reflecting upon the current zeitgeist, “multimedia” underscores the unpredictable, and ever-evolving nature of media because of the technology’s transmissive capacity. Embedded in contemporary usage of the term is an expectation of possibility and perpetual reproduction. The way it is also thrown around as a buzzword in the tech industry reflects a future where the inundated transmission and consumption of knowledge is inevitably assimilated and integrated into normative life – an enhancement in both depth and breadth that either reveals or unconceals vicissitudes lurking behind capital-H History-in-progress.

Now onto “enhancement”: to improve, magnify, intensify, amplify the visualization (both cognitively and consciously) of a specific object under scrutiny. It is derived from enhauncen in the Middle English and enhaucer (to raise) in French, which have their etymological roots in inaltiare or in-altus from Latin. The literal operation of “enhancing” would be to make something physically higher, it also works figuratively in elevating a quality to a higher degree. Depending on intention, “enhancement” can therefore be passive or prescriptive – it either reveals or unconceals. As a method of research, it allows for resolution or legibility that was previously inaccessible, opening new territory for observation that previously was limited to deductive speculation. It amplifies factual reality by specifying nuances or details, bringing the object closer to the subject. However, “enhancement” by means of augmentation does much more than clarify, and begins to work on reality by projecting a hierarchical narrative sequence that influences how information is transmitted and consumed. The reproduction of reality as simulacra or a model result in objects that are malleable, and often blur the line between truth and idealization. The prosthesis involved is often discreet and when paired with the indeterminacy that is embedded in “multimedia” transmission, reality becomes dangerously susceptible to the influence of images that simulate an ideal state of itself as a motivator for change. To give a specific example: it is increasingly common to use GPS even when commuting on a familiar route as it would give live updates on traffic and how to circumnavigate it. However, when enough people or vehicles are diverted to an alternative route, congestion is created in that alternative route and the next batch of users would be diverted on yet another ‘fastest’ route. The GPS produces an abstracted, multimedia simulation of the world (audio directions and the map), technology enhances one’s experience of the world (the fastest route), and in doing so the simulation acts on the world that it simulates (congestion).


 

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