A further trend in information technology from a user perspective is the decentralization of information.Most modern organizations are very large and tend to consist of a number of separate institutions typically cooperate through the sharing and exchange of information.从用户角度讲，信息技术更进一步的发展趋势是信息的分散化。现代的多数机构组织都非常庞大并且趋于由若干个散布在广大范围的地区的许多分支机构构成。这些分支机构常常通过共享的交换信息而协同工作。Thus，communication is a vital concern for most organizations and efficient communications can make the difference between successful operation and failure.Without the appropriate forms of communication.There is a danger of information starvation，i.e.decision makers do not have the right information to make the correct decisions.
这样，通信对大多数机构来讲就非常关键。高效的通信能使成功与失败差别巨大。没有适合的通信形式，就存在着信息匮乏的危险。也就是，决策者们没有恰当的信息用于做出正确的决策。
Requirements for information technology
信息技术的需求
The end user is therefore faced with the two problems of information overload and information starvation.They may either have too much information or may not have the right information.There is therefore a need to help the end user to manage information to ease the burden created by the increasing importance of information.因此，最终用户面临着两个问题：信息过量和信息匮乏。他们要么拥有太多的信息，要么没有恰当的信息，也因此需要帮助最终用户管理信息以便减轻由不断增加的信息重要性所产生的负担。Essentially，the end user needs support to get the right information to the right people at the right time.This clearly cannot be achieved by manual systems.Thus，there is a requirement for automation in the process of information management.
本质上讲，最终用户需要的是在恰当的时间把恰当的信息提供给适当的人。显然这一点不能借助于手工系统来完成。这样就必须使信息管理过程的自动化。
Trends in information technology （a systems perspective）
信息技术发展趋势（系统观点）
From a systems perspective，information technology is concerned with the processing of information and the ability to communicate information between different sites.More specifically，information technology is seen as a combination of computing technology and communications infrastructures.The aim of this technology is essentially to manage information for the end user.
从系统观点来看，信息技术关心的是信息的处理和在不同的位置进行信息通信的能力。更为特别的是，信息技术被认作为是计算技术和通信基础的结合。这项技术的目标实质是为最终用户管理信息。
The most noticeable trend in information technology from a system perspective has been the increasing integration of media.Traditionally，computer systems dealt exclusively with numerical calculations.However，text processing soon became an important concern for computer designers.从系统角度看，信息技术最为显著的发展趋势就是不断地使媒体集成。传统上，计算机系统仅仅处理数值计算。但是，随后文本处理变为计算机设计者们一个非常关心的问题。Communications technologies were also developed to support the transmission of textual and numerical data.More recently，there has been a dramatic increase in the range of media types supported by computers and communications technologies.Significant steps have been taken in integrating graphics into computer workstations and communications technology.Researchers are now tackling the harder problems presented by audio and video.
通信技术也被开发成能够支持文本和数值数据的传输，近来，计算机和通信能够支持的媒体类型激增，有关把图形集成到计算机工作站和通信技术的工作已取得重要进展，研究人员正在着手解决由音频和视频所产生的更为棘手的问题。
Multimedia
多媒体
The previous section has highlighted important trends in information technology from both the end user and technology perspective.Two themes have emerged from this discussion.Firstly，the variety of media types is an important feature of modern information systems.Secondly，in order to deal with the variety，integration is a critical concern.These observations provide a good working definition of multimedia：
上一节既从用户角度又从系统角度强调了信息技术的一些重要发展趋势。从这些讨论里已引出两个主题。首先信息类型的式样性是现代信息系统的重要特征。其次，为处理多样性，集成是关键。这些观察结果为多媒体提供了一个很生动的定义：
MULTIMEDIA=VARIETY+INTEGRATION
多媒体=多样性+集成
It is necessary for a multimedia system to support a variety of media types.This could be as modest as text and graphics or as rich as animation，audio and video.However，this alone is not sufficient for a multimedia environment.多媒体系统必须支持各种媒体类型。这里包括像文本和图形这样平常的媒体也包括像动画、音频和视频这样丰富的媒体。但是，只有这一点对于多媒体环境是不够的。It is also important that the various sources of media types are integrated into a single system framework.A multimedia system is then one which allows end users to share，communicate and process a variety of forms of information in an integrated manner.
同样重要的是，要把各种媒体类型源集成到单个系统框架内。因而，一个多媒体系统就是这样一个系统：它允许最终用户以集成的方式共享、通信和处理各种形式的信息。
In essence，multimedia systems are attempting to solve the problems of information management by integrating the various forms of media into the compute/communications infrastructure.There are two benefits of achieving this level of integration：
实质上，多媒体系统是试图通过把各种形式的媒体集成到计算机/通信基础设施中来解决信息管理问题。达到这一层次集成的好处有两点：
·The computer can help in the task of managing and processing the information.
计算机能帮助完成管理和处理信息的任务。
·Information user only have to deal with one integrated environment rather than a number of separate information subsystems.
信息用户只须与单个集成环境而不是和许多分离的信息子系统打交道。
This is the great benefit of multimedia information systems and is the main motivation behind the current research on the subject.
这就是多媒体信息系统的最大优势，也是当前有关研究背后的主要动因。
Multimedia Technology
多媒体技术
When we just had text on screen，the basic user interface was a DOS prompt or maybe a simple list of choices.Now that we have graphics and text at the same time，we can have a much more intuitive mouse-driven graphics based user interface with pulldown menus，as in the Macintosh，Microsoft Windows，and Presentation Manager.When we can add photograph-quality images，animation，good-quality sound，and interactivity，then we ought to be able to make computers much more powerful—and much easier to use.
当初我们在屏幕上只看到文本时，基本的用户接口是DOS提示或者可能是一个简单的选择表。既然我们现在同时有图形和文本，我们就可以有一更直观的、鼠标驱动的、基于图形的外加下拉式菜单的用户接口，如同在Macintosh、Microsoft Windows和Presentation Manager中那样的用户接口。当我们可以加进质量如照片的图像、动画、优质声音和具有交互性时，我们就应该有能力使计算机功能更强和更易使用。