1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer-assisted method for making a presentation drawn from a plurality of visual media. More particularly, this invention pertains to such a method that permits user/machine interaction in the design and programming of a multi-media presentation and user/machine/audience interaction in its delivery.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The presentation of information is an essential educational and persuasive function of commerce. The prepared or formal narrated audio-visual presentation is a ubiquitous adjunct of modern-day sales of both goods and services and the development of this hybrid of technology and psychology continues unabated, seeking and finding new applications on a more or less continual basis.
Generally, audio-visual presentations have been limited to text and images; that is, stills, graphs and the like. This is in recognition of the fact that some information is more usefully presented in at least a partially visual manner. Systems for making such presentations include the overhead projector, the television monitor, the slide projector and related technologies.
A primary use of audio-visual information presentation is advocacy. While the use of visual media can provide dramatic effects, command of the viewer's attention is a constant preoccupation of a presenter. For this reason, audio-visual presentations should be as unencumbered as possible with technology-imposed pauses or "breaks" that can cause a viewer to become fatigued thereby limiting his attention span. Also, even a "smooth" presentation, if poorly designed, may lose the audience's attention through internal aesthetic illogic and/or incompatibility with the dynamic "mood" of the audience. Thus, in both the creation and delivery of an effective presentation, the speaker or advocate should possess maximum flexibility of action. Computer-assisted systems frequently provide additional tools but fail to permit the user to address important audience psychology issues.