Product Description
In Detail

Adding and handling multimedia in Drupal, such as images or video, requires the use of many contributed modules, and deciding which ones to use and how to get the most from them is often not a straightforward task.

This book will guide you through the steps necessary to add image, video, audio, and Flash elements into your Drupal sites. The book will take you through the contributed modules for handling media, showing you what they do, when to use them, and how to get the most from them. When contributed modules aren't enough, you will see examples of custom Drupal development to add that special touch to your media.

What you will learn from this book?You will learn to:

• Find your way round contributed modules for adding media to Drupal sites
• Store and display images in nearly any configuration a client may desire
• Scale and crop images before display on your site with ImageCache
• Add effects to your images such as drop shadows, light boxes, and more
• Examine how a developer may use Views, Embedded Media Field, and other tools to make embedding video even easier
• Add and manipulate video at a field level using the File Field module
• Create thumbnail overlays with jQuery
• Create custom audio fields

This book will provide information for administrators and professional site developers who are required to embed multimedia into a Drupal site. The reader needs basic knowledge of Drupal operation, but no experience of how Drupal handles multimedia items is expected. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Good introduction for new users
Drupal Multimedia, by Aaron Winborn, Packt Publishing, 2008

Drupal Multimedia covers the use of audio, video and image files within the popular Drupal open-source content management framework. The book is aimed at site architects, themers and Drupal developers, with an emphasis on those new to the platform.

Packt sent me a copy of the book for review, and I think that is an important statement. I would not have purchased this book otherwise, mostly because I have been using Drupal since 2004 and am familiar with the challenges and solutions discussed in this book. That said, I did learn some new tricks (jQuery Media, Dash Media Player), and I have tried to approach my final review as if I were new to Drupal.

Let me start the formal review by praising Winborn's depth of knowledge and commitment to Drupal and the issues regarding media handling. In fact, I use some of Aaron's work on every site that I build, and his contributions to hook_file() should make multimedia in Drupal 7 even stronger. This book, however, is about how we can put Drupal to work today while building sustainable web sites.

The collaboration on media has been a little contentious in the Drupal community - something Winborn deftly covers in Chapter 11, which covers the road ahead for media handling and reviews some of the challenges yet to be solved. The basic problem boils down to this: Drupal core does not have a media handling solution, and individual developers have tried to craft solutions for their specific problems. Making those solutions workable for the majority of use-cases is a great challenge. A good example of this is found in chapter 10, in the discussion of a specific solution for AirAmerica.com that leverages common solutions but still requires custom code. (An aside: the audio chapters of the book are probably the strongest section, though Winborn rightly notes that audio is often the overlooked medium in the multimedia mix.)

The book itself treats it material insightfully, with a strong organization and chapters that logically build on each other. Chapter one offers a crash course in Drupal basics and introduces some tools and concepts that are essential. It is important to note that the chapter begins with a succinct explanation of the Drupal philosophy that "the webmaster is dead"; the idea being that non-technical people should be given the tools needed to build a good web site without leaning the sometimes arcane nuances of the acronyms of the profession: HTML, LAMP, FTP, CSS and so on. Drupal and its developers strive to build a platform that can survive without them.

The problem, especially for the complex use-cases for multimedia presentation and storage, is in crafting solutions that can be configured rather than coded. Winborn does a commendable job explaining the factors that influence module selection, which is a critical topic given the state of uncertainty that revolves around file handling in Drupal.

And the rest of the book is largely given over to discussions and examples of how to select, install and configure various modules (Image, ImageField, Audio, MediaMover, Embedded Media Field, Lightbox 2) to accomplish specific tasks, like the building of a photo gallery or displaying an audio playlist. The solutions are sound and well-established best practices, and they should give the new user some firm footing to begin adapting Drupal to meet her needs.The book, rightly, makes clear that some customization through code will be likely, and there are some long passages devoted to theming the final HTML output that the new Drupaler should examine carefully (chapter 6 has a good example).

What will a new reader learn to do with this book? Here's a quick list:

• Assess a site's media needs and select appropriate Drupal modules.


• Display images within site content.


• Create multiple image galleries.


• Display images from Flickr or other third party hosting services.


• Understand how to theme image display for Drupal.


• Display video files hosted on BlipTV, Brightcove or other third-party services.


• Display and host video from a local server.


• Select a cross-browser media player.


• Host media files on external services.


• Upload and display audio files within site content.


• Create and display audio playlists.


• How to work with the Views module to create media galleries.


• When and how to customize existing Drupal solutions for media display.


• How to contribute to media handling in Drupal.

The book covers exactly what it claims to cover, and does so well
This book is relatively short, coming in at about 240 pages. It is also focused on only one part of using Drupal, which means that you don't have to sift through a lot of information you are not going to use. This is definitely not a basic, "here's how to install and get started easily" sort of text, but more of a precise guide to using Drupal to serve various forms of media files in a way that can be styled easily to fit in with your overall site theme, and that does not require the use of non-Drupal software or modules. In other words, my initial thought was that this book would be exactly what I needed for this phase of my current project, a Drupal site that needs to serve embedded video and audio, and which may end up serving photos in a gallery as well.

The book assumes the reader is capable of installing Drupal on a server and assumes you have a base installation up and running perfectly before beginning. It then starts with a quick introduction to the building blocks of Drupal: nodes, regions and blocks, themes, and modules. It discusses how to use CCK to create custom content types and fields, views to set up how they will be displayed, and breezes through the important parts of theming these additions to match the overall look and feel of your site. That is all in chapter one.

The next several chapters are filled with easy to use plans for installing and configuring various modules to deal with images, galleries, thumbnails, slideshows, audio and video. The author quite clearly describes how to get each of these media to fit in and work with your site, exactly how you would like it to work.

I am still in the planning stage of my current project. This was a good time to read through this book, because it gives me a chance to quickly and easily figure out what I can do for this client, without needing lots of extra time for research or requiring big modifications, and enables me to discuss the details intelligently and confidently with those making the decisions. If you have a similar project, the book is worth a look.

Control Your Media in Drupal
Drupal is a powerful tool for building amazingly scalable websites quickly and simply. The use of multimedia in Drupal has posed challenges to many users and developers of all abilities. Drupal Multimedia addresses the main questions regarding how to implement video, image, and audio content in a way that is elegant for the developer, as well as the end user. The language of the book is straight to the point, and provides a framework to practice building an assortment of multimedia sites using a variety of modules in the context oftest or example sites.

I have used many of the modules that Aaron Winborn makes use of in the book and have had my own difficulties them. It is very helpful that he dissects each module and describes, in detail, what configurations work best and also provides code to make modules work differently or better. This information will save you time in trial and error and fills in the gaps sometimes present in the existing documentation of these modules.

Changing the way items are displayed is not always a simple task in Drupal. Drupal Multimedia tackles display overrides over the course of an entire chapter. It is important to know where to go to change the CSS of your page, and what modules and tools are best implemented to determine which theme functions and CSS information to alter. This by far was the most understandable treatment of theme overrides that I have read. The language is clear, and takes one step at a time using Firebug for Firefox and the Developer Module for Drupal.

Drupal Multimedia is an excellent book for anyone who needs to have more control over media in their Drupal websites. If you have any question about how to use or extend available contributed modules, this is your book. If you want to be able to tweak your theme output in your media site, get this book. Drupal Multimedia is a needed reference that is a powerful resource for the Drupal user.

Nicole Bluto
Drupal Developer and User
L.A. Drupal Member

Good for absolute beginners
For anyone that has done any work with Drupal, I cannot recommend Drupal Multimedia by Aaron Winborn.

Developers new to Drupal will find a handy place to start when working with images, audio and video.The book serves as a very basic introduction to specific Drupal modules handling these different content types.

Most developers that have spent very much time on Drupal will not find this book nearly as useful though.The most important knowledge in this book could be condensed down into a nice list of modules ideal for specific tasks.

The majority of the book goes through configuration and use of these particular modules.There isn't anything advanced here, it really is just a hand holding exercise for those who are having a difficult time going through basic module setup.

Don't look here for anything useful in the theming or module development areas either.The few short forays into deeper water are all very basic and not very useful to seasoned developers.If you're a beginner, none of this is explained well enough to be applied to other, similair problems.

In summary, I can only recommend this book to you if you are an absolute beginner who has no intention to do any theming or module development for some time.For everyone else, my current recommendation is Pro Drupal Development, Second Edition (Beginning from Novice to Professional).

Well Written and to the Point.
Drupal multimedia and multimedia capable web sites has been an interest of mine for a while now and this book helped me to focus my efforts, select from the more popular modules and even presented some alternates. I even went as far as revisiting possible Drupal WYSIWYGs to use as I had been using the simple user interface up till now. Now I have multiple Content Types, some for using TinyMCE and more advance tagging (HTML tagging not social tagging) of content, and the others use the simple user interface with no tagging at all. For me it's all about having choices.

This is definitely not a Drupal book for beginners, I'd say intermediates or better; you have to be comfortable moving through a Drupal site via administrator menus, checking module dependencies and reading up on and through existing module documentation on the Drupal site to get it all to work right.

I also liked the alignment with other popular modules such as CCK (which a book could be written for alone), jQuery Media, Asset and Media Mover.

And finally code. Small short and simple PHP code snippets (that you can download) that help or enhance are always welcome, as well as explanations of what results they will produce. Not about feeding someone's ego, but practical and useful. ... Read more

Product Description
Providing a thorough theoretical understanding of lossy compression techniques for image, video, speech, and audio compression, this book also covers the key features of each system, as well as practical applications, implementation issues, and design trade-offs. It presents comparisons of multimedia standards in terms of achieving known theoretical limits, whilst common and distinguishing features of the existing standards are explained and related to the background theory. There is detailed coverage of such topics as the H.264 video coding standard, low-complexity code-based vector quantizers, and the Blahut rate-distortion algorithm. Examples based on real multimedia data are also included, plus end-of-chapter problems to test understanding, algorithms that allow the reader to represent speech and audio signals efficiently, and an appendix on the basics of lossless coding. With an excellent balance of theory and practice, this book is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students, and is also a useful reference for practitioners. ... Read more

Product Description

When Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works is a comprehensive resource on struggling readers. It's filled with specific teaching ideas for helping children in kindergarten through Grade 3 who are having difficulty in reading and writing.

Customer Reviews (1)

Outstanding book
Best book I have that breaks down the reading process into manageable pieces to assist with intervention.A must read for anyone who works with struggling readers. ... Read more

Product Description
SolidWorks 2010 Tutorial with Multimedia CD is written for students and instructors in a technical school, community college, college or university and also designers, engineers, and industry professionals that want to learn how to design with SolidWorks. Developed for the beginner to intermediate SolidWorks user, the book provides you a step-by-step project based approach to learning SolidWorks with 1.5 hours of video instruction and hundreds of SolidWorks models on the enclosed CD.

The Book is divided into two sections. Chapter one through six explore the SolidWorks User Interface and CommandManager, Document and System properties, simple machine parts, simple and complex assemblies, design tables, configurations, multi-sheet, multi-view drawings, BOMs and Revision tables using basic and advanced features.

Follow the step-by-step instructions and develop multiple assemblies that combine over 80 extruded machined parts and components. Formulate the skills to create, modify and edit sketches and solid features. Learn the techniques to reuse features, parts and assemblies through symmetry, patterns, copies components, design tables and configurations. Explore SolidWorks SimulationXpress, an introduction to Finite Element Analysis (FEA), SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress, an introduction to Life Cycle Assessment, and DFMXpress, an introduction to design for manufacturability. Learn by doing, not just reading!

Chapter seven through chapter eleven prepares you for the Certified SolidWorks Associate Exam (CSWA). The CSWA certification indicates a foundation in and apprentice knowledge of 3D CAD and engineering practices and principles. Follow the steps in these chapters to assist you in learning the skills required to pass the CSWA.

Desired outcomes and usage competencies are listed for each project. Know your objectives up front. Follow the step in each project to achieve your design goals. Work between multiple documents, features, commands, custom properties and document properties that represent how engineers and designers utilize SolidWorks in industry.

Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Linkage Assembly
2. Front Support Assembly
3. Fundamentals of Drawing
4. Advanced Features
5. Pneumatic Test Module and Robot Assembly
6. SimulationXpress, SustainabilityXpress, DFMXpress
Certified SolidWorks Associate Examination Study Material:
7. Basic Theory and Drawing Theory
8. Simple Part Modeling
9. Advanced Part Modeling
10. Assembly Modeling
11. Advanced Modeling Theory and Analysis
Appendix
Index ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

WOW!
I just wrote the below review for the 2009 version - but I just received the 2010 Instructors evaluation text for usage in my Fall 2010 Semester class. WOW! When you think a book is great, these authors make it even better by adding five additional chapters targeted towards the SolidWorks CSWA Certification. Now, I'm going to have to modify my syllabus to address these great models in the classroom and lab and rethink the semester capstone goals.

This is an excellent text book for any new user wanting to learn SolidWorks; either in a structured classroom environment or on their own. I've been using this book for the past three years at Great Western and I will say it is the best step-by-step SolidWorks book on the market. What's different and good about this book is that it combines the project base approach with clear illustrated screen shots. It is the only book that also provides a great multimedia CD to watch and learn.

The authors: assumes you know nothing about SolidWorks and are great about walking you through the steps with hundreds of illustrations and highlighted commands, even for those that have minimal computer skills to begin with.

Multimedia CD is worth the price of admission alone
Disclosure: I don't personally know these authors, but I have taught countless courses at various levels using their text and someday would like to meet them at an ASEE event.

This is an excellent resource for any beginner learning SolidWorks. It is clear, concise, and well illustrated using proper traditional design techniques. Presently; I'm using their Engineering Design book, but I'm very tempted to switch to the new Tutorial book. They keep amazing me with their yearly informative updates and additional instructor class materials. This is not a stagnate world - and they know it.

During my summer review of books, I noticed that their new Tutorial book has five, yes five additional chapters focused on the CSWA certification. This can be a capstone project if my department can agree on it. There are great traditional models and excellent tips and design considerations in the book along with a Multimedia CD. As I stated in a previous review, "the CD is worth the price of admission alone". The homework sections in both books are expanded along with additional lecture presentations and avi files for instructors. My life is getting a little easier.

A terrific book on SW
There are a number of SolidWorks books on the market (I've purchased most of them in the past month) and this is a terrific book on the subject of SolidWorks, visualization and basic engineering principles for a new user. The authors seem to recognize how people study and learn and they assume absolutely nothing. The book walks the reader through logical step by step paces. So far, the screen shots in the book are exactly what I see! Not all books are this way. The accompanying DVD packs multimedia files from the book with CSWA model files for the CSWA exam. This is a real plus.

The instructions are presented in a logical manner and are very easy to follow and learn - or just watch the multimedia cd. The book covers a wealth of information both on SolidWorks, basic engineering principles (tolerance, fit, ANSI drawings, dimensioning, etc.) and visualization.

Brilliant text with additional materials and model CD
Wow, my biggest problem now is what book to select for my class - Engineering Design with SolidWorks 2010 or the SolidWorks 2010 Tutorial book. This year, the authors added five additional chapters from their Certification book to aid students to pass the SolidWorks CSWA Certification. Brilliant idea to enhance the text and content of this book! The Multi-media CD is also a big plus for any book with students. A job well done. What are you going to do next year?

... Read more

Product Description
What do YOU want to PLAY today? The PLAY series has nailed down the needs of today's musician with lessons you can use anytime, anywhereit's more convenient than private lessons, and just as extensive. The high-quality video of expert instructors will help players of all skill levels, from beginners and ""weekend warriors"" to advanced students and pros. Whether you're into rock, jazz, blues, folk, country, or a little bit of everything, the PLAY series has all the resources you need at the click of a button. ... Read more

Product Description

Computing is ubiquitous and if you think otherwise, that in itself might be the best evidence that it is so. Computers are omnipresent in modern life and the multimedia computing environment of today is becoming more and more seamless.

Bringing together contributions from dozens of leading experts, Ubiquitous Multimedia Computing educates readers on Ubi-Media Computing on three levels: infrastructures, where fundamental technologies are being developed; middleware, where the integration of technologies and software systems continues to be defined; and applications, where its concepts are evolving into real-world products and processes. In presenting a wealth of new directions and new technology that is changing the way we communicate, learn, play, and live day by day, this book –

• Examines various architectures for delivering multimedia content including streaming devices , wireless networks, and various hybrids
• Looks at rapidly developing sensor technology including wearable computers
• Demonstrates the use of advanced HCI devices that allow the simplest body gestures to govern increasingly complex tasks
• Introduces newsputers that take the use of embedded image information in a host of practical directions

• Looks at how ubiquitous computing can eliminate traffic congestion and improve the efficiency and quality of medical care
• Looks at how computing is personalizing learning environments and revolutionizing our approach to the three R’s.

While these pages serve as a timely reference for researchers working in all areas of product development and human computer interaction, they also provide engineers, doctors, and many other professionals, as well as educators and graduate students with a view that reveals the otherwise invisible seams of this age of ubi-media computing.

Product Description
Vertigo seeks to document the surge of multimedia art driven by the advent of new technologies, including works produced by great names in art such as Balla, Warhol, Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, Nam June Paik, and Laurie Anderson. ... Read more

Product Description

This textbook presents the mathematics that is foundational to multimedia applications. Featuring a rigorous survey of selected results from algebra and analysis, the work examines tools used to create application software for multimedia signal processing and communication.

Replete with exercises, sample programs in Standard C, and numerous illustrations, Mathematics for Multimedia is an ideal textbook for upper undergraduate and beginning graduate students in computer science and mathematics who seek an innovative approach to contemporary mathematics with practical applications. The work may also serve as an invaluable reference for multimedia applications developers and all those interested in the mathematics underlying multimedia design and implementation.

Product Description
Brion Gysin (1916-1986) was a multifaceted artist whose fertile mind and wide range of original ideas were a source of inspiration for artists of the Beat Generation in Paris, as well as to innovative artists and performers such as David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Keith Haring, and Laurie Anderson in the next generation.

Painter, writer, sound poet, tape composer, lyricist, and performance artist, Gysin is remembered particularly for his evocative paintings of the North African desert in the 1950s and his original calligraphic abstractions based on Japanese and Arabic scripts. The chance discovery by Gysin of the cut-up technique (later developed and refined by William S. Burroughs) and the concept of permutated poems gave rise to new and original forms of sound art wordplay, striking not only in print but also in recordings or live performance. Gysin's inventive ideas also extended to the Dreamachine and to collages of text and photographs.

This is the first comprehensive publication on Gysin's achievements. It features reproductions of his paintings and graphics as well as examples of his permutated poems and other writings. Complete with first-hand reminiscences by his contemporaries, it generates the sense of excitement and experimentation that so captivated all who knew this remarkable artistic pioneer. 245 illustrations, 200 in color.

With contributions by: Guy Brett, William S. Burroughs, Mohammed Choukri, Gregory Corso, Gladys C. Fabre, John Grigsby Geiger, John Giorno, Bruce Grenville, Bernard Heidsieck, Felicity Mason, Barry Miles, and Nicholas Zurbrugg. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent overview of Gysin
Gysin's work is on par with (and goes beyond) abstract painters such as Mark Tobey. His combines Zen brush painting with a cosmonaut's vision. Stare long enough at his work and find your own "Port of Entry." Included in the book are his early surrealist drawings and desert scenes--very difficult to find reproductions of these. My only disappointment with the book is the long biographical bit lifted straight from the Geiger biography. Anyone truly interested in Gysin would own both books! I would've also liked to read more about Gysin's meetings with Genesis P'Orridge. These are very minor things and definitely do not mar the book's presentation. A truly remarkable book. Hats off to the author!

hello- thank you
If you like art/ calliraphy, this book is for you.

Why did Burroughs (and so many others) revere this man? This book will tell you why. The reproductions are top notch and the bios are not to be missed.
... Read more

Product Description

Product Description

Excellent textbook of multimedia signal processing also dealing with the optimization of multimedia communication systems. It covers the theoretical background of one- and multidimensional signal processing, statistical analysis and modeling, coding and information theory as well as estimation and classification theory. Numerous practical examples are given for algorithms and design of multimedia signal compression and transmission systems, for systems performing content analysis and indexing of multimedia signals. Principles behind multimedia coding and indexing standards, e.g. MPEG-1/-2/-4/-7 are explained in detail, including the most recent developments like the new Advanced Video Coding standard and Motion-Compensated Interframe Wavelet Coding. Numerous figures and examples illustrate the concepts. As the book is based on a graduate-level university course, most chapters are supplemented by exercises. The book is also a self-contained introduction both for researchers and developers of multimedia communication systems in industries. ... Read more

Product Description
This new text from our BASICS series includes comprehensive coverage of many multimedia topics including graphics, animation, video, presentations, desktop publishing, and web pages. It provides an excellent foundation for any mulitmedia or website design curriculum. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

BIMM Book
This is a great book for BIMM (Business Image Management and Multimedia) classes. I have used other books for teaching this course, and this one seems to be the easiest to use and is versatile enough to switch between the different elements of Adobe. ... Read more

Product Description
Troeger surveys how evolving forms of communications over the centuries have shaped presentation of the gospel. He then provides an in-depth analysis of ten strategies for creating sermons that effectively deliver the Word in an age of mass media and computerization. Preachers and pastors will learn how to deliver messages with content and substance in these days when the medium has become the message. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good quick-read resource for some fresh ideas in preaching
In a brief and user-friendly way Tom Troeger offers insight to pastors seeking to engage their congregations in creative ways that move beyond traditional concepts of what a sermon should be.

His opening chapter presents a reminder that even the gospels were written with a specific direction in mind to tell the story to a particular community, in such a way that the audience would receive the most benefit and understanding from the Word.As times change, so do the most effective and creative ways of communicating the good news.Stained glass windows, large cathedrals, native language translations of the Bible, hymns written to familiar secular tunes, all are different ways of communicating God's story and responding to the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Troeger gives us ten examples he has used to meet the needs of Christians seeking to hear a story that relates to their world today.He does this by briefly presenting a strategy and offering an example from his own preaching life.In a chapter entitled Assume There Is More to the Story, preachers are encouraged to imagine in greater detail the events surrounding a particular Bible story or passage.He uses the wedding feast at Cana based on John 2:1-11."And I would like to think that when the celebration was over and the couple left for their honeymoon and the guests had departed, that some friend or family member of the couple, poured the wine that remained into smaller containers and corked them, and when the couple returned, presented them with several crates of wine.`Here this is the wine the rabbi from Nazareth supplied.I thought you might like to have it for special occasions.'"Other strategies involve playing with a biblical image by creating a drama, writing a sermon like a movie script, playing a game and using the outcomes as a message, and listening for muffled voices in a text, among several others.

There is a brief conclusion that focuses on how to develop your own strategies.

Using Scripture in an Effective Manner
Troeger provides 10 innovative strategies for presenting Scripture in a contemporary context.These ideas not only are engaging for the congregation as they see them unfold, they also incorporate the congregation in participation with in the Scripture texts.The congregation becomes a part of the Scripture texts as they perform it and engage the text as part of it. These ideas do not cost anything and yet bring new life to Scripture using current issues and concepts.

The Master's Tools
Thomas H. Troeger's "Ten Strategies for Preaching in a MultiMedia Culture"
reminds us that we have not always had sound systems or organs or stained glass or even
churches!Before all of these things, in the beginning, was the Word.This Word lives
and fires our imaginations and in his view and we ought to not be afraid to reimagine not
only the way scripture is presented, but the scriptures themselves!We must, as preachers,
"hold the openness of the Spirit and the strenuous work of human thought and creation
together - this is no easy task."(8)
Troeger reminds us that the Word isn't confined to a book.Indeed, putting the
New Testament down in writing had the adverse affect of codifying, solidifying, then
justifying centuries of abuse against women, of promoting slavery and bigotry because
the scriptures, instead of the Gospel, became normative for the Christian Community.So
part of the undoing of this legacy is to move away from Scripture, staying close to the
intent while reimagining the content.After all, even within the Gospels themselves the
Good News was modified to the culture of the hearers of each Gospel."Far from
rejecting the Bible," Troeger states, "we are becoming more biblical by employing the
creative interpretative process which runs through scripture and the history of the
church."(9)
The way the faith was taught and transmitted also changed over time to make it
contemporary for its hearers.Early preachers learned classic Greek/Roman rhetoric to get
their message across.Preachers in the Middle Ages copied gestures from popular
religious works of art.Televangelists told us to put our hands on the television and feel
the power!"Given that the Protestant Reformation was born of a vernacular Bible and
printing press, how is it possible to be a Protestant in a world in which three kinds of
media (text, audio, and video) are converging into one new mixed genre, multimedia?" he
asks. (13)
And then, like Donald Rumsfeld, he answers his own question with his ten
strategies for preaching in a multimedia culture.The Ten Strategies are:

1.Assume there is more to the story.Take a text an faithfully embellish to
breathe more life into it - see it from a different point of view.
2.Create a parable.Have it enacted, even, in the sanctuary.
3.Play with an image.Use works of art; plays, to jar folks from complacency.
4.Write the sermon as a movie script."Jesus' parables worked in his culture the
way movies do for us today.They provide a memorable narrative that can be passed on
and retold again and again."(48)
5.Use a flashback.Use the power of remembering and creating new stories with
historical characters.
6.Reframe a sacrament.Look at a sacrament from a different point of view, put
it in a different context.
7.Let a little child lead you."The elemental simplicities of children open us to
wonder, to faith, to the recognition of how tiny and frail we are before this vastness of
creation."(75)
8.Play a game.The power of play to transform and engage is real.
9.Listen to the muffled voices.Images and stories on TV are homogenous - the
same news stories, the same sound bites, etc.Troeger stops short of naming why
(because most are owned by a handful of big companies that benefit from the world being
seen through their lenses) even though I think he would agree.But before we judge,

remember how we do this with the Bible, too with our use of the lectionary.So put
yourself in a situation to stand with the oppressed to bring it home to people that how the
world is presented to them blinds them from seeing suffering and injustice.The rape of
Tamar isn't in the lectionary.`Nuff said.
10.Compare translations.

In "South Park:The Movie" we find out that only members of a certain
denomination wind up in heaven.They are shown there with halos and wings and one
says to another:"What shall we do now?"And the other answers "I know, let's put on a
play about how stealing is bad."And they all go off to produce their play.As much as I
am down with Troeger's gutsy stance on moving away from the (received) scriptures as a
primary source of revelation and toward the Word-fired imagination as the new primary
source, this South Park scene sums up my disappointment in his presentation of
alternatives to the tried and true sermon.His sermons and plays and games and all are
well-written and quite moving, but the forms of presenting his reimaginings have been
around for quite awhile.The cover of the book shows microchips, but the forms inside
are more like CHiPs:straight outta the 70's.More spoken words?Plays?Games?It
seems to me that if we are going to preach to a multimedia culture, then we ought to use
multimedia to reach that culture.Where are the computers, the video screens, the
hardware and software tools?Troeger takes his great, multi-media imagination and then
plugs it back into a teletype machine, a disconnect at best. ... Read more

Product Description
Multimedia on Symbian OS is the only book available to discuss multimedia on Symbian OS at this level. It covers key areas of multimedia technology, with information about APIs and services provided by Symbian OS. Other key features include details of UI platform-specific APIs from S60 and UIQ.

This pioneering book covers each of the key technologies available (such as audio, video, radio, image conversion, tuner and camera) at a high level, to give the reader context, before drilling down to details of how to use each of them. The book includes code samples which are available for download on a website and cover key APIs with detailed description of each. Additional information includes the evolution of multimedia on Symbian OS from previous versions to the current (v9.5) and plans for the future.

Chapters include:

• Architecture of Multimedia on Symbian OS
• Onboard Camera
• Multimedia Framework of both Video & Audio
• Image Converter Library
• The Tuner

Product Description
Since the release of the second edition of "Alif Baa with DVDs" in the fall of 2004, thousands of Arabic language learners have benefited from the integrated textbook and DVDs. This new version - "Alif Baa with Multimedia" - functions even better and features a new and improved digital format. The content of "Alif Baa with Multimedia, Second Edition", including the text and all of the audio and video on the disk, is exactly the same as that of "Alif Baa with DVDs, Second Edition". Only the format of the disk has changed so that all files will be easy to play using the free Adobe Flash Player. All units are now included on only one disk. Teachers and students may use both versions of the textbook side-by-side in the classroom and notice no difference in content or appearance. It should not affect the learning experience or require teachers to do any additional preparation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Good Book
Very well written book. Its a challenging language, but with practice with the book it should come to you.

Not so sure
I was hoping this would be better.To be fair, most Arabic books are not so good.Bottom line, you have to take a class because you can't learn from a book.I learned just as much watching free videos online as I did with this book.

Great book for independent study
This is a great book. It is suitable to use in a beginner's class but it is also great for self-instruction. If you use it in conjunction with the DVD (that comes with the book), you can really learn as much on your own as you can from a beginner's class. The DVD has tons of listening exercises and videos of a calligrapher slowly writing all the letters which makes the DVD hugely helpful in both pronunciation and in properly forming the letters when writing. The letters are not taught in the typical alphabetical order, but I found the order of the lessons to be very logical and intuitive.

Good textbook... Buy the answer key!
Good book, it was required for a class, so I didn't have much choice.My first impression was that it was very academic and difficult for the beginner (I've used other Arabic text textbooks)The DVD is very helpful.One thing that is an absolute must is buying the answer key.There are several spelling dictation drills and other drills that are simply audio on the DVD.Without the answer key or a professor you have no feedback as to whether you're getting it right or not.My confidence and learning went up significantly after I purchased the answer key.Overall a good, thorough book.

excellent text book
The Alif Baa and Al Kitaab text books are wonderful for learning Arabic.They are best in the context of a formal course, but could be used for individual study as well. ... Read more

Product Description
MULTIMEDIA: ALGORITHMS, STANDARDS, AND INDUSTRY PRACTICES brings together the different aspects of a modern multimedia pipeline from content creation, compression, distribution and digital rights management. Drawing on their experience in industry, Havaldar and Medioni discuss the issues involved in engineering an end-to-end multimedia pipeline and give plenty of real-world examples including digital television, IPTV, mobile deployments, and digital cinema pipelines. The text also contains up-to-date coverage of current issues in multimedia, including a discussion of MPEG-4 and the current progress in MPEG-21 to create a framework where seamless data exchange will be possible. ... Read more

Product Description
Multimedia data require specialized management techniques because the representations of color, time, semantic concepts, and other underlying information can be drastically different from one another. The user's subjective judgment can also have significant impact on what data or features are relevant in a given context. These factors affect both the performance of the retrieval algorithms and their effectiveness. This textbook on multimedia data management techniques offers a unified perspective on retrieval efficiency and effectiveness. It provides a comprehensive treatment, from basic to advanced concepts, that will be useful to readers of different levels, from advanced undergraduate and graduate students to researchers and to professionals.After introducing models for multimedia data (images, video, audio, text, and web) and for their features, such as color, texture, shape, and time, the book presents data structures and algorithms that help store, index, cluster, classify, and access common data representations. The authors also introduce techniques, such as relevance feedback and collaborative filtering, for bridging the "semantic gap" and present the applications of these to emerging topics, including web and social networking. ... Read more

Product Description
Computer Vision for Multimedia Applications: Methods and Solutions includes the latest developments in computer vision methods applicable to various problems in multimedia computing. This publication presents discussions on new ideas, as well as problems in computer vision and multimedia computing. It will serve as an important reference in multimedia and computer vision for academicians, researchers, and academic libraries. ... Read more

Product Description
This book draws definitions from diverse bodies of knowledge involved in the creation of multimedia, includingcomputer programming, computer graphics, digital publishing, audio, video, telecommunications, networking, Web design, and Internet development. It helps specialists from differing disciplines communicate effectively. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

WOW!!! Everything is here. Totally covers web development.
This is a complete reference for web developers. Extended definitions of MPEG, MIDI, DVD, Java, DSL, VRML, and telecommunications terms. The appendices include tutorials on HTML 4.0, Cascading Style Sheets,JavaScript, Linux commands, RFCs, and the full XML spec. If you are aserious developer, you need this book. ... Read more

Product Description
One of a series of developmental maths textbooks, this volume focuses on basic algebra, with applications. It provides a learning system organized by objectives, around which all lessons, exercises, end-of-chapter review tests and ancillaries are arranged. The last objective in every section is, where applicable, devoted to applications, and a specific strategy is suggested for each major application problem, encouraging students to plan problem-solving strategies before addressing the problems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

GREAT QUALITY
Even though this book was used it looks really new and there wasn't that much writing on it compared to my friends book.
Overall I am really satisfied with my purchase and recommend it to the people purchasing this book (:

Very good condition and price !!!! :)
I just got my book and It is in a better condition that I imagined! It's like new for a very good price!!! It's worth it! Thank you so much for shipping on time!

do not buy from this person!
I never recieved my book. It never even shipped. I waited 2 weeks for it to be shipped and had to end up paying $2o more for this book because i never got it from him. DONT BUY FROM THIS SELLER!!

PERFECT!
Great book, in Great condition and service was fast and easy! PERFECT!! thank you very much!!

Great book, loved the applications portion
The book's best part is the applications part. They use real life applications for the theory in a way that applies to simple, everyday problems. The seller was great and got me the book quickly without mixing the ISBN up like other sellers sometimes do. ... Read more