Media types
From Brett
In trying to think big for a site, I often end up thinking about various media types, but I haven't had a simple way to categorize them.
Note that the following might be combined (e.g., real video and audio with abstract (searchable as opposed to graphical) text for subtitles).
| Scalability (i.e., Abstract or Real) | Medium/Dimensionality | Timing | Recording Technology | File format | Ideal possibilities (including text if kept within the format) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real | Visual 3d | timed | Kinect | ? | Hologram - timed |
| Real | Visual 3d | snapshot | Kinect | ? | Hologram |
| Abstract | Visual 3d | timed | (Scriptable) | WebGL (JavaScript)/SVG 3D (XML) + Animation | Hologram - timed (with (synchronized) text-searchable captions or metadata) |
| Abstract | Visual 3d | snapshot | (Scriptable) | WebGL (JavaScript)/SVG 3D (XML) | Hologram (with text-searchable caption or metadata) |
| Real | Visual 2d or 1d | timed | Video camera | Theora (or GIF) | Video (with embedded captions or metadata) |
| Real | Visual 2d or 1d | snapshot | Camera | PNG/JPG/GIF/etc. | Image (with embedded caption or metadata) |
| Abstract | Visual 2d or 1d | timed | (Scriptable) | Canvas 2d (JavaScript)/SVG + SMIL/Timed Text (XML) | Images - animated (with (synchronized) text-searchable captions or metadata) |
| Abstract | Visual 2d or 1d | snapshot | (Scriptable) | Canvas 2d (JavaScript)/SVG (XML) | Image (with text-searchable caption or metadata) |
| Real | Aural | timed | Audio recorder | Ogg | Audio playback (sound and voice) with pause |
| Real | Aural | snapshot | Audio recorder | Ogg | Audio playback (sound and voice) |
| Abstract | Aural | timed | (Scriptable) | Web Audio (JavaScript)/MIDI | Audio playback (instrument or voice synthesizer) + (synchronizable) notation & lyrics |
| Abstract | Aural | snapshot | (Scriptable) | Web Audio (JavaScript)/MIDI | Audio playback (instrument or voice synthesizer) + notation & lyric |
