Multimedia encyclopedia is a collection of reference articles whose text, photographs, and diagrams are supplemented by videos, animations, interactive features, sound clips, and other content. Early multimedia encyclopedias were often purchased in the form of one or more CD‘s or DVD‘s and accessed using a personal computer. Today, multimedia encyclopedias are generally in the form of websites accessed on the internet.
The enriched content offered by multimedia features can help students learn. For example, a student can listen to a sound clip of a composer’s music while reading about the piece being performed. To learn how a complicated process works, the student can experiment with an interactive feature called a simulation.
Another major benefit of multimedia encyclopedias is the speed with which users can find and access information. Unlike in a print book, users can use a search feature to quickly identify encyclopedia articles on the topics they want to research. An online encyclopedia article may also contain hyperlinks to other articles or to outside sources of information. A hyperlink is a specially highlighted word on a web page that can be activated with the click of a mouse. When clicked, the link immediately takes the user to another page with related information or media.
