Multimedia communication: quo vadis ?

Abstract

SUMMARY New interactive multimedia products including CD-ROM, video, online service and Web-TV have grown rapidly over the past several years. Since the acceptance of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a global standard for information, a medical online environment has evolved creating new forms of communications in medicine including desktop videoconferencing, multimedia interactive educational tools, online representation of literature, bibliographic databases and tools for authoring new-generation scientific publications. But the general and health over-information and the use of computer technology in medicine have already changed our communication behaviour, introducing fractal communication and the use of infoids. Concerns have been raised that these developments may on one hand lead to disinformation and on the other may have a significant impact on communication between patient and doctor. The new interactive electronic media and the entirely new forms of communication are discussed.