Australian Journal of Educational Technology Multimedia markets: A study of Australian content

The Australian multimedia industry needs to pay closer attention to original market-driven content development if it is to survive an increasingly competitive global marketplace. This paper provides a schema for future developments in multimedia and reports some results of an investigation of multimedia content developers in terms of size, composition, information flows, types of activities undertaken, technological orientation and project focus. The aims of the study were to provide a "snapshot " of the industry at the current time, to serve as a benchmark for future research, and map current industry activities against predicted trends in multimedia. The results have implications for government programs supporting new multimedia ventures, and for present policy and strategy mechanisms employed by multimedia producers. Since 1983 the Australian software industry has greatly benefited from taxation concessions and government grants directed at high technology enterprises, the "sunrise " industries touted by Barry Jones during that year's election campaign. Interactive multimedia is currently enjoying the same level of popularity, interest and support from both the private and public sectors, with little apparent understanding of the industry's composition or likely future. The Broadband Services Expert Group's fina