Charting Multimedia: The Process Between Concept and Creation is an ongoing research project at Ryerson Polytechnic University's School of Radio and Television Arts.

The purpose of this research project is to develop a flowcharting system for interactive multimedia, to be used by multimedia writers/developers/designers in order to develop their project ideas in a way that is both clear and accurate to everyone.

This research is important because the flowcharts that currently exist for developing interactive multimedia tend to be enormously confused documents that can perplex those who most need to understand the information presented.

The main cause of this confusion resides in the apparent lack of any systematized method for flowcharting interactivity. The so-called "flowcharting" system that is being used is not really suited to writing and developing interactive projects; they were originally developed to help computer science software designers plot electrical flows and are no longer used by programmers for reasons that are too complex to describe here. Nor is this flowcharting system suitable for the writers/developers/designers of interactive products.

Suffice to say that the current system for mapping intended multimedia projects is non-existent. This severely impedes the ability for an interactive writer/developer to design projects in a professional, competent manner. It is akin to the radio, TV or film industries not having a script protocol to develop their creative material, or, to extend the metaphor, imagine architects designing a building without the use of blueprints.

Developing interactive multimedia projects can be as complex a project as designing buildings. And yet interactive multimedia lacks a systematized method for developing project ideas on paper. This is what is being created. What makes this research even more valuable to developers of multimedia is the fact that it has never been done before. In short, we're "charting" new territory! But keep in mind, this is only the beginning.

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