The exponential expansion of functional multimedia technology is having a direct and diverse impact on veterinarians through the way we train students, update ourselves, and deliver our services to the public. For the uninitiated, multimedia is the use of textual, visual, and audio material to explain and illustrate concepts, ideas, and techniques. The core of the medium is a personal computer. The computer allows the veterinary expert to clearly explain an idea or concept by linking written information to visual examples with audible reinforcement, where appropriate. Only the individual's knowledge and imagination limit the scope, complexity, and depth of multimedia information.
Audible input can be in the form of sounds such as narration or music.
The practical application of such intricate units in the foreseeable future, however, is probably limited to teaching institutions. The simplest use of current multimedia technology as a comprehension aid seems to be in skills training. The differences between this type of interactive training module and currently used methods are mainly issues of degree. Because of time limitations, human instructors often bypass the kind of step-wise advancement and repetitive drills the computer can mentor. Human instructors usually expect the trainee to progress without providing any enforced structure.