DEFINING MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

Interest in multimedia has grown day by day, both in the most developed countries and in Albania. While in-depth research in this field, it has been developed around the world and the best work practices have been implemented in various industries, specifically in multimedia journalism, and such communication models with these multimedia forms have also been adopted in our country. Televisions and other organizations now have their own developers of multimedia products, their own online platforms, special staff for multimedia storytelling, and some of them have embraced mobile journalism, thus going towards the universal journalist. Now the communication is not massive, going towards the personalization of contents on that scale never tried before. However, beyond any degree of personalization, communication continues to remain indisputably multimedia. In this perspective, embracing new technologies and work practices requires other studies for it, which also gives rise to the need to revise the definition of the concept of multimedia journalism.

There are three dominant perspectives on the use and application of multimedia such as computer sciences (Banerjee, 2019), education sciences (Vagg, Balta, Bolger, & Lone, 2020) and communication sciences (Costello, 2017). These three perspectives have led to the development of the most diverse theoretical concepts and practices in communication and information systems in developed societies. However, these perspectives are determined by an essential element such as the medium or in other words, the mediators (Costello, 2017). In this perspective, since the beginning of the development of the concept of multimedia, researchers have mostly emphasized the elements that participate in sending a message. In communication practices, both in dynamic media and in static media, researchers in the field of multimedia communication have emphasized the importance of these types of media in categorizing a product as multimedia.

Of course, the concept of multimedia is not a separated concept from other forms and concepts of communication. Some authors associate the concept of multimedia with convergence (Deuze, 2004), others associate it with communicating visually and flexibly (Marshall, 1995), on the other hand others associate it with hypermedia communication (Delanyl & Landow, 1994). An interesting point of view remains the connection of multimedia with semiotics, treating the relationship between multimedia elements as signs that carry meanings (O'Neill, 2008). By highlighting these points of views and connections made to multimedia in general and multimedia journalism in particular, its definition always becomes controversial and consequently even more difficult to understand. However, the focus of this study is to review the connections between multimedia and journalism, giving us the concept of multimedia journalism.

Methodology

The methodology used in this paper is the method of systematic literature review, which is used by researchers in the field of communication and journalism, this method has proven to be successful in studies of a theoretical concepts and specifically in studies that try to define or redefine concepts (Tandoc, Zheng, & Ling, 2017;Potter, 2010 begins with the definition of multimedia and it ends with the definition of multimedia journalism. In both sections, the definitions are listed from the oldest to newest. The search on these platforms is done in two forms. In the cases where multimedia was searched for, was used only "multimedia" as a key word, while for multimedia journalism was used only "multimedia journalism".

The definition of Multimedia

From the literature review, there are over 22 definitions of multimedia.

These definitions belong to several perspectives, but most of them have to do with multimedia as a discipline of communication. Most of the definitions are from the 2010s, which makes us understand that multimedia has been mostly studied after the 2010s, as a result of frequent technological changes. These definitions are chronologically listed from 1998 to 2023.

1. Multimedia seems to be defined by the hardware required rather than the user experience." For example, despite the statement that "any computer application that uses a video or image disc from a CDROM, uses highquality sound, or uses high-quality video images on a screen can be called a multimedia application," I doubt that anyone would to use the term multimedia for a computer application that simply plays a piece of music (Purchase, 1998 (Connolly & Phillips, 2002).

4.

Multimedia "involves the integration of more than one medium in a form of communication" and "refers to the integration of media such as text, sound, graphics, animation, video, image and spatial modeling in a computer system" (Astleitner, 2004).

5. Multimedia elements include visual input which may take the form of text, pictures, diagrams, videos or animations and auditory input which may consist of sounds, cues/suggestions, music, narration or instructions.

Multimedia elements are used in combination within multimedia environments to produce "stories" (Astleitner, 2004).

6. In multimedia materials, text can accompany graphics, still and animated pictures, video, sound, music and sound effects (Fletcher & Tobias, 2005 (Limani, 2007).

8. The term "multimedia" refers to any technology that enables the "fully digital distribution of content presented using an integrated combination of audio, video, images (two-dimensional, three-dimensional) and text" along with the ability to support interaction of the user. Multimedia can be interactive control of the process, they can be fascinated (Vaughan, 2011).

10. From the point of view of narratology, interdiscursive analysis and the description of a new narrative system in the media, we arrive at the so-called "digital discourse, which has a multimedia nature and contains visual and acoustic elements and linguistic and non-linguistic elements" (Albaladejo, 2011).

11. Multimedia is a woven combination of digitally manipulated text, photographs, graphic art, sound, animation and video elements. When you allow an end user-also known as the viewer of a multimedia project-to control what and when elements are delivered, it's called interactive multimedia. When you provide a structure of linked elements through which the user can navigate, interactive multimedia becomes hypermedia (Vaughan, 2011).

12. Multimedia refers to applications that use multiple modalities to their advantage, including text, images, drawings, graphics, animation, video, sound (including speech), and, most likely, interactivity of some kind. This is in contrast to media that use only rudimentary computer screens, such as text only or traditional forms of printed or hand-produced material (Li, Drew, & Liu, 2014).

A multimedia package is the integration of more than one medium in combination with interactivity related to a story, event or information (Zerba, 2004 7. The visual narrative is evolving. This has progressed from images that are formed on glass plates, on film rolls, to digital images and videos that are taken with mobile phones, the technology of which will be discussed later.

Photos are no longer seen only in printed or projected form; they are sent by e-mail and shared on websites and social networks. Audiences that were once built through print media are now being reached on an even wider and faster scale through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, through both still and motion images (Gitner, 2016).

8. Multimedia journalism can take at least two forms. First, traditional multimedia journalism refers to stories that use the Christmas tree format, where "multimedia elements such as videos, photo slideshows, maps and graphics are add-ons, placed alongside the main text story like ornaments hanging on a tree ". Second, multimedia journalism can take the form of embedded multimedia journalism. In this case, the main story is usually text-based and told in a linear fashion. However, compared to traditional multimedia presentation, multimedia elements in an integrated plan are "integrated into the main story, so they are viewed at appropriate points in the story" (Pincus, Wojcieszak, & Boomgarden, 2016). 9. Multimedia Narrative or mojo creates raw user-generated content (UGC) for media; and features user-generated stories (UGS) for online, paywall and web TV formats. Whether it's creating from UGC or UGS, mojos need to know how to capture and compose powerful images quickly (Burum & Quinn, 2016).

10. Multimedia journalism refers to stories that use more than two media models, such as text, images, and video (Bebić & Volarević, 2016).

11. The digital shift has created new opportunities in the practice of journalism, making it possible to combine a variety of media modalities in journalistic products, such as, but not limited to, text, audio, video, photographs and other visuals. The term multimedia journalism aptly describes this development (Pincus, Wojcieszak, & Boomgarden, 2016).

12. An integrated multimedia narrative is called hypermedia. Although this connection between hypertext and multimedia elements reaches areas such as literary storytelling, cinema, advertising or video games, studies in journalistic multimedia narrative have considered it as a macro genre (Sánchez-García & Salaverría, 2019).

13. The main elements of visual journalism include photographs and videos, cartoons and animations, data visualizations, multimedia presentations and graphics. In a semiotic perspective, visual journalism (multimedia because it combines at least two forms) communicates meaning through a multitude of interconnected signs (Dynnild, 2019).

14. Multimedia journalism is journalism that uses at least two media platforms and/or media formats to produce and present a news or feature story. In terms of media platforms, this means covering a story through at least two different (online) media channels, for example, a news website and a video platform. In terms of media formats, this means combining at least two modes of text in one news story, for example, written text, with video and/or pictures. (Menke, 2019) 15. The fusion of previously separate platforms such as television, newspapers, websites and mobile phones paved the way for convergence and multimedia journalism, in which images, verbal texts and design come together in compelling visual storytelling. (Dynnild, 2019) 16. A multimedia story is a combination of text, still images, video clips, audio, graphics and interactivity presented on a website in a non-linear format in which the information in each medium is complementary and not redundant (Stevens, 2020).

17. Multimedia journalism involves using text, images, sound, video clips, graphics to tell stories in an engaging way. Professionals working in multimedia journalism use digital tools and social media platforms to share their stories with a specific audience online. The purpose of these stories is to inform, educate or entertain that specific audience (beonair.com, 2022).

18. Today's multimedia journalism combines different media, including print and digital media (such as online publications and websites), as well as television, film, photojournalism and radioany platform that helps journalists tell their stories. Anyone interested in pursuing a career in multimedia journalism will benefit from knowing the multimedia journalist job description, the average multimedia journalist salary, and what skills they will need (College, 2022).

19. Multimedia journalists combine traditional journalism with innovative design and visuals to deliver unique stories (Indeed, 2023). Interestingly, most definitions for multimedia journalism firstly coincide with each other, and secondly they coincide with the definition of multimedia itself. The only difference between the two types of definitions is in the text element. If in definitions for multimedia researchers refer to it as text, or written word, when it comes to multimedia journalism text also appears as traditional journalism, print media, main text, linear narrative, story, event, and spoken or written words.

Multimedia is considered communication and cultural exchange through

text, image, sound, touch, and voice (Goggin, 2016).

14. To the makers of the term "multimedia" shall include text, audio, photographs and video (Medvedeva, 2016 But if we take these basic elements, they have been expressed in different forms in different years by different authors. For example, when it comes to text, which is presented to us as the basic form of multimedia, in some definitions it takes different forms such as natural language; linguistic element and medium of the written words. These forms of expression come from definitions that tend to group multimedia elements for example as Gitner does, defining multimedia as the combination of audio medium; the medium of video and the medium of the written words (Gitner, 2016), or as Albaladejo does in saying that multimedia consists of visual elements, acoustic elements and linguistic elements (Albaladejo, 2011). On the other hand, throughout the definitions there are elements mentioned only once which are difficult to group, such as spatial modeling, digital tools, computer art and platform, giving the definitions a much more current dimension. (Pavlik, 2001).

The definition of multimedia journalism

2.

A multimedia storytelling (multimedia journalism) can be defined as "the presentation of a news package on a website using two or more media formats, such as (but not limited to) spoken and written words, music, moving and still images, graphic animations, including interactive and hypertextual elements". (Deuze, 2004) 3. Multimedia journalism combines text, pictures, audio, video, and graphics to give audiences additional ways to understand information (Stencil, 2004).

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