Multimedia is by no means a mature industry. Hundreds of start-up companies are entering the arena, eager to propel their own contribution down the emerging information highway.

So the lessons learned by a pioneer player in the pack are instructive.

One such veteran in the game is Digital Renaissance, a Toronto-based multimedia information and development firm founded in March l991.

The company is now thriving after coming through the recession and initial skepticism among consumers about the potential of interactive multimedia.

Digital Renaissance president Keith Kocho says the company has gained firm footing by providing a unique blend of artistic and technical support in the field of digital communications.

Essentially, it has carved out a niche in the multimedia field amid computer giants by offering both hardware and software solutions. ‘We can do a number of things: creative, engineering, systems integration,’ says Kocho.

At one end of the multimedia sector are creative houses, making applications for clients but not putting together the hardware packages to drive them.

At the other end are systems integrators: IBM Canada, System House, Anderson Consulting. They provide new technology, but not a creative spin to best use them.

So Digital Renaissance is playing David to the Goliaths at either end of the industry.

Kocho believes it’s good business strategy to pitch all three capabilities – creative, engineering, systems integration – since multimedia creative houses abound these days, and engineering and systems integrators do not tout their creative worth.

The strategy has spelled growth for the company. In the last year alone, Digital Renaissance doubled its permanent staff to 10 people.

Of course, this is still small for a maturing computer industry stuck in a lingering recession. So Kocho has chosen to build Digital Renaissance by establishing strategic alliances with many of the larger players in the multimedia industry. These include ibm, dec, Stentor and Apple.

‘We generally pitch to companies with complementary skills. They can help us sell what they sell through multimedia applications, and they in turn return the favor by supplying add-on services from a technology standpoint,’ Kocho says.

He adds that the company has suffered in the past from having to spend a lot of time – often too much time – convincing computer hardware makers that multimedia adds value to their equation.

‘Large companies are skeptical,’ Kocho says. ‘It takes much time to impress people about what we do. And often there is nothing to show for our efforts.’

Success for Digital Renaissance, Kocho adds, has come when the company found individuals in a company who would champion multimedia applications. ‘I try to find the visionary in an organization to whom I can sell the concept. They can then sell it to the rest of the organization.’

Digital Renaissance offers to help them package their ideas and position themselves, to tell their colleagues: `We have done this prototype, proved its effectiveness, now we want this amount of money next year to prove we can do this company-wide.’

Recent interest in multimedia comes at just the right time for Digital Renaissance. ‘Now people know what cd-rom is, or audio on a computer, or video animation. They no longer need to make the leap of `What are you talking about?’ ‘

Kocho began his company much like other multimedia start-ups – offering to erect kiosks in car dealerships, movie kiosks, or interactive real estate multiple listing services.

Recent projects include an electronic encyclopedia for the National Museum of Aviation, which has more than 100 aircraft in its collection. The interactive encyclopedia features presentation screens, photographs of each airplane, digital audio/video clips of the planes, and accompanying text and data collected from the museum’s database.

The key here is to leverage the museum’s current collection by reusing existing materials in new ways to create multimedia presentations.

All contents of the Museum of Aviation project are stored on a StarWorks multimedia server and delivered over an Ethernet network to touch-screen kiosks in the institution.

Interactive kiosks are, of course, all the rage in multimedia these days. Think of kiosks as bank teller machines – or atms featuring the same text-based computer concept – but which talk back to you and include video and audio in the package.

And while bank customers approaching computer-based teller machines may scratch their heads if they want to attempt something more complicated than simply withdrawing money or securing their balance, interactive kiosks in museums or stores have become user-friendly and practical to the point where even children can use them.

An example: the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto has installed interactive kiosks that allow sports fans to sit down and gain instant access to personal data on their favorite hockey heroes. Fans can also view the range of items the institution has in storage – often the bulk of any museum’s collection.

In fact, most museum-based kiosks are tailored to children and young people who are seemingly less intimidated by computer technology than their elders.

New applications in retail kiosks include ticketing stations in stadiums, theaters, or universities. These allow consumers to check schedules, choose from available stadium seats, and even scan different views from within the sports complex.

Digital Renaissance is next looking to develop scaleable architecture that will allow people to explore the multimedia presentation of the Museum of Aviation’s collection without having to travel to the institution.

Elsewhere, the company has developed a public kiosk for the Heritage Review, a charity-sponsored multimedia project to educate Canadians about our historical heroes.

Digital Renaissance and the Excite Centre at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver developed the kiosk, which incorporates cosponsor CRB Foundation’s ‘Heritage Minutes’ tv clips along with 3D graphics, animation and digital and analog video.

The first Heritage Review kiosk was installed last year in the Museum of Civilization and more will be located across Canada in museums, libraries and tourist locations.

Besides using existing materials, Kocho insists it is important to leverage a client’s existing technology. ‘A client bought technology for a certain purpose. They don’t want someone coming in and saying, `Throw away what you have and buy this.’ They want someone to say qualitatively, `We will provide an application for you that looks like this and runs like this on this platform if you buy it for that purpose.’ ‘

But Kocho will hold out the option of making the application available to their existing technology. ‘Qualitatively, their expectations of the application’s performance will need to be scaled back. But they will not spend as much. So much depends on what people want to do with their application.’

Ultimately, Kocho would like multimedia technology to run on all platforms. ‘That is the long-term vision of multimedia, and where the information highway is heading,’ he says.

By the very name of his company, Kocho has staked out a future in the digital domain, given that such technology is flexible, transportable and transmittable. At the same time, Digital Renaissance is driven by its client’s needs. So the company does design for analog systems. ‘We are not pie-in-the-sky technology dealers,’ Kocho cautions.

His experience in the digital domain dates back to l989 when he began working with digital video and developed one of the first off-line digital video editors for the IBM PC/PS2, Ensuite.

Before that, Kocho gained broadcast experience in the news and current affairs programming area, then moved on to corporate training video production work, including expertise in shooting, editing, scripting, directing and voice work.

Now that multimedia is gathering publicity in the popular press – not least with efforts to develop an information highway – Kocho sees companies including multimedia in their capital expenditure budgets.

‘For the first time, the technology drive has come from the grass roots up and not the top down. People are looking at applications that they can do.