Pandora-the design and use of a multimedia system

Pandora is a joint project investigating the use of multimedia workstations in a working environment with particular emphasis on digital video. It endeavours to place a camera on the desktop to make generation of multimedia documents as easy as producing text. A number of new applications which provide insights into the way computer systems may be used in the future have also been produced. The project is in three stages. In the first a peripheral, Pandora´s box, was designed. This box can be attached to a workstation and provides multimedia features. In the second stage a number of such systems were deployed amongst a community of systems developers and applications writers. In the third and final stage the experimental system is being used in daily work to evaluate new applications. From the users point of view the normal workstation environment is maintained but additional multimedia features are made available.<>