Multimedia synchronization as a resource for e-learning

A multimedia synchronization, or time-based hypermedia, is a multimedia artefact whose design and interpretation is determined by time and space variables; they are directly involved to draw the structure, as internal ties to the product and to its interpretation. From a terminological contextualization, this contribution focuses on the innovative value of the synchronization, according to a communicative and technological point of view. The analysis of some proposed models considers its implications and affordances within on line education, and demonstrates the possibility to recover a narrative thought from a time and space-based structure. The analysis - also the semiotic one - considers the role of technology (Flash, SMIL) and the interactions between the internal time of each medium and the whole synchronization. As a results, it helps to observe how the interaction of heterogeneous media and their inference increase the different learning levels, allowing therefore a customized and flexible approach to contents. In e-learning you can use the synchronization to produce contents; its added value arises from integrating the communicative affordances of many media interacting in one single context and from creating new learning models.