[12714] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
New (3D) Interface to our OPAC
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michel Fingerhut)
Fri Feb 5 20:01:15 1999
Date: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 15:41:13 -0600
From: Michel Fingerhut <Michel.Fingerhut@ircam.fr>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
http://mediatheque.ircam.fr/infos/vrml/index-e.html
The public space of our Multimedia Library has been completely modelled
in 3D (using VRML 2.0), showing all the stacks, cabinets, terminals, etc.
With the help of a browser and an adequate freely-available plugin (see
below), one can "stroll" through the reading hall, and find the contents
of the shelves and cabinets by clicking on them: each one is linked to
the appropriate part of the online catalog. This in turn will show the
documents that are stored in that part of the room, and provide access
to the individual bibliographical records (and related databases).
This is not the only interface to our catalog nor a replacement to
existing ones, it is an additional one, for those who can use it. We
primarily provide access via forms, classification scheme (call
numbers) as well as 2D floor plans. We tend to think there is not a
unique way that patrons should be forced to use so as to access the
collections. Locally, they can avoid computers altogether and browse
the real shelves, if they so want.
One reason why we created this interface was to provide people away
from the library with a similar ability to "browse" the shelves, since
looking at books by proximity is also a way of finding interesting
material, much as one reads an article in a newspaper and then sees an
interesting article next column (one of the Princeton libraries had,
several years ago, an online interface to the scanned card catalog,
which was _very_ interesting, contents-wise)..
In the longer range, we are going to use this technology to present the
online digitized material we have through 3D models of some aspects of
contemporary music (we are a music library). The model, this time, will
not be a real, physical space (the library as it is) but a "virtual"
construction (by musicologists) of selected domains of contemporary
music, so as to allow for an easier approach of this domain for people
who can't always deal just with abstract concepts. This particular
technology will allow for direct links with the online catalog as well
as with the online digitized documents (the latter, for copyright
reasons, are available only on site).
We are also going to integrate this with other readly available
technologies, such as RealNetworks' RealAudio and SMIL, through which
we also built integrated online presentations of score-following (music
listening with display of the score on the screen with the pages or
parts thereof appearing in sync with the music).
Michael Fingerhut
Director, Multimedia Library
IRCAM - Centre Georges-Pompidou
Paris (France)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is needed:
- a recent browser: this has been tested with Microsoft's Internet Explorer
(version >= 4) and Netscape (>= 4) on a PC (it may also work on Macintoshes,
SGI and other platforms, depending on the plugin).
- a plugin for VRML (the above URL provides a link to the Cosmo plugin).
- a relatively powerful machine: all computations are done on the client's
platform, so if it's slow, it's not the fault of the Internet, this time.
Happy virtual visit,
Michael Fingerhut
Director, Multimedia Library
IRCAM - Centre Georges-Pompidou
Paris (France)
