Online Alice

In a modern wonderland of sorts Alice is now alive online in 3D.
The original is put up by the British Library, which, in addition to 3D, uses
software to virtually turn the pages. Using Flash technology, the manuscript can
be virtually 'handled', while audio is played simultaneously.

Alice now joins the Diamond Sutra, Jane Austen's History of
England, the Leonardo Notebook, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Mercator Atlas
of Europe among others. The Lindisfarne Gospels were the first of the British
Libraries' delicate and rare manuscripts to go digital in 1998. Since then,
the page-turning technology to make the books more 'real' online has been
refined. Fourteen rare books and manuscripts are now in the 'Turning Pages'
collection.

The realistic page-turning application won a technical
achievement award at the 2005, Learning on Screen Awards, in March.

The pages of the book can be browsed by the click of a mouse or
by scrolling through each page individually. The program also means readers can
enlarge text as well as see the original illustrations in the manuscript.

Actress Miriam Margolyes has provided the voiceover and the
90-page virtual manuscript contains all the 37 original illustrations. The
British Library 'Turning Pages' books are also on display on library
computers in Northumberland, UK, and in the National Library of Medicine near
Washington, USA.

Courtesy: BBC News