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DINOSAUR QTVR MINI WALKING TOUR DEBUTS AT THE INTERNET PUBLIC LIBRARY EXHIBIT HALL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Bernadette Milan
School of Information
University of Michigan
550 East University
Ann Arbor, MI
48109-1092
exhibits@ipl.org

January 22, 1997

ANN ARBOR, MI., JANUARY 22, 1997--The Internet Public Library (IPL), a project based at the University of Michigan School of Information, recently debuted "Dinosaur Floor of the Exhibit Museum", a mini walking tour using Apple Computer's QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR) technology. You can access the site via the IPL at: /exhibit/dino/. Walk through the dinosaur floor of the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum at your own pace, without having to leave your computer terminal.

The exhibition is composed of three "single node" movies, titled: "Sauropods", "Perissodactyls", and "Artiodactyls", and one "multi node" movie, combining the three scenes. "Sauropods" shows a sauropod hip and leg, a pterosaur skeleton, a duck-billed dinosaur skeleton, and therapsids-- extinct, mammal-like reptiles. "Perissodactyls" highlights odd-toed ungulates (hoofed animals), such as horses and tapirs and includes a Mastodon skeleton. "Artiodacytls" views examples of even-toed ungulates, such as camels and bovines. Text pages are adapted directly from museum exhibits, and accompany each QuickTime movie.

QTVR is a 360 degree seamless, digital representation of a room or scene. QTVR allows the viewer to pan a scene at their own pace, with an option to zoom in on a particular portion. The technology allows movement up, down, and sideways in any scene. Single node movies are QTVR movies consisting of one scene. Multi node movies can be made by linking together separate single node movies into one larger movie.

The Internet Public Library is a project based at the University of Michigan School of Information, partially supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The library began as a graduate student project in 1995, and is now staffed by professional librarians with assistance from students and volunteer librarians from around the World. The library maintains a collection of network-based ready reference works; responds to reference queries, creates resources for children and young adults; evaluates and categorizes resources on the Internet, and provides a space for exhibitions. The library strives to be a source of innovation in the networked environment, seeking partnerships with organizations with compatible goals.