All the knowledge in the world, an exhibition celebrating the new Bibliotheque nationale de France, from the real to the virtual, comparing CD-ROM, WWW, and print representations

Beginning with my real life experience of attending the exhibition, 'Tous les savoirs du mode, Encyclopedies et bibliotheques de Sumer all XXIe siecle,' at the Bibliotheque nationale de France, summer 1997, the exhibition's real, representational and virtual life in multiperspectives are explored comparing print catalog, multimedia CD-ROM, and World Wide Web versions with emphasis on how the same knowledge is represented differently across media, and how increasingly media are linked to work together to represent different facets of the same knowledge, rather than in competition with one another. Criteria for selecting the appropriate media are explored addressing issues of user interface and navigation, and how multimedia presentation can enhance the way information is conveyed and received. Based on a student survey, user preferences are considered in the context of which version communicates the exhibit's meaning most effectively, and which best serves educational goals, and tools for teaching. Does a free Web version detract from sales of the rather expensive CD-ROM, and in this digital information environment is there still a future for traditional print exhibition catalogs? Some new possibilities for the development of multimedia user-interface for information retrieval and navigation are looked at based on the CD-ROM. Viewing it as a model interface, one might create an ultimate version by linking it to a digital library containing all objects exhibited in complete form, thus offering a person a wide range of choices through which he/she may enter its virtual world?