In our presentation we would like to introduce a virtual library model based on the 3D capabilities of the Virtual Collaboration Arena (VirCA) system developed at the Computer and Automation Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The model has been developed in order to reap the benefits -the extraordinary navigation and accessibility features, "holistic" characteristics, strong affective power etc. -of the 3D virtual environment presenting selected ancient works (as well as biographies) of some illustrious authors in the light of the modern information technology. In the model the library content is presented in a virtual room where a maximum of 18 cabinets are arranged in two parallel rows. The cabinets contain the relevant information to be presented, so their position and arrangementtogether with other distinctive features -are crucial to finding the appropriate content in the virtual space. The arrangement of cabinets is based on the classification system of the ancient Library of Alexandria developed by Callimachus in the 3rd century BC. Based on that, we attached certain categories (epic poets, elegists, lyrical poets etc.) to the English translation of the selected ancient Greek texts. In addition, two parallel sequences of some characteristic images are displayed as image corridors next to each cabinet which greatly facilitate finding the relevant information in the virtual room at a single glance. On the basis of those features (cabinets, categories, image corridors etc.) we can group the related information together and compose various "spatial composites" in order to form a well-searchable spatial hypertext system. We have created a database of the selected library materials and developed a PHP-based interface to provide and demonstrate interactive search capabilities. The search results can be obtained in a form of an XML * The publication was supported by the

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Our basic aim of the research is the implementation and gradual improvement of a three-dimensional virtual library model. In the development stage of the first version of the model we chose some illustrious authors who represented the ancient Greek poetry and drama from the 3rd century BC. Their short biography and certain parts of their works formed the selected content of the virtual library model. We designed a four-level hierarchical and scale-free structure based on the original classification scheme of the ancient Library of Alexandria elaborated by Callimachus. We are enhancing the content of the database with additional items of different verbal and/or multimedia text types (e.g. illustrative images, commentaries, concordance and collocation tables, dictionary entries, translations, adaptations, summaries and so on). This additional background information is necessary for us to interpret and understand the old Greek poetical texts better, especially in the case of mythological allusions. Currently we investigate how the collected items can be effectively used in language learning to develop the learners' linguistic competence, and, in general, how the spatial hypertext concept could promote the multidisciplinary use of the model in education. The virtual library model is currently based on PHP/MySQL technology which fully supports the three-dimensional representation capabilities of the VirCA (Virtual Collaboration Arena) system.