Building large-format displays for digital libraries
Michael S. Brown, W. Brent Seales, Stephen B. Webb, Christopher O. Jaynes · Communications of the ACM · 2001
The article discusses problem associated with large format displays for digital libraries. The problem is the spatial resolution and color quality of digital media surpasses the display real estate of typical monitors. It is common for objects such as artwork and manuscripts to be digitized at a much higher resolution than can be displayed on even the best monitors. The immediate reaction is to enlist the help of large-format displays for visualization available as video walls, domes, and immersive environments. Initial costs of projectors, rendering hardware, and subsequent recurring operational expenses are fiscally prohibitive. The goal is to bring large-format displays to the digital library community by breaking down the barriers that make them expensive and difficult to set up and run. Where libraries must operate and maintain equipment, it is important to enable novice technicians to build up and maintain a display by a more casual placement of projectors. With the functionality of the personal computer and graphics card rendering the image, the overlapped projectors can be blended into a single, logical display.