Put the hands on! For a movable, interactive, pop-up, bibliographic database

In the majority of cases, bibliographic databases refer to written documents that primarily stimulate the sense of sight. In databases of films, music, sounds, the sense of hearing is added. A sense that has instead remained in a marginal position is touch. Yet, even before the invention of printing, sight was considered necessary but not sufficient to foster the dissemination of knowledge or emotional involvement. For example, in ancient treatises on astronomy, anatomy or, later, in children's books, or in artists' books, the reader was prompted to interact by turning a paper circle representing a lunar calendar; or by turning a page with a drawing of the human body, to find another page where the drawing of internal organs appeared; or, again, games and poems would open like a fan. These are the so-called mobile, interactive, animated, pop- up books, where the reader needs to 'put the hands on it' in order to operate the machine of knowledge and emotion. The creation of a bibliographic database on Interactive Books raises many questions, both from the theoretical and applicative point of view. It is absolutely necessary to be familiar with this very peculiar type books. Close cooperation between computer scientists and humanist scholars is therefore be essential.