The IML’s DJ Johnson and David Lopez recently completed a short video touting the features of Sophie, an application created by the Institute for the Future of the Book and currently be rewritten in Java for a 2.0 release October 15, 2009. Sophie 2.0, supported through a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation, introduces several new features to the program. It will be browser-based, for example, offering even easier access to – and sharing of – Sophie projects. Sophie 2.0 will also allow the embedding of Sophie Books as applets on any Web page, and the new version will support Adobe Flash. In addition, Sophie 2.0 will be accompanied by full-scale support for an emerging Sophie user community.

With the new video, DJ and Dave decided to experiment with kinetic typography, partly in order to underscore the ways in which Sophie releases text from the stasis of the page. We are delighted with the results! See it here.