To the mags: the Extract art of digitisation.

Byline: Mark Chillingworth

Exact Editions describes itself as a digital magazine platform, but the service is much more than an innovative way to view content -- it makes content as searchable as any experienced in e-journals and e-books.

Magazine subscription and access service Exact Editions was set up by xrefer founding trio Adam Hodgkin, Daryl Rayner and Tim Bruce. The difference between this service and other online magazines is that Exact Editions produces online replicas of the printed edition which can be text-searched for keywords.

Magazines are every bit as important as journals and books in the information landscape. The ability to view them as they are presented in the physical world with the benefit of text search technology makes them an even more valuable proposition.

Four magazines are currently available: The Spectator, The Scientist, The London Review of Books and The Literary Review. Beneath each title cover on the front page are links to a PayPal subscription service for access to the current issue and the full archive.

The digital representations of the magazine pages are not just eye candy -- they are your starting point. Clicking on one at the home page takes you to a gallery of double-page layouts of the magazine. Exact Editions call them thumbnails, but they are nothing like the tiny thumbnails you get in a Google image search. They are large enough to see the full detail of the magazine layout, although not big enough to read the text. Publishers will also love this system as it includes the adverts from the print edition.

Navigation tools a reality