Jan

zuuka, iStoryTime at Digital Book World

GoodEReader is on location at the 2012 Digital Book World conference in New York and this year’s event is a veritable who’s who of industry experts. Much of the discussion at this year’s event has focused on children’s digital content, for everything from entertaining interactive ebooks to educational content in digital textbooks, especially in light of Apple’s recent announcement concerning educational materials.

Graham Farrar, one of the founders of iStoryTime, spoke to GoodEReader about the exciting innovations that the public can expect for children’s content, as well as about zuuka and iStoryTime receiving a coveted Publishing Innovation Award for children’s content for its groundbreaking title, Five Little Pumpkins. That ebook was the first such title developed with Apple to use the ePub standard while still incorporating all of the interactivity features that the children’s ebook publisher is well-known for.

Farrar spoke about what it is that children are looking for in this type of content, as well as what the parent-consumers want. The younger readers respond favorably to the interactivity, such as bonus games, touch-screen coloring book applications, and the imagery from their favorite characters; the adults who ultimately purchase the content for their children are primarily interested in quality content that they feel confident in giving to their children, as well as the value of the content at that price point.

zuuka and iStoryTime are releasing another title in their bestselling Biscuit ebook series, Biscuit’s Valentine’s Day, available for iPhone and iPad.

Mercy Pilkington (1082 Posts)

Mercy Pilkington is a young-adult author and a teacher in a correctional facility. She does not have a single textbook in her classroom. With the top-of-the-line technology at her disposal and the low reading ability of many of her students, there’s no need for standard paper texts. Instead she relies on e-readers, iPads, desktop PCs, Polycom video conferencing equipment for virtual field trips, live streaming for science demonstrations, and text-to-speech read-aloud software to teach English and science. Within the next ten years, public school classrooms across the country are going to look a lot more like Mercy’s classroom because the educational possibilities with these kinds of technologies are limitless. Have a question? Send an email to mercypilkington@yahoo.com