Reinventing the Book for the Digital Age

Ben Bajarin:

Innovation for Kids and Learning

Several areas where we are seeing exciting progress with innovation of the book experience is with learning books and books for kids.

Textbooks are slowly being reinvented for the digital media age by adding new interactive media to supplement text-based content. This is providing more rich and immersive learning experiences by combining two great things: multimedia and reading. The learning experience is much more powerful when the mind is engaged with more than just static text and images. Being able to read about history, then seeing and engaging with that history through interactive multimedia enhances the learning process. Nearly every learning category where text is used will be enhanced in the digital age to include a blend of text and interactive media.

Children's books are another area where we are seeing experimentation and innovation. There are increasing amounts of new book experiences for kids that include images, animations, sound effects, games and puzzles. These books are helping children engage in reading, learning and many other kinds of important aspects of development.

An interesting example I came across recently is a project called Bridging Book from engageLab. This is a solution that pairs a physical book with a companion digital experience. The book can be synchronized with an iPad, using the iPad to show additional digital content to go along with the page the child is on within the physical book. Exciting examples like this get the imagination going, dreaming up ways to blend physical reading experiences with digital ones.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 14, 2013 12:33 AM
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