"In kids' mags they are very cover-mount driven. With the free gift, you are basically creating a package. When you move to digital that value is not as obvious” This was said in 2013 by Egmont publisher Siobhan Galvin (Jackson J, 2013). She believed that the value would not be as obvious when transitioned into a digital format. And while most publishers tend to adapt print based work to digital it seems that the most impressive apps are original works with no print legacy (Birtle R, 2011).
When the discussion of children’s publishing and digital arises, people tend to associate it with the word interactivity – although interactivity is not a new concept when it comes to children’s publishing. “We've had sticker books, books with die-cut elements, scratch-and-sniff books, and holographic inserts. If you can think of it, it already exists, so there has been a long tradition of interactive books, long before the first ebook was ever contemplated." (Peck G A, 2014). This being said the digital side of publishing is allowing existing stories to be told in a whole new way, through book apps (Friedlander A, 2013). Though apps have created a way for the children to be read the story at a pace they can hear, it is not a pace that allows them to read along as say a parent would (Birtle R, 2011).
One publisher to create a new type of digital content is Disney. Their apps merge together many digital qualities, including: games, books and movies. “We see the digital format as an opportunity” says the Vice President of Digital Media at Disney Publishing Worldwide, Lyle Underkoffler (Bacon B, 2014). Although not everyone agrees with the interactivity aspect, believing that the focus is on the device rather than the story. The focus moves away from the children’s engagement with the story and focuses on how to use the device (Dell’Antonia KJ, 2011). There is a strong belief that tablets are not the way forward to teach children how to read with a four-year-old being reported as “Britain’s youngest iPad addict” (Cocozza P, 2014). It is not just for personal home-use that children are being delegated the use of iPads. It is also through education as over 40% of primary schools in the UK have now adopted a ‘one-iPad-per-child’ approach to teaching (Flood A, 2014).
Because of this method of teaching are younger children now inclined to learn through a digital platform or do you think they would benefit from actually turning a page in a book?
Word count: 421
When the discussion of children’s publishing and digital arises, people tend to associate it with the word interactivity – although interactivity is not a new concept when it comes to children’s publishing. “We've had sticker books, books with die-cut elements, scratch-and-sniff books, and holographic inserts. If you can think of it, it already exists, so there has been a long tradition of interactive books, long before the first ebook was ever contemplated." (Peck G A, 2014). This being said the digital side of publishing is allowing existing stories to be told in a whole new way, through book apps (Friedlander A, 2013). Though apps have created a way for the children to be read the story at a pace they can hear, it is not a pace that allows them to read along as say a parent would (Birtle R, 2011).
One publisher to create a new type of digital content is Disney. Their apps merge together many digital qualities, including: games, books and movies. “We see the digital format as an opportunity” says the Vice President of Digital Media at Disney Publishing Worldwide, Lyle Underkoffler (Bacon B, 2014). Although not everyone agrees with the interactivity aspect, believing that the focus is on the device rather than the story. The focus moves away from the children’s engagement with the story and focuses on how to use the device (Dell’Antonia KJ, 2011). There is a strong belief that tablets are not the way forward to teach children how to read with a four-year-old being reported as “Britain’s youngest iPad addict” (Cocozza P, 2014). It is not just for personal home-use that children are being delegated the use of iPads. It is also through education as over 40% of primary schools in the UK have now adopted a ‘one-iPad-per-child’ approach to teaching (Flood A, 2014).
Because of this method of teaching are younger children now inclined to learn through a digital platform or do you think they would benefit from actually turning a page in a book?
Word count: 421