Interactive Digital Books and Children's Development: Supportive or Depressive?

By: Rotem Segal, Helicon Books Project Manager

Digital books are becoming more and more sophisticated and attractive in the last two years. The big announcement of the IDPF on October 2011 included the development of the first version the EPUB3 standard. This standard starts a new era in the digital books industry. The new standard support advanced capabilities such as video, audio, interactivity, animation and more. This is a major breakthrough in the digital books industry. The immediate meaning of EPUB3 ebooks is that books will become more and more similar to interactive computer games than to printed books as we know them today.

 However, such a progress in digital books technology raises some questions among educators and printed books supporters who express their concerns about reading decrease among young generations in favor of interactive content which can be found widely on TV, Internet, etc.

 According to these educators approach- in today's world there is a rich diversity of interactive content and there is a rich number of electronic devices to present it, so there is no need in making books more interactive. Educators that support this approach claim that too many simulations during the reading process prevents children from developing their imagination, self thinking and their criticism ability. In addition such innovations prevent children from getting concentrated and in today's world there's not much left for children to be concentrated from.

 It is important to present such opinions when coming to talk about the progress and the consequences of innovative digital books and their influence upon society. However, it is important to be familiar with EPUB3 new capabilities and observe them not only on fiction books but rather on textbooks.

 Advanced interactive textbooks with sound, video and animation can stimulate the student's curiosity, his passion for learning and his willing to invest time to go deeper to a specific subject. Each picture, drawing or word in the interactive textbook can integrate a surprising information which can be presented in a fascinating interesting way using the advanced features of EPUB3, for example- in a textbook which present a dog chatters its tail- a click on the tail can present a whole new information, a video, or an exercise. The tangible act of clicking the tail stimulates the child's curiosity and his wish for knowledge, thinking and learning. Interactivity can take place in any textbook field, especially in elementary school, science, literature, art, history, etc. Another important feature of the EPUB3 textbook is the Media Overlay- or "speak aloud". When you use an EPUB3 reader and wish to read an EPUB3 textbook - the reading system marks a phrase, word or sentence while reading it loudly. This capability can be helpful during reading lessons or for foreign language learning. This feature may also be useful for students with learning disabilities.

 New technologies adoption can be an advantage as well as disadvantage, it depends how you use it, in what matter, what do you wish to achieve, and the dosage. Helicon Books experts in advanced digital books technologies and digital books conversion services.

The future of digital Books - how will they look like?

By: Rotem Segal, Helicon Books Product Manager

The field of textbooks is moving into the future and taking one step ahead with the EPUB3 standard for digital books. EPUB3 standard represents a technological breakthrough by its new capabilities and features.
 There are some readers in the market which support the epub3 standard, one of them is the Gitden Reader. Another reader belongs to Sony, and Kobo has also announced that they will launch an EPUB3 reader during the end of the year, so how the new content will look like?

 The new technology is going to promote the entire field of educational content and textbooks. The common standard of EPUB2 mainly supports fiction books such as literature and simple images, so advanced content such as interactive images, mathematical features, and advanced graphical technology were absent . The new EPUB3 standard supports new features such as MathML- mathematical formulas, SVG and interactive SVG, interactivity, Media Overlay (speak aloud) and videos.

 Language textbooks
the new option of media overlay enables the reader to mark a statement, word or letter and pronounce it by audio. Thus when a pupil link on a word – it is shine and pronounced. Of course that videos and interactivity will add fun and interest to the act of learning.

Math textbooks
The new MathML feature enables the appearance of geometrical shapes, equations, and function graphs.

Dictionaries
 Electronic dictionaries are available today in a propriety format, but not in EPUB. The new dictionaries standard of EPUB3 will enable publishers to publish both glossaries inside the book and also stand alone dictionaries. Dictionaries can either be monolingual, bilingual or multilingual which is special to EPUB3. As of this writing the EPUB3 dictionaries standard is in its final stages. We expect it to be approved by the IDPF board around May 2013.

Indexing
Many textbooks traditionally contain index. Some people today claim that because of the reader search capability an index is redundant. However, in many cases a simple search will return many irrelevant results. An index can also give you related terms to look for. The indexing EPUB3 standard is now completed and waiting for IDPF board approval.

Children's books
Animation, videos, moving images and 3D – makes the children ebook similar to a computer game. The animals in the farm can move and pronounce a voice by a click, music in the background accompanies the story and the reading becomes more excited and funnier.

Digital content: Internet or EPUB3?

There are people who will claim that with today's advanced web technologies there is no need for EPUB3. However, although the Internet is cheap and easy to use it still has some drawbacks:
 -For many people try to access the same content at the same time (a classroom of students for example) the bandwidth may not be enough, a thing which can cause slow rendering and responses.
 - There are places where Internet connection is not available or expensive (e.g classes in remote places).
An EPUB file is suitable for off-line reading. There is no need for Internet connection in order to read the digital content. Some publishers have published an application for each digital book. The drawbacks of this method are that an application can only be used in one specific operating system and also each eBook must be installed separately into the tablet so there is no option to have a library of eBooks in the tablet. According to Ori Idan, Helicon Books CEO, :”EPUB3 readers will become as ubiquitous as Internet browsers today, so that each operating system has few browser types and the user can choose whatever browser he/she likes”.

 Digital books in education: USA case 

The September 2012 report from the State Educational Technology Director Association (STEDA) describes the transition to digital books with continuous difficulties . One of the problems is that each reader has its own format. Amazon's Kindle for example does not support EPUB. (1) So, the education system or students will have to use EPUB readers in order to read the content.
Furthermore, although EPUB3 readers support the current standard of EPUB2 eBooks (fiction eBooks), the new standard just started accelerates and there are only few readers in the market, so most devices don't support yet this standard. Despite the challenges the education system had to confront with eBooks, some schools in USA have successfully implemented digital textbooks. For example, Arizona Vail School District launched “beyond textbooks” which features a repository of digital content created and shared by participating teachers. The Beyond Textbooks approach has helped boost student math and reading achievements. Such initiatives are spreading across the states. (2)

Creating EPUB3 digital books- more involved 

Creating an EPUB3 eBook is a bigger challenge than EPUB2. It is not possible just take a PDF and transfer it to EPUB3. There is a special need to deal each part of the book differently. Each feature need specific directions in order to act the way you wish.People who wish to add videos will need video editing, so when coming publish an EPUB3 eBook- people should be aware to the fact that it's not just conversion, but there's a need of directions and patient. In Helicon Books we believe that there will be automatic systems in the near future for EPUB3 eBooks, that will be able to handle videos and interactive features.
 Innovative technology in digital books is advancing very fast in today's world. As Doris from Authorlink said “ Historically, publishers haven’t moved very fast. Speed and the willingness to embrace new ways is a requirement for publishers in today’s world. Publishers must learn to be flexible and must seek out a few experts who have deep vertical knowledge. Often, it takes a team effort with many disciplines coming together to produce a good product.”(3). New technologies take textbooks to the next stage of its evolution. EPUB3 textbooks does not compete with the Internet but rather complement it and enable an off-line reading and learning.


Helicon Books is a project management and consulting firm leading innovative technologies in the digital books industry.

Notes:
 1. "Schools confront digital textbook challenges" , eSchool News, March 2013. p-43-47.
2. "Schools confront digital textbook challenges"  eSchool News, March 2013. p-43-47.
3. "Are eBook Apps, HTML5 or EPUB3 the future of digital publishing", goodereader.com.

The EPUB3 Challenge

The year of 2011 was considered to be a major breakthrough  in the eBook industry with the IDPF announcement of the new EPUB3 standard. even today, most of the readers support simple literary books with no capabilities for extra features and no response to a variety of needs of eBooks publishers  such as all Multimedia, interactivity, animation etc. This is needed for text books, educational books, academic materials and many scientific books. Dictionaries, and all sorts of guides such as tourist guides, etc.
In 2012 Helicon Books had launched the first EPUB3 reader for the Andorid operating system- the Helicon Books Gyan Reader. The reader has opened a new era in the digital books industry and attracts all types of text books publishers , educational books publishers, and more.

EPUB3 Media Revolution  

While most EPUB2 eBooks presented images , interactive features and capabilities emerged later in EPUB3. Readers in the new standard support videos, interactive images, and another interesting option - Media Overlay- a method to synchronize audio and text. a combination of sentences marking and audio that read them (dubbed speak aloud by Apple). Now- imagine a children's eBook with all these options. The reader's functions become similar to a computer connected to the Internet but the major advantage is that here you don't have to be connected. That means that eBooks written in EPUB3 standard can turn the book into an interactive game where people who read the book feel like taking part in a quest, a show, a game, or a reality situation.
Tourist guides in EPUB3 can present the traveler his quest in real time, show him interactive images of the places he should visit including videos. Children's education books can present interactive simulations, videos, and the option of Media Overlay for pupils who have reading disabilities. Think about all the options that make educational books much more interesting for learning.

EPUB3 Obstacles

Although EPUB3 opens the door for more interesting features and presentation developments, there are serious questions according to its necessity. As it was mentioned before, if EPUB3 turns the eBook into an Internet site- why shouldn't we use the computer instead?
There are some answers for that. First many readers read their eBooks during traveling in places where they don't have Internet options. Digital readers users can use their eBook on their way. It is a major advantage for travel book readers- but for others as well. Second, costs. Internet use might be high in some countries and even higher if you travel abroad. Third- support. Suppose an entire class wish to use  a site at the same time- the band width may not be enough to support all of them. An EPUB3 reader is an answer in such case and other cases that demands a group to use the same material at the same time.
Another advantage is sustainability, that you do not depend on a web server, you own the book.

EPUB3 Around The World

EPUB3 had opened the doors for other languages, not only western languages.
The new standard supports top to bottom languages such as Chinese and Japanese, and also supports complex text layout languages as well (for example Hebrew and Arabic). Such a development expose the entire digital publishing industry to a wider audience around the world.

There is a hope that such improvements will expose the digital book industry  audience to a new content and that more people around the world will use this wonderful device which turned a simple book from a book into an interactive way of learning.

The first EPUB3 reader for Android

Helicon Books Gyan Reader- The first EPUB3 reader for Android

People today expect more and more Multimedia in the Internet and in Digital books.
In 2011 the IDPF has announced the EPUB3 standard.
Right now most of the readers support the EPUB2 standard, and some of them added extensions to support part of the new capabilities of the EPUB3.
In September 12 Helicon Books has launched the first EPUB3 reader for Android- The Helicon Books Gyan Reader. This revolutionary step in the ebooks industry has opened a door not just for interactivity in the ebook industry but also for the high level education, science, and math books by adding capabilities of  showing mathematical formulas with the MathML.
The new EPUB3 reader of Helicon Books is also an answer for people with disabilities. The new feature of Media Overlay supports audio and light the phrases and words which are pronounced.

The new features of the reader

• Scaleable Vector Graphics (SVG) - a vectorized graphic format that enables resizing of images without loss of quality
• Interactive SVG - Similar to SVG but interactive that enables the user to click part of the image and see it moves or zoom
• MathML - A markup language (based on XML) for rendering mathematical formulas
• JavaScript - A programming language that enables developers add interactivity to websites or digital book pages
• Support for Complex text layout languages - Language such as Hebrew or Arabic that are written from right to left. (the previous standard had partial support for these languages, the new standard fully support these languages including page progression direction)
• Support for top to bottom languages - Languages such as Chinese or Japanese written from top to bottom are now fully supported
• Fixed layout pages (mainly for children books and/or comic books)
• Media Overlay (speak aloud as it is called by Apple) - A features adding a layer of audio on top of text or images, that the reader hightlights the words (or images) the audio is talking about, uses a special markup language (SMIL)
• Support for video inside pages

Helicon books reader supports all the above features and more. It also supports more advanced features such as interactive 3D images that can be rotated in order to view the object from different directions.
The reader currently support Android platform only but will soon support also iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod etc.)
The reader is available for white labels licensing and customer specific customization.
You can purchase it from Google Play at http://tinyurl.com/d6bkwob .
For more information see: www.heliconbooks.com