With the recent announcement by Apple, the concept of enhanced textbook has gained high visibility. It is prompting educational publishers to refine their digital strategy and set different plans according to the channels they want to publish their products to, because Apple decided to shift away from the EPUB open standard format and to somewhat fragment the market with additional format requirements.

Let’s not be fooled by the shiny and glossy results you can achieve with Apple’s latest authoring product. The recipe for a successful digital product strategy entails a much more in-depth approach, starting with a specific affectation of core content. A sustainable rich, enhanced ebook workflow is not just about the format you end up creating. I’m saying that because if you do set the right fundamentals in your workflow, you will be able to easily output your work in the appropriate format for your distribution channel.

Creating an eTextbook  is really reconstructing the data model for a new digital user experience. An experience which is likely to take advantage of multimedia, animations and any type of interactive elements. Therefore if you don’t think like an architect, you will build a house on quick sand.

With our development teams, we have kept in mind the necessity to deliver content all across the digital spectrum by working with open standards. More specifically, we aimed at assembling tool sets that provide a frame for the production of enhanced eContent. There isn’t any easy, one click button to transform rich graphics, complex layout textbooks into a re-flowable document for tablets and laptops. Yet you want to rely on a set of tools that will optimize your team’s productivity on the long run:

• Easily transform the source content into XML.
• Solve the transformation problems of complex characters, mathematics language with reliable method.
• Repurpose the same content to various output formats (iBooks, Kindle Fire 8, …) according to your distribution strategy.
• Influence the look & feel laid in the CSS and html templates.

If all this is taken care of, publishers are in position to publish stunning educational textbooks (because they also own a wide volume of multimedia materials). It will be quite straight forward to work with designers to add interactivity, multimedia and animations to engage students. And possibly making it available on a high number of devices. Not only to the Apple ecosystem.

Le commentaire est lié à l’article publié le 20.01.2012 sur ebouquin.fr. L’article en question est une grande source d’informations pour toute personne active dans le domaine de l’édition numérique, avec un focus particulier sur le domaine scolaire, professionnel et académique.

La meilleure nouvelle de ce lancement est l’attente que cela va engendrer chez les utilisateurs (étudiants, apprenants, …). Ces derniers vont s’attendre à des ebooks dynamiques et enrichis sur tous leurs écrans de lecture. Dans le monde académique aujourd’hui, le livre électronique se compose de PDF statiques. L’offre devrait donc rapidement s’étoffer. Mais avec une utilisation restreinte de l’écosystème Apple car les cibles de lectures vont bien au-delà de l’iPad.

Une conséquence presque inévitable va être la fragmentation des formats. EPUB 3 est une fondation sérieuse à tout eBook enrichi. Si vous rajoutez à cela “l’Apple epub” et le KF8, les choses deviennent coûteuses si l’éditeur veut assurer une diffusion efficace et agnostique.

J’imagine bien les éditeurs scolaires organiser leur édition numérique autour de 2 piliers:

• Produits spécifiques pour iPad, soit en créant des applications, soit en utilisant iBooks author.
• Production EPUB 3 pour le reste du marché (la majorité) impliquant und distribution directe vers les utilisateurs.

N’oublions pas que la plupart des éditeurs scolaires supportent leur propre force de vente et ont tout intérêt à éviter les intermédiaires. Ils utiliseront leurs propres canaux (sites internet, applications) pour garantir des marges plus élevées.

Publiwide and sugarcube are proud to announce that the first release of the EPUB3 Authoring Tool has seen the light! This application is able to transform a document originally meant for print into a completely new experience: a reflowable, interactive document, perfectly adapted to tablets, phones… and obviously to every desktop!

The EPUB Authoring tool offers complete control of the revamping process: a very simple interface allows even the novice user to access complex functionalities with ease. The tool allows the user to fully control the contents of the original document and fine-tune their style, appearance and position.
And there’s more! The EPUB Authoring tool has unique, state-of-the-art features, such as supervised recognition of tables and automatic creation of tables of contents.
Discover the opportunities offered by the EPUB Authoring Tool now:

• Import CSS styles and HTML templates
• Generate tables of contents automatically
• Possibility of selecting an independent reading order for each page: left-right, top-down, right-left or customized
• Automatic detection of tables
• Export graphics as images (PNG or JPEG) or keep them in vector form (SVG)
• Remapping of fonts
• Export fonts in SVG format
• EPUB pages represented in HTML or XHTM format

When we started looking into publishing rich enhanced eBooks, we quickly noticed that there weren’t that many tools available to address the production process. This isn’t surprising given the fact that the greatest part of the eBook market is made up of very simple layout titles which can easily be converted for generic eReaders.
It turns out that editors and publishers, wishing to take advantage of the rise of multimedia machines, are now eager to offer eBooks with richer design to their readers. And this premise is particularly true for textbooks and learning materials.

Today we clearly see the trend for enhanced eBooks going into 2 directions:

• eBooks as applications for the iPhone-iPad market;
• eBooks as EPUB content for a much larger pool of devices;

Some technology companies have addressed the former by developing software that enables editors to input their rich content and output highly interactive applications. It is a CMS (content management system) type of model which is a bit similar to the management of websites. I’m sure that most of them are good at their job, no doubt about that. Yet their product limits itself to the iOS system.

A much larger potential opens up with EPUB, even more so with the recent release of EPUB 3 specifications. Choosing to produce enhanced eBooks as EPUB 3 may potentially enable a delivery of the content to any multimedia machines regardless of their prerequisite operating system. As far as we know, there hasn’t been much happening to master the transformation of rich graphic books into a dynamic  reflowable content. Some companies praise the development of plug-ins for content design programs (such as InDesign), yet the result is not satisfying if you aim at going beyond a fixed layout presentation.

Teaming up with a company specialized in content analysis and data reconstruction, we have jotted down the fundamentals of a unique rich publishing framework. The ultimate goal is to empower content editors to manage this framework by themselves in order to publish their backlist and their new titles for multimedia environments smoothly. The set of tools that we are developing will eventually cover the holy concept of XML conversion that experts are highly recommending all around.

Having started to produce some rich textbooks with that workflow, we are more than pleased to share some inside knowledge with interested publishers. We will say… and show more in phase 2!

What is the best way to present rich designed textbooks for the iPad or the web?

Looking at the best way to navigate digital textbooks we have opted to provide readers with a swipe-down scrolling technique.

There are many reasons favoring this method as it allows us to:

• Optimize the screen size.
• Guarantee the reading flow.
• Guarantee the predominant display of graphics and multimedia.
• Get away from pages as readers set their own text size and focus on table of content rather than linear A to Z consultation of the content.

There are already some brilliant examples featuring this scroll-down technique. One of them is Inkling, whose application has gathered a lot of praise for its quality and page navigation. Have a read at this article (ref.: Ljubomir Milkovic, adaptivepath.com) highlighting the main differences between the 2 possible approaches.

The subject has been discussed quite widely already and we are not pretending to tackle it in more details. We rather refer to some quality articles, to which we can add this link (cf.: Oliver Reichenstein, Informationarchitects.jp)

Furthermore see below a short video portraying the navigation across a few textbooks in Publiwide’s iPad Reader. Click on the screenshot below to play the video.

Opportunities for readers to enjoy electronic books are multiplying fast and this trend is expected to accelerate by the start of the New Year with many people receiving e Readers and tablets for Christmas.  The demand for content will increase accordingly.

There are two main reasons to embrace electronic books:

• For convenience, comfort and space/ books management: this aspect is strongly associated with the device and the eReader hardware.
• For a more lively reading experience when interactivity and multimedia are added.

The existence of a large proportion of eBooks is closely linked to the surge of devices such as Sony or Kindle. Many times however, we don’t see significant differences between the print book and the eBook. The advantages lie in the convenience of the device. As a Kindle user I’m very satisfied with the comfort of ”eating up” linear books (fiction, novels) in a clean, sober environment with a few useful functionalities. The e-ink screen resolution also gets you closer to the pBook.

For some of us yet, eBooks should take advantage of the 2 dimensions above. With the emergence of the multimedia internet-enabled tablets, we think it’s time to transform traditional texts into something lively, rich in information, which can stir readers’ imagination and reflection.

As a software company, we constantly reinvent ourselves to address the many challenges raised when enhancing books and distributing  them to audiences. It requires a lot of versatility and competences:

• Coding the substance of the book in a form which engage the readers
• Developing software that can facilitate the reading experience in a multi-channels environment (Web, desktop, iPad, android tablets)
• Enable readers to rely on the technology for all their reading archives or notes regardless of the device they are working on.

We firmly believe that this is the added value that readers can expect when they shift to digital. And it is the journey we decided to take. I hope we’ll get many followers!

If there is one thing that  is creating a buzz in the publishing industry, it is the iPad! Everybody talks about it as a game changer. But most importantly, people are buying it, testing it in schools and universities. The most promising aspect of this is that the iPad’s marketing success is paving the way for other similar devices. Because of its multimedia capacity, it will eventually boost demand for enriching and enhancing content originally meant for print.

So far we have focused on adding value to traditional textbooks by integrating multimedia, references and interconnections. The emergence of mobile devices for reading and studying opens new perspectives for the publishing industry. It will eventually lead to the so-called monetization of electronic content. Until now, most of us have cultivated the bad habit of considering that bits of content available on the internet should be free. It is a hard to convince people that they should be paying for electronic content. The tablets will contribute to a shift in mentality.

Thanks to this emerging market (even Blackberry announced today the launch of its own slate) software companies like us are becoming  partners of choice for books publishers. We have a unique value and distinctive propositions for textbook authors and publishers. They can keep focusing on their core business while we take care of the logistics side of things. 

The proposition we are working on is dual:

• To develop expertise in creating rich interactive content that will flow across the different eReading platforms
• To build software applications which deliver functional and intuitive reading experiences

We are delighted to unveil the first version of one of our new software: the publiwide iPad app. As it is now being finalized for the Frankfurt book fair exhibition, you can see a demo video below. The application has been developed with interactive and multimedia content in mind. We aim at making it a unique channel for textbooks’ authors and publishers wishing to distribute enhanced lively eTexts.

We are delighted to announce that we will be present in Frankfurt between the 6th and 10th of October. To reflect our ePublishing and software development activities, we were keen to find the right environment to introduce Publiwide to the publishing industry. And we have found the right opportunity by taking part in the Education Hot Spots. 

If you are visiting or exhibiting at the Show, you are welcome to visit us at stand C1434 in Hall 4.2. We will present our new line of eReader applications, developped specifically for educators and students. The Publiwide eReader family will enhance the reading experience of interactive eText on iPads, web browsers and as desktop applications.  

Have a first look at the new web Reader user interface that we will unveil at the Book Fair. If you are interested to meet us feel free to get in touch with us through the contact section.  

You will find many different formats of eTextbooks targeted at students and teachers. Publiwide has its own in-house solution to make the use of online learning resources more engaging than ever before. This series of articles (Interactive Multimedia eTextbook) exemplifies the type of solutions that we can offer and the near future developments on which we are working at present. Down the line, we would love to involve you by getting your feedback and input.

The core of our evolving technology lies in the development of new Reader application software, which will be translated across various channels: laptops, tablets, etc…

In this first issue, we wish to showcase a sample of the Take 10 en Espanol eTextbook. The objective of this demo is to illustrate the capacities of our current web Reader device and some of the enhanced content that can be embedded in eText:

- Zoom focus on any paragraph: isolate a section of condensed text to facilitate reading. The text popup can easily be disabled by clicking again anywhere in the text.

- Video and audio panel displayed when launching the eText: as the user opens the first page, an overview of the multimedia resources available throughout the eText is automatically displayed.

- Interactive activity (page 9): text can be entered and further actions can be performed accordingly. Answers are not monitored in this example.

We invite you to experience this online eTextbook demo by clicking here.

Learning is getting mobile, remote, online … This doesn’t make the life of textbook publishers easy. Teachers, students and pupils thrive with ICT on a daily basis. It is part of their learning environment. Yet ICT is available in many different forms. As we thought we had seen it all with computers, notebooks and interactive whiteboards, here come the eReaders, iPod touch, iPad.

As I shared words with one of our renowned educational customers in England, he told me that his Local Authority is launching a mobile learning project in September. For that scheme, they just ordered a bunch of iPad devices, iPod touch, for designated primary and secondary schools.

Taking full advantages of the iPad means having some specific eTextbooks available in a lively rich format. For an optimal learning experience, textbooks will have to be turned into interactive multimedia applications. Otherwise what’s the point? Therefore the school teachers who will be piloting the iPad as part of the mobile learning project will need some dedicated content. This is where a company like Publiwide comes into play to enable the enhancement of traditional textbooks into an authentic interactive experience for the online and mobile teaching environment.

We fill in the gap left wide open by the spread of technology in education. Teaming up with publishers to enable them to focus on their core competences.