Presented to the Writers' Guild of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden, November 16, 2011 Abstract: E-books sales have grown explosively, have garnered significant press attention, and are finally beginning to impact publisher revenue streams. Still uncertain, however, is whether increasing digital revenues will make up for declining print sales. Most of today’s e-books remain a digital version of a print product, yet some examples provide a glimpse into the future of books and publishing, as they employ interactivity, multimedia, social aspects, and the use of gaming techniques in order to engage readers. These innovative texts and new business models provide lessons for authors and publishers as they embrace electronic publications.

1. Word Play
Interactivity, Gaming, and the
Future of Digital Texts
John W. Warren
Presented to Writers‘ Guild of Sweden, Stockholm
November 16, 2011

2. From Gutenberg
and the incunabula
there was a 50 year
transition to the
book as we know it

3. Incunabula were
initially considered
inferior, even
dangerous,
compared with
illuminated
manuscripts

4. They led to the democratization of reading

5. The e-book is
emerging from a
similar transition

6. There‘s an
explosion of
devices
There‘s an explosion of devices

7. E-book sales are on the rise
$0
$20
$40
$60
$80
$100
$120
$140
Q1
02
Q2
02
Q3
02
Q4
02
Q1
03
Q2
03
Q3
03
Q4
03
Q1
04
Q2
04
Q3
04
Q4
04
Q1
05
Q2
05
Q3
05
Q4
05
Q1
06
Q2
06
Q3
06
Q4
06
Q1
07
Q2
07
Q3
07
Q4
07
Q1
08
Q2
08
Q3
08
Q4
08
Q1
09
Q2
09
Q3
09
Q4
09
Q1
10
Q2
10
Q3
10
$Millions
US Trade Wholesale E-book Sales

8. E-books still represent a small
share of overall revenue
$0
$5
$10
$15
$20
$25
$30
2008 2009 2010
Billions
Print/Analog Formats Digital Formats
U.S. Publishing Revenue by Overall Format

9. But represent the primary area
of growth overall
U.S. Publishing Revenue Growth: 2008–2010
-5% 15% 35% 55% 75% 95%
Digital Formats Print/Analog Formats

10. e-books have been
downloaded from
Apple‘s iBookstore
for the
iPad/iPhone/iPod
Touch
130,000,000
More than

11. Most
e-books today
are merely a
―picture of
a book‖

12. Some innovative
e-books
offer a
glimpse into the
future of the
book

13. I Want You! includes 1,700
primary source documents
— Presidential memos,
reports, video — linked
directly from the e-book‘s
footnotes
Enhanced e-books with ―extras‖ offer additional material

15. The Digi-Novel
uses multimedia to
tell its story

16. Inanimate Alice combines text, audio, video,
effects, and gaming to convert the reader into an
active participant

17. The level of
participation
increases as
readers
progress
through
episodes
Gaming
becomes
Alice‘s
emotional
journey

18. Gaming techniques engage users
• ―Gamification‖ is the use of gaming techniques to engage
users—and make activities more fun
• Appropriate pacing, progress bars, and reward schedules
are dynamics adapted from behavioral psychology
• Design for ―onboarding‖ beginners, habit-building that leads
to mastery
• Engage users with PERMA
– Positive emotions
– Engagement
– Relationships
– Meaning
– Accomplishment

19. Successful games have four
elements in common
• The goal is the specific outcome players hope to achieve
and gives participants a sense of purpose
• Rules place constraints on the achievement of participants
and drive the development of strategic thinking
• The Feedback system tells players how close they are to
achieving the goal, provides a promise the goal is
achievable, and offers motivation to continue
• Participants agree on the goal, rules, and feedback system
through voluntary participation, providing common
ground, and making a pleasurable experience
Winning is not a defining characteristic

20. Involving the reader is key

21. Digital textbooks
offer
interaction and
self-assessment

22. Inkling is rebuilding the textbook for the tablet
generation
• Collaborates with major
publishers such as McGraw Hill
and Pearson
• Uses audio, video, and
interactive features such as
quizzes to create interactive
content
• Includes note-sharing tools and
other social elements
• Plans to have 100 popular titles
ready by Fall— available for
sale at $2.99 per chapter

23. Interaction and multimedia elements punch up
the learning quotient
For example, in Cengage Learning‘s New Perspectives on
Computer Concepts (Parsons/Oha):
• Photos ―come to life‖ as in-place videos; diagrams can be set in
motion
• Student scores on computer-scored quizzes, labs and practice
tests provided to instructors
• Instructors can annotate pages of the textbook to add text, audio
notes, Web links, or videos
• Students respond to issue questions and polling with responses
displayed in-class or online
• Students can send questions to their instructor from any page in
the textbook

24. Flat World Knowledge brings open content to
Higher Education

25. Flat World Knowledge pursues a ―freemium‖
business model
• Start-up company backed by venture capital, offers expert-
authored and peer-reviewed textbooks, openly
licensed, available free online and affordably offline
• Model is to provide content for textbook adoption that is as
good as or better than current textbook, offer content for
free, encourage purchase of add-on and convenience
products
• Students can buy a PDF download of book or chapter, ~$30
black and white printed version, ~$60 color print version
• Creative Commons (open source) license and tools to
modify and remix encourage new derivatives and
adaptation

26. • Approximately 65 percent of students make some kind of
purchase, most ~$30
• They purchase downloaded copies, print-on-demand books,
digital study guides, practice quizzes, audio guides

27. Thus far, Flat World‘s model
seems to be working
• 1600 professors at over 900 colleges in 44 countries have
adopted Flat World textbooks
• Every chapter, every book, includes digital study guides
such as flashcards, practice quizzes, audio guides
• Professors can create custom books, edit at sentence
level, deliver unique books and print-on-demand versions to
students
• Author incentives include faster publication, ease of
creating and updating texts, 20 percent royalty on any
sale, royalties more consistent over time
• Plans to integrate more assessment in future textbooks

28. Features of the future digital
textbook

29. Let‘s imagine a future scholarly book about new
research on the Americas before Columbus
Image: Tatiana Parcero

30. Placing the cursor next to a term
brings up its definition

31. Clicking on a place-name deploys Google
Earth
• Chichén Itzá

32. Interactive maps show an empire‘s rise and fall over
time

33. Instead of
a single
picture
there‘ll be
a gallery
of photos

34. Take a photo and instantly upload it to the book‘s
gallery

35. Gesture-based computing allows users to interact
physically with virtual worlds

36. New tools allow students to manipulate and visualize
complex data sets

37. Augmented reality shows 3-D
simulations

38. • Links lead to in depth topics of particular interest to the
reader and encourage comments and collaboration
• Social features promote comments, conversations, and
collaboration between authors, scholars, and readers
• Creative Commons license encourages modules to be
remixed and repurposed
• Open video allows easier editing and remixing of video,
audio, and text
• Deep Web semantic search unlocks additional in-depth
content customized to the reader‘s interest, returning results
not cluttered by irrelevant content
The eBook of the future encourages collaboration and
continuous learning

39. Libraries are
becoming community
spaces

40. Instead of
storage places
for books

41. Bookstores are closing
and may soon be a
thing of the past

42. Challenges for publishers, authors, and agents
remain significant
• Increased e-book revenues may not be enough to offset
decreased print revenues
• Open access business models are still largely unproven
over the long haul
• Interactive, participatory platforms, utilizing gaming and
multimedia, are expensive to produce and maintain
• Finding and maintaining the attention and engagement of
readers is not an insignificant task

43. A few tips for authors
• Plan from the outset for digital aspects that add value to
text
• Collaborate with a technology-savvy partner(s)
• Experiment with intent
• Pursue diverse revenue sources and creative business
models
• Work to ensure that technology-enabled assessment and
feedback practices support meaningful, high-quality
learning
• Ask publishers or content distributors for metrics, such as
aggregate, anonymous performance data, to improve your
text

44. Questions?
Comments?
For a copy of this presentation,
please send an email to:
johnwwarren AT gmail DOT com

45. Sources and Bibliography
Warren, John W., ―Innovation and the Future of E-Books,‖ International Journal of the Book,
Vol. 6, No. 1, 2009, pp. 83–94 (As of November 11, 2011:
http://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/RP1385/)
______, ―The Progression of Digital Publishing: Innovation and the
E-volution of E-books,‖ International Journal of the Book, Volume 7, Number 4, 2010, pp.
37–53 (As of November 11, 2011: http://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/RP1411/)
Slides 2 – 3: Incunabula from Vicent Garcia Editores (www.vgesa.com)
Pettegree, Andrew, The Book in the Renaissance, Yale University Press, 2010
4: Photo by user J Mark Bertrand: flickr
5: Photo by user Gubatron: flickr
6: Photos (clockwise from top left) by users robertogreco; andyi; sekimura; GlennFleishman:
flickr
7: International Digital Publishing Forum website (As of November 11, 2011:
http://idpf.org/about-us/industry-statistics)
8-9: BookStats 2001: An Annual Comprehensive Study of the U.S. Publishing Industry,
Association of American Publishers/Book Industry Study Group, June 2011, pg. 16
10. Photo by user pamhule: flickr
Apple WWDC, “Streaming video from the WWDC 2011 keynote,” June 6, 2011 (as of
November 11, 2011: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/11piubpwiqubf06/event/)

46. Sources and Bibliography (2)
11: Photo by user swanksalot: flickr
12: Image from Pullinger, Kate, and Chris Joseph, Inanimate Alice, episode 2
(http://www.inanimatealice.com/)
13-14: Rostker, Bernard, I Want You!: The Evolution of the All-Volunteer Force, Santa
Monica: RAND Corporation, 2006
(http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG265/)
15-17: Pullinger, Kate, and Chris Joseph, Inanimate Alice, episodes 1–4
(http://www.inanimatealice.com/); also phone interviews with Kate Pullinger, author, and
Ian Harper, producer
Laccetti, Jess, ―Inanimate Alice Pedagogy Pack: Lesson Plans and education resource pack,
2007, (as of November 11, 2011: http://www.inanimatealice.com/teach.html)
18: Kim, Amy Jo, ―Smart Gamification: Designing the Player Journey,‖ Google Tech Talks,
February 16, 2011 (as of November 11, 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0H3ASbnZmc)
Morbey, Mary Leigh, ―Beyond Multimedia Literacy: Supporting Mastery in Virtual
Environments,‖ International Journal of Learning and Media, Summer 2010, Vol. 2, No. 4,
Pages 7-20, (as of November 11, 2011:
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/ijlm_a_00058)
Seligman, Martin, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being,
Free Press, 2011

47. Sources and Bibliography (3)
19: McGonigal, Jane, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can
Change the World, Penguin, NY, 2011; also (as of November 11, 2011:
www.realityisbroken.org)
Gameful (www.gameful.org)
20: Photo by user k-ideas: flickr
Pottermore blog (as of November 11, 2011: www.pottermore.com)
Naone, Erica, ―A New Chapter for E-Books,‖ Technology Review, MIT, November-December
2011 (As of November 11, 2011: http://www.technologyreview.com/article/38874/)
The Mongoliad (www.mongoliad.com)
21: Photo, courtesy of Inkling: Essential Clinical Anatomy, Moore et al, Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins
Inkling (as of November 11, 2011: http://www.inkling.com)
Aplia (as of November 11, 2011: http://aplia.com)
Xplana ―Digital Textbooks Reaching the Tipping Point in Higher Education: A Revised Five-
Year Forecast‖ March 2011 (As of November 11, 2011:
http://blog.xplana.com/reports/digital-textbooks-reach-the-tipping-point-in-the-u-s-higher-
education-a-revised-5-year-projection/)

48. Sources and Bibliography (4)
22: Photo, courtesy of Inkling: Essential Clinical Anatomy, Moore et al, Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins
Eric Petitt, VP of Marketing, Inkling phone interview, June 14, 2011
Barseghian Tina , ―Watch Out Textbooks, Here Comes Inkling,‖ KQED/Mind Shift, June 8,
2011 (as of as of November 11, 2011: http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/06/watch-out-print-
textbooks-here-comes-inkling/)
MacMillan, Douglas, ―Inkling Publishes Textbooks for iPads,‖ Bloomberg Business Week,
June 9, 2011, (as of as of November 11, 2011:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_25/b4233043963930.htm)
23: Parsons, June Jamrich and Dan Oja, New Perspectives on Computer Concepts 2012,
14th Edition, Cengage Learning (As of November 11, 2011:
http://www.cengagesites.com/academic/?site=4365)
Parsons, June, email exchange, June 2011
24-27: Flat World Knowledge website (as of November 11, 2011:
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com), also phone interview with Eric FrankCo-founder, Flat
World Knowledge

49. Sources and Bibliography (5)
28: Photo by user stevegarfield: flickr
Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., The 2011 Horizon Report,
The New Media Consortium (as of as of November 11, 2011:
http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report.pdf)
Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Haywood, K., The NMC Horizon Report: 2011 K-12
Edition. 2011, The New Media Consortium (as of as of November 11, 2011:
http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report-K12.pdf)
29: Artwork by Tatiana Parcero (http://www.tatianaparcero.net) (uesd with permission)
30: Photo by user zachary b: flickr
31: Image from Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/intl/en/)
32: Image from Concharto (http://www.concharto.org/)
33: Image from flickr (http://www.flickr.com)
34: Photo by user tarzan!!!: flickr
35: Photo by user OpenExhibits: flickr
Open Exhibits (http://openexhibits.org/research)
Howard, Alex, ―7 Areas Beyond Gaming Where Kinect Could Play A Role,‖ O‘Reilly Radar,
December 3, 2010 (as of November 11, 2011: http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/12/dancing-
with-kinects-future-in.html)

50. Sources and Bibliography (6)
36: image from Ocean Data Viewer website (as of November 11, 2011: http://data.unep-
wcmc.org/)
Digital Research Tools (http://digitalresearchtools.pbwiki.com/)
Many Eyes (http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/)
Google Public Data Explorer (http://www.google.com/publicdata/home)
37: General Electric, Smart Grid Augmented Reality (As of November 11, 2011:
http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality)
Austen, Kat, ―Storytelling 2.0: Open your books to augmented reality,‖ New Scientist
CultureLab blog, November 17, 2010 (as of November 11, 2011:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/11/storytelling-20-open-your-books-to-
augmented-reality.html)
38: Alexander, Bryan, and Alan Levine, ―Web 2.0 Storytelling: Emergence of a New Genre,‖
Educause Review, November/December 2008 (as of November 11, 2011:
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0865.pdf)
YouTube and Creative Commons: raising the bar on user creativity, June 2, 2011 (As of
November 11, 2011: http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2011/06/youtube-and-creative-
commons-raising.html)
Open video Project (http://www.open-video.org/)

51. Sources and Bibliography (7)
38 cont.: Wright, Alex, ―Exploring a ‗Deep Web‘ That Google Can‘t Grasp,‖ New York Times,
February 23, 2009 (as of May 11, 2011:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/technology/internet/23search.html)
Dewey Info- Linked Data (http://dewey.info/)
39: Photo by user scrunchieface: flickr
Rausing, Lisbet, ―Toward a New Alexandria: Imagining the Future of Libraries,‖ The New
Republic, March 12, 2010 (October 10, 2010: http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-
arts/toward-new-alexandria)
40: Photo by user andrei z: flickr
41: Photo by user The Ewan: flickr
42: Jaschik, Scott,, ―The World Is Open,‖ Inside Higher Ed, August 25, 2009 (as of
November 11, 2011: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/08/25/bonk)