digitization
Picturebooks 2.0
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
Serafini, Frank, Kachorsky, Dani, & Aguillera, Earl. “Picturebooks 2.0: Transmedial features across narrative platforms.” Journal of Children’s Literature. 41(2), 2015: 16-24.
Referrer: Chris Vitale
Categories: digital picturebooks, picturebooks, visual storytelling, digitization, layout, child readers
Annotation:
Digital technology has had an augmenting affect on picture books. The author’s of this article are concerned with the transmedial features of the text as well as the work being done by visual images, sound fx and music, textual and paratextual elements of the story, as well as a range of interactivity points within the text such as navigational elements, transitions, and animations. The printed picture book is very different than the experience found on digital devices. For these authors, the content of the book is something that can be experienced in many places and many ways. The digital platform is altering the experience that one can have with a children’s narrative. The meaning garnered from stories is in effect changed as well. For picture books published in print format, digital formats present a new range of entry points for multimodal inquiry. The main primary source for these researchers is The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, a text that was published in print and digital media.
Is the Picture Book Dead?
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
Schons, Lisa M. ‘‘Is the Picture Book Dead? The Rise of the iPad as a Turning Point in Children’s Literature.’’ Journal of Digital Research & Publishing 2 (2011): 120-28.
Referrer: Chris Vitale
Categories: digital picturebooks, picturebooks, visual storytelling, digitization, layout, child readers
Annotation:
From 2010’s release of the Apple iPad, digital publishing saw a drastic change in many ways. More so, the picture book genre saw a wave of new possibilities. Schons explores the market effect as well as the radical reconceptualization of the genre in this article. Using The Heart and the Bottle as an example, Schons notes the differences between the traditionally printed picture book and the new experience driven interactive iPad picture book. Multimodality is positioned as the new normal for digitally published picture book apps with an emphasis on the blurring of lines between movies, games, and books. E-literature is presented as a revolutionary tool for improving the literacy and digital literacy of the child. One important conclusion to note is the statement that the two different formats, traditional and digital, have a place in the complex and rapidly changing market.
Re-conceptualising picturebook theory in the digital age.
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
Al- Yaqout, Ghada and Maria Nikolajeva. “Re-conceptualising picturebook theory in the digital age.” Nordic Journal for ChildLit Aesthetics 6, (2015).
Referrer: Chris Vitale
Categories: digital picturebooks, picturebooks, visual storytelling, digitization, layout, child readers
Annotation:
The digital age has altered the way we read and study the picture book. Al-Yaqout and Nikolajeva maintain the need to expand the theory beyond the multimodal text and image understanding of visual and verbal understandings to include the new elements of multimodal picture books: “auditory, tactile, and performative dimensions.” The article looks at both digital stories as well as apps which are shaping the way visual texts are delivered and interacted with. The immateriality of this new way of digital texts is brought forth for consideration. Interesting points such as the impact of the exploitation of interactivity, the destabilization of the confines of layout and space found in printed texts, and the performance of reading, being read to, or following along. Books that are now available in both print and augmented digital formats, like The Cat in the Hat and Goodnight Moon, are juxtaposed and discussed. Digital children’s literature commands a need for a reevaluation of picture book theory.
Visual Images in Children’s Picture Books.
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Uncategorized | By Chris Vitale
Kiefer, Barbara Z. “Visual Images in Children’s Picture Books.” Shattering the Looking Glass: Challenge, Risk, and Controversy in Children’s Literature. Ed. Susan S. Lehr. Norwood: Christopher-Gordon, 2008. Print.
Referrer: Chris Vitale
Categories: picturebook, visual storytelling, comics, digitization, mass production, printing process, postmodernism, audience
Annotation:
Kiefer begins by working to define children’s picture books as more than a 20th century creation, but rather an integrated aesthetic experience consisting of concepts and images that has been around for much longer. Kiefer assigns art the ability of creating meaning. The gut of Kiefer’s article explores the form and formats of the picture book as it evolved from sequential illustrated picture books, comic strips, graphic novels, to nonsequential fiction and nonfiction in the picture book. All of these formats have widened the audience for the form of the picture book. Technological developments, such as woodblock versus moveable type, computers, laser scanners, and color separation are given their due credit for creating the possibilities of mass-produced picture books. Media developments like black-and-white to full color, computer generated to mixed media, have also had a profound effect on the picture book. Most compelling is Kiefer’s discussion of the effect new topics has had on the form. Kiefer discusses the emergence of dark comedy, complex emotional issues, and postmodern conceptualizations of the form. In this review of visual images in children’s literature, Kiefer does a thorough job of providing work that exemplifies the points she is making.
