Beginning on September 28th of this year, children will no longer have to read their favorite stories in a book, they will be able to view them digitally. Ruckus Media Group LLC will launch a line of children's books available on Apple's iPhone, iPad, and smartphones with Google's Android system. The "books" will incorporate the color, video, and touch screen capabilities of these products by presenting the reader with interactive activities. The company has made a deal with Rabbit Ears Entertainment LLC for the rights to a number of classic children's videos and reformatted the videos to fully take advantage of the systems' interactive capabilites. An example of the interactivity is a blackboard that can be written on using the touch screen.
Ruckus Media Group says that it is forging partnerships directly with the authors of these children's books, they currently have 75 titles under contract. The company will pay the costs of creating each app which is estimated between $12,000 and $30,000, but would not release the specific revenue split between themselves and the authors and illustrators. By year end, they expect to have available 26 titles.
At ruckusmediagroup.com, samples of the videos to be released can be viewed. Although it is impossible for me to deny that these videos are very innovative and probably more interesting for many children than reading a book, I can't help but wonder, where could this lead? I believe that technology is an incredible asset in the world today, but also that there is a point where it becomes detrimental. By having books available digitally, costing only $3.99, it is not tough to figure out that many people will choose digital over hard copy. As we go further into the future, we, as people, are becoming increasingly dependent on technology, an occurence that, I believe, is negative. So I wonder, should this company have a moral obligation to impede our dependence? Or should they follow the trend of paperless books and simply make a profit?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704285104575491863029792640.html?KEYWORDS=telecommunicationsKEYWORDS%3Dtelecommunications
ReplyDeleteI think this a really interesting innovation as well as ethical and moral consideration. While I agree with you that reading something digitally is very different from reading a book, I think there may be great merit in this idea. More and more children are growing up in a digital world. Having them begin reading in a digital setting that also happens to be more engaging than words on a sheet of paper prepares them for the heavily technological world that they will be a part of in the future as well as showing them that reading shouldn't be regarded as something boring and outdated. The real question is whether the children will then be able to make the transition from digital to paper. Because, although things are becoming increasingly electronic, it doesn't look like paper communications (books, newspapers, magazines) are going to be disappearing entirely in any short amount of time. The real geniuses of the future generations will be the ones who can move seamlessly from digital reading to traditional paper. Therefore, I believe the company has no ethical obligation to discontinue their selling of digital books, because that is the direction in which technology is moving and there is really no way to stop it. Even if they stopped selling digitally, someone else, such as Google Books or Kindle, would still be providing.
ReplyDeleteThe producer is always thinking on the consumer; I’m sure that is true for every company but they are probably thinking what they want and not what is good for them. This company as any other is just trying to sell his relatively new product and that is something perfectly normal on every industry.
ReplyDeleteJudging whether this product is good or not or if its producers have any obligation to society, is out of our hands. In fact most the time the majority of the people will not do anything about it, for example violent videogames. Perhaps people will think that they are morally incorrect or improper for kids but they will still buy those games for their kids.
Claudio Lacayo