Page 137 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

Reading with augmented reality
Augmented reality has also found a place in editorial production, especially that designed for children and young people, in which this tech- nology brings the authors and characters to life. Videogames have also progressively increased the quality and quantity of their features and the possibilities of simulating reality, which is recre- ated virtually and augmented using AR.
In some cases, the boundaries between reading and videogames have even become totally blurred. One of the earliest examples was Won- derbook: Book of Spells, a videogame created by London Studios in collaboration with the famous writer J. K. Rowling, and the first title of Wonder- book, a peripheral for the PlayStation 3 console in the form of a physical book that placed the player at the centre of the action, transforming the whole environment through augmented reality.
Some of these have been available on the Span- ish publishing market for some time. Perhaps the most widely known initially were those offered by MacMillan Infantil y Juvenil, especially the stories belonging to the “El mundo de Rita” collection written by Mikel Valverde. But they caused far less of a stir than Wonderbook when it was launched. As stated, the game is based
on original texts by J. K. Rowling and converts players into pupils at Hogwarts, who can interact and practice spells using the PlayStation Move motion controller as a magic wand.
One of the few publishing houses that has continued to publish books with augmented reality today is Parramón, which in 2017 brought out the collection “Cuentos para emocionarse” (Stories to get excited about) with several stories enhanced with augmented reality and a new edition of Alicia en el País de las Maravillas (Alice in Wonderland) that incorporates virtual reality. However, new projects for enhancing publishing content with this technology are still emerging, such as Arbibook,77 which presented its collec- tion at the SIMO trade fair in 2017.
Figure 13. Image of the Parramón
edition of Alice in Wonderland.
Source: http://www.elisayuste.com/alicia-realidad-virtual/
Such developments (well-planned and designed) mark a considerable improvement in interac- tivity levels. This feature, as well as attractive,
is particularly interesting in nonfiction books and textbooks, as it allows them to incorporate exercises where the reader can explore the objects in 3D from all possible angles to address various themes.
Transmedia narratives and crossmedia
The next “level” with respect to the use of
the technology in literary creation could be considered to be transmedia storytelling and crossmedia storytelling. The first refers to stories told in various ways using different platforms in which readers participate. Transmedia does not enhance the digital version of a book with links, videos or podcasts, and nor does it adapt a work to audiovisual format.
A transmedia story is spread across various platforms, incorporating new content, characters and storylines, though it is not necessary to access the new content provided in each of the platforms to understand the story as a whole. Each medium allows the author to tell the same story, but in a different way. It is not a case of adding extras, as each medium is part of the story and provides a different reading experi- ence. Readers take over the story and transform it into myriad derivative works.
AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2018
137
Readers in the digital age