School Yearbooks go digital

One thing that often get overlooked  when talking about the publishing world is the yearbook. The yearbook is that traditional high school piece of memorabilia that most individuals are familiar with. It’s a collection of images, names, memories and hand written messages that some people will keep for the rest of their lives.

Photo from Student Press Law Center Article



Yearbooks are changing with influence of new media.  In fact, yearbooks today might not even be physical books when all is said and done, but Cd's or files on your email. Yearbooks are becoming digital.

An article by PRNewswire talked about the new browser-based software for yearbooks called Pictavo.

The new software is intended to help yearbook advisers create a trendy yearbook. With the new Walter’s Publishing software advisers will be able to design their book with flexibility, efficiency, easy project management, simple page layout and easier tools.

Pictavo will give advisers and staff the ability to create anytime during the day or night and at any location that has an Internet connection according to the PRNewswire article. The software also has the ability to allow multiple users to work simultaneously in Pictavo. Other features include a built-in chat, and virtual sticky notes.

PRNewswire also had this to say about the new Pictavo software:



photo from Walter's Publishing



Pictavo helps advisers manage their staff and the timeline.  Pictavo's comprehensive project management function enables advisers to assign specific permissions to individuals and groups. Detailed permission levels mean advisers can be assured that staff members only have access to the features they need. Powerful reports and the Dashboard give advisers powerful views of their entire book to make sure everyone stays on track and their books arrive on time.



Walter's Publishing offers the largest selection of yearbook creation software. They have created numerous software portfolios, including EZBook Desktop, EZBook Online and browser-based Pictavo.

EZbook video



Other top digital yearbook companies include Yearbook Life and iYearbook.  Yearbook life also uses EZbook software and is free to its users. iYearbook is more for digital versions of a yearbook rather than a place to develop your yearbook for print publication.

I found this all very interesting and wish that when I was on the yearbook staff in high school that we would have had these kinds of software to work with; would have made working on the yearbook staff a bit more fun. 

But this also makes you wonder if soon there will be nothing but digital yearbooks and eReader textbooks in our high schools. I plan to discuss eReader textbooks in a future post. Until then, here are a few questions to ponder:

• Will students gain or lose from the lack of contact with physical published material?
• Will student eyesight deteriorate due to the increased exposure to digital text and digital media?
  

These are just a few questions that pop into my mind when I think about digital yearbooks. Let me know your thoughts…

Self-Pubishing and iPads: 'Turning' pages into "Apps"

I recently came across an article about WoodWing Software; the first company to introduce an effective system of publishing media the iPad. As I hope to one day own an iPad I found this article very interesting.

One of the most interesting facts in the article had to do with the ever-growing amount of publications becoming available to the iPad via WoodWing's apps or applications.

The number of apps created with WoodWing's Digital Magazine Tools recently passed the century mark, and has since then grown to well over 150 apps. Furthermore, publishers worldwide have produced more than 1,500 digital issues, making the WoodWing Digital Magazine Tools the most popular tablet-publishing solution on the market today. Each month, about 25 new publications are brought to the iPad using WoodWing's solution. A continuously updated list of published iPad apps is available at www.woodwing.com/tablet-gallery. As a result of the large number of tablet publications already created with WoodWing's Digital Magazine Tools, WoodWing's Authorized Solution Partners worldwide have become tablet-publishing experts.

But, WoodWing isn't the only company bringing in the apps; Infinity Publishing is making breakthrough solutions in the app industry as well.

Infinity recently launched OneBook, the first all-in-one app for self-publishing that offers print, eBook, and audio book formats. Infinity's product is being called a 'breakthrough solution' for individuals looking to market their products in various way.

An article from MarketWire had this to say about Infinity's new app:



Photo from startupmeme.com



 Infinity Publishing, a pioneer in self-publishing, today announced the introduction of OneBook (http://blog.infinitypublishing.com/onebook-program/), a unique All-in-One offering for independent authors that allows them to publish their book in print, eBook and audio book formats. The new offering represents a significant value for authors looking for an efficient way to market their work in multiple formats to the world. OneBook combines high-quality production with comprehensive global distribution and is priced 20% below the cost to publish in each format separately. In addition, working with a single publishing company for all versions allows authors to maintain greater control over the publication of their work and to be confident that it will be presented consistently across all three formats in multiple channels of distribution.

Besides my hope of someday owning an iPad or eReader, I also have a professional thougt on these new apps by Infinity and WoodWing as I am a journalist and hope to one day write a novel or two.

Both of these apps could prove highly useful in my professional career and I am eager to see where these company's take these technologies.



Photo from blog.newfiction.com



However, one can't help but wonder how these apps are affecting the publishing industry as a whole. Will there soon be a shortage in actual paged publications, aka books and newspapers and magazines?



Hopefully we wouldn't convert entirely over to apps. It would be a sad thing to loose our printed pages to technological applications. Nothing can really match the real thing.

I know I want a hard copy book with real pages of my book if I ever get published, an app simply would not do.