Open Ended Digital Books: The Wave of the Future?

As technology continues to improve, instructors at all levels look for ways to integrate that technology into their lessons.

Recently, California State University, Long Beach professors Oliver Wang and Scott Wilson had the opportunity work with a new platform being developed by the USC Institute for Multimedia Literacy.

Known as Scalar, this program allows authors to engage readers by using different types of visual media, which is incorporated into different elements in the text.

“There are two ways of telling stories, and Scalar falls more along the path of a non-linear narrative,” said Wilson. “It is a platform that will appeal to and engage digital natives.”

Wilson is currently working on a ‘book’ about the Century Villages at Cabrillo, which is a residential community established in 1997 to aid the homeless.

Wilson, who works in the department of Anthropology, chose the CVC because they are an organization that provide a number of services to help get homeless people and their families back on their feet, including life skills training, substance abuse counseling, and a homeless education program.

“This is something that is taking place right in our backyard and a lot of people are unaware that it even exists,” he said.

Wang, on the other hand, has always been fascinated with music, particularly Filipino American mobile DJ crews in the San Francisco Bay Area. His ‘book’ acts as an interactive history of this sub culture, complete with pop up maps, and both visual and audio archives.

“I wanted to figure out a way to share my research,” Wang said. “My main motivation in compiling this work is sharing it with the people who are the subjects.”

Wang adds that Scalar is very user friendly and merges different types of media well.

“You as the author create the world,” he said. “The chapters, which are called narrative stands, allow everything to stay organized and work really well together.”

Wang, whose book, “Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile Disc Jockeys Crews of the San Francisco Bay Area” is scheduled to be released next year, uses Scalar to compliment the book.

“What I really enjoy about the platform is that it allows me to share parts of my book before it’s done,” he said. “It lets readers see and hear what I am writing about in a digital setting.”

Scalar will also let authors like Wang continue to add content to their project, even after his book is published.

Although there are many things that you can do with Scalar, the platform is still in its infancy stages and not yet available to the public.

Still, Wilson sees the possibilities. “This has the potential to be a game-changer.”