Some of you who attended the 2013 GNSI conference in Bar Harbor, Maine may remember Chuck Carter who gave an interesting presentation on the future of eBooks. Chuck started a new company a year ago and is now working on his first independent project. Using polar bears as the focal point, Chuck and his team are creating an interactive almanac about polar bears and the arctic ecosystem in which they live. But this book is squarely aimed at a mass market. So it has interactivity, games, and a friendly art style.
To get this project off the ground independent of the big publishers, Chuck is doing a Kickstarter campaign to raise what I think is a very tight budget to get the job done. If you are interested in seeing what interactive books are about, or have kids or adults who might be interested in polar bears, you can support this campaign at very modest levels and get a copy of the book for your iPad or Mac. The stretch goal is to move it to Android and PCs if there is enough interest/pledges.
And because this is Kickstarter and not a large publishing company, you can pledge a small amount to just get what I expect will be very educational eLetter updates on how they go about making an eBook, or pledge your way into the book as a recurring character or interact with the design team, if your pockets are deep enough.
Check out one of the many ways we as science artists may need to branch out in the future! And spread the word:
Why do polar bears have such big butts?
PS: Chuck maybe looking for some illustrators to provide support images for portions of the book. Stay tuned!