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Mohsin Junaid

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Future books should have animations along with still images.

With inventions of smart devices, future books would be mostly e-books. So, every book should have animations along with still images.

For example, authors can provide animations on important topics like how our heart pumps blood in the body or how a pointer works in C?

This would help dull students (like me) to imagine and understand things easily.

Related Talks:
Topics: animation computer science ebooks education future learning technology
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    Paul Lillebo

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    Jan 26 2012: Some of this is already on the market, especially for graphics in corporate reports. I'm sure it won't be long before we see it in Kindle and other e-readers.
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    Tony Kuphaldt 10+

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    Dec 28 2011: One form of animation I've used in writing an ebook is a "flip-book" animation where successive pages in the book show different frames of an animation. The reader can advance (and play in reverse!) the animation simply by clicking on the page forward/back buttons. It requires many pages to do this well, but page count is irrelevant in an ebook.

    As crude as this technique might sound, it actually enjoys certain advantages. Freezing on a particular frame is really simple and easy to do. Reversing the animation is as easy as playing it forward. The file size required is much less than for any standard video format. It requires no special software to create. It works with all existing print-based digital technologies.

    In defense of prose, many topics can be adequately described in text if only the author takes the time and care to describe in detail what is happening. It could very well be that your own difficulties understanding certain topics has less to do with your own "dullness" than it does in authors' inability or unwillingness to describe those topics well. I'm sure you can recall reading a technical book where the author writes in beautifully visual prose, making the ideas come to life in your own mind as though you were watching a movie or having a face-to-face conversation with the author. Many technical books written in the 1950's are like this, and they are wonderful to behold. Not only do they convey the ideas with simple efficiency, but in exercising powers of visual imagination they help the reader to become more adept at grasping concepts without the benefit of animations.
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      Mohsin Junaid

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      Dec 29 2011: Nice to see someone was doing the same thing with different approach. While getting animations made for ebooks, author's imagination is really important and animations can describe the author's mind about a topic very clearly than text can do, I think.
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    Edward Dean

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    Dec 28 2011: This idea will certainly encourage learning, particularly for little one's. Imagine if the subject matter allowed the 'reader' to see ['actions], hear the 'story' and participate in the direction [interactive] of the story. Having various directions, a story will also encourage 'decision-making' by the reader and sound analyse of all of the facts presented - interesting!!

  • Ted Freitas

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    Dec 27 2011: With technology advancing so fast and us now getting many books, publications, information electronically it's very surprising that publishers or eBook providers have not started to leverage the technology to draw readers in. I'm sure that interactive media will be the wave of the future, it's just going to take everyone some time to jump on board.
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      Mohsin Junaid

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      Dec 29 2011: Same here. I am surprised also why nobody has started working on it.
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    Lee Wilkinson 20+

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    Dec 27 2011: In Harry Potter when the characters read the newspaper the images come to life. My point being that the technology we have available should be able to allow us to take what is faction at present and make it come to life in a text book or an e book, so as you say there would be a visual and audible support for the text we are reading.It's an idea worth pursuing.
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      Mohsin Junaid

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      Dec 27 2011: I would love to pursue this idea but I am stuck in my research stuff. May be I can persuade someone to go with it. Thanks for letting me know about the technology.
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    Dalia Rubin

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    Dec 26 2011: Amazing idea!!! Why not add sounds too? All of this can give much more information and also help poeple with learning disabilities.
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      Mohsin Junaid

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      Dec 26 2011: Yea. Surely we can add sounds too. Probably we can just start with a small books covering a few topics with not-so-good animations but as technology advances, we can build tools which may help us to make animations about educational stuff.

      Also I think, in previous two decades, there has been too much advancement in IT. And for our children to have a background of older technologies, they would have to spend a lot of time on reading books. Animations can save their time.
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    Lee Wilkinson 20+

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    Dec 26 2011: This sounds a bit like Harry Potter, what a great idea!
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      Mohsin Junaid

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      Dec 26 2011: I have not seen Harry Potter yet, but I think, this can help many students around the world to understand different concepts. Thanks for appreciating the idea.
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