By Martin King, author of augmented reality book, Jack Hunter: The French Connection
For many of you, one of the greatest pleasures in
life is curling up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a favourite book to
lose yourself for an hour or so in an imaginary world that takes you
somewhere far away.
You may have enjoyed the thrill of selecting a new
book of the shelf, or the warm familiarity of a well-thumbed novel.
Unfortunately today, for many young, and often reluctant, readers, this
make-believe world is beyond their grasp as books
sit unread on the shelves. And I should know, I used to be one.
As an author, it comes as a surprise to many that
as a child I shunned books, preferring to enact my battles on the
football field and find treasures within the sweet shop. The world of
books had no draw for me, so how did I turn it around
to become a published author? This is the story of how I found a
passion for stories and how I went about converting others by turning
the conventional book on its head to get other reluctant readers heading
for the bookshelves.
As a child I wasn’t generally interested in books,
and certainly never even entertained the idea of being a writer. When I
was growing up, boys had only three future career choices; fireman,
astronaut or footballer. I ended up working in
marketing, and never found my true calling until four years ago, when I
made the decision to write down the stories in my head, first for a
friend and then for the public.
Seeing the stories in my head come to life was a
novel thrill for me; I could see the castle walls, smell the salty air
of the sea and feel the golden coins of the hidden treasure between my
fingers. But I knew that however keenly I felt
the adventure, many young readers would still shy away from reading a
book. Statistics from Scholastic[1]
suggests that half of parents (49 per cent) feel their children don’t
spend enough time reading books for fun and prefer instead to play video
games or visit social networking sites. It’s clear that the lure of
technology is stronger than ever for young people
but does it really mean the death of the traditional book?
For children, technology and gaming means being
involved in the adventure. Recognising this desire made me want to
experiment with technology and combine the two, seemingly incompatible,
worlds: books and technology. There have always been children’s
books that engage with readers beyond the written word, whether it’s
giving options to choose different endings or including puzzles or clues
within the book. Applying technology is taking
this to a whole new another level, adding another element to get
children interested in reading again. It’s easier than ever for authors
to incorporate an added layer to children’s books with the sophisticated
technology that is continually being developed,
such as augmented reality.
Knowing the enjoyment that flicking through a
physical book brings, I was determined that my foray into the
technological world did not overshadow the most important element: the
story. I experimented with augmented reality, still a relatively
new technology, to enhance my stories, finding a mobile app to be the
best way to bring stories to life by scanning images within the book to
open up a new world within a game.
The idea initially seemed incredible but I teamed
up with some app designers and after much testing and tweaking, and many
hours of both reading and game playing to ensure one did not overshadow
the other, I finally felt I had found a way
to encourage reluctant readers like myself to rediscover the power of
imagination and the enjoyment of absorbing themselves in a traditional
adventure, but with a very modern twist.
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