rEvolutionary eComics

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(r)Evolutionary (e)Comics

• Midwest Popular Culture Association October
  14, 2005Dedicated to the memory of Byron Preiss
  1953 - 2005
• William Harroff
• McKendree College Lebanon, Illinois
• Charlotte Johnson
• Southern Illinois University Edwardsville,
  Illinois

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Learning Outcomes

• Recognize eComics as the latest evolutionary
  stage in the extraordinary history of the
  (comic) book
• Expand your definition of electronic comics
  beyond the narrow one accepted and
  propagated by most commercial publishers and
  the media
• Understand the advantages, disadvantages and
  future impact of new formats
• Review critically acclaimed digital publications
• Consider significant issues such as the
  redefinition of the reading, writing and
  creative processes and the future of
  information delivery
• Imagine the importance of the comic book to
  learning

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Agenda

• The Evidence for a Growing Crisis Aliteracy
• The Evolutionary History of the eComic
• The Context Affecting Attitudes Behaviors
• The Revolution in Content, Authoring Reading
• Solutions eLiteracy / Multiliteracies
• Our Top 10 List
• Whats New

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The End of Reading Readers at Risk NEA

• Fewer than half of Americans over 18 now read
  novels, short stories, plays or poetry
• Just 56.6 read a book of any kind in the
  previous year, down from 60 a decade earlier
• 37.6 of men were doing less literary reading
  than women (55.1) Hispanics (26.5) were doing
  less than African-Americans (37.1) and whites
  (51.4) but that all categories were declining
• In 1982, 59.8 of 18-to-24-year-olds read
  literature by 2002 that figure had dropped to
  42.8
• In the 25-to-34 age group, the percentage of
  literary readers dropped to 47.7 from 62.1
• Of literary readers, 43 perform charity work
  only 17 of nonreaders do

17,135 people surveyed - data was compared
with similar studies from 1982 1992 The Survey
of Public Participation in the Arts Census
Bureau 2002
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Scribners
189419th Century eBooks
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Revolution in Reading

• Evolution of Reading
• New active readership
• The C Revolutions
• Computerization
• Convenience
• Customization

an attempt to battle against the missionary
position of reading Donna Leishman,
redridinghood
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Revolution in Content eComics Rule!

• How many comics can sing to you? or
• Place the user in control of the content?
• Allow content to be emptied refilled?
• Include metadata?
• Tell you their own stories?
• Demonstrate techniques?
• Picture in unmatched color?
• Link out to other resources?
• Be distributed at the speed of light?
• Sound out or spell each word or phrase?
• Be made accessible to suit everyones needs?
• Contain 1000s of additional works in the same
  space?

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The Context Affecting Attitudes and
Behaviors Rising Expectations
American children receive electronic books before
they are able to walk, much less read. Stores are
filled with publications for toddlers
masquerading as toys before the traditional
fragile media of paper is introduced to them.
Even when print books are purchased, they often
include embedded electronic chips,
audio-cassettes, video games and related CD-ROMs.
With this type of introduction to reading, it
is unrealistic to believe that more sophisticated
digital publications will not be demanded by
today's children, young adults and adults.
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Bembos Zoo Roberto deVicq de Cumptich
2000
ISBN 080506382X
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Some Context Affecting Reading
Rising Expectations

• Electronic book toys
• Print books with electronic chips,
  audio-cassettes, and CDs
• iPOD / MP3 music and audio devices
• Game and media players
• PDAs (personal digital assistants)
• Laptops and tablet PCs
• Smartphones (Cameras, Web browsers)

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ComicBaseinventorysystem
2005
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The Solutions The Revolution of the New

• Affordable PCs
• Usable software
• Faster operating systems
• Portable media
• Cassettes
• Floppies
• Diskettes
• Compact discs
• DVDs

• Portable devices
• Laptops
• Dedicated readers
• Audio players Cassette, CD, MP3, MP4
• DVD players
• PDAs
• Tablets
• Smart phones
• Multipurpose devices

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The Solutions Revolution in LiteraciesArt
Spiegelman
2004
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Comic Art Software plasq
2005
The Solutions Revolution in Authoring