Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Al Gore’s ‘Our Choice’ Book App Could Revolutionize Publishing

Just after Earth Day, Rodale and Push Pop Press released the Our Choice app for iPad and iPhone. Our Choice is an interactive, 18-chapter e-book about all aspects of climate change (evidence, causes, possible solutions), featuring color photos, videos, interactive graphics, and animations.

The print version of Al Gore’s “Our Choice” was published in November 2009.

This e-book app is just incredible! Although I had to download and install it twice before it would work (be sure you have a high-speed connection), and pay $4.99, it was well worth it.

The many videos, animations, and interactive graphics—just slide your finger over them to get more info about each part of the graphic—enrich the reading and learning experience in an amazing way. Instead of just reading about the Great Smog of 1952 in London, for example, you can tap a video and watch a BBC report—and actually see what the smog looked like and how poor visibility was. (The smog lasted for five days and killed 12,000 people.)

Similarly, the app includes animations explaining concepts such as how the two types of solar power work, and how wind power is generated. In the latter, you can actually blow into the iPad’s microphone to make the wind turbine spin! (View demo video of the app)

The interactive graphics cover statistics such as wind power generation—but instead of being a flat graph, you can tap the graphic to see the 5-year trend or the latest year, as well as installed capacity, power generated, power per capita, and percent of consumption for the leading wind power nations.

It’s jam-packed with info, but it’s fun to use!

I highly recommend it if you’re a climate or publishing geek.

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