Alice (iPad) and Alice (paper)

Unsurprisingly, my final paper topic has to do with kids. At first I considered writing about e-books for children in a general way, but after seeing the effect that Alice for the iPad had on my own kid, I became interested in this particular manifestation of digital reading. I was curious about the app, so I borrowed an iPad from the Inforum and downloaded the free "lite" version. I read it myself first, and then handed it over to my 7-year-old.

Sidebar confession: I am a print lover. I love the feel, smell, sight of books. Old books, new books, it's all good. I don't like reading from a screen. It bothers my eyes, and it's uninteresting because it doesn't show visible signs of wear. My daughter, so far, has read almost exclusively print books. So in giving her the iPad I was kind of hoping that she would dismiss it as a fun toy... Which didn't really happen. She sat with it for an hour, and only let go when I said it was time for bed. Oh well...

Now that I've had a little bit of time to interact with the app, I've decided to compare it to the original "Alice" illustrated by Tenniel. In particular, I want to look at the relationship between the text and the images, and consider what difference (if any) it makes for the reader of the book/app. I already noticed a couple of things that I want to explore:

The image where Alice is growing

is used in the app to show her shrinking. Does that make a difference? 

Also, the app uses several illustrations that were not in the original book; I noticed cupcakes and candy (the one used as prizes in the caucus race). This supplementation of the old by the new reminded me of the ancient Greek statues that were "completed" by Renaissance sculptors based on what they thought the sculptures might have looked like (interestingly, a lot of ancient Greek sculptures apparently bore a striking resemblance to the Renaissance sculptors' patrons!). 

And, of course, the movement! What do moving illustrations do to the experience of reading? When a dangling pocket watch partially obstructs lines of text, the worlds of illustration and text collide. But perhaps they were never really that separate in the first place? 

Finally, I want to see if anything can be said about the pages of the book vs. the app. But because I haven't looked at the print original yet, there's not much that I can say about it at this point. 

As you can see, it's all a bit murky for now. I hope things will clear up once I can devote my undivided attention to this. And I have to keep reminding myself that I can't be too biased in favour of the "real" book, no matter how much I dislike dangling pocket watches...