SpineOut : August 14
The Indigenous Committee (Wunya) at Siena Catholic College on the Sunshine Coast, QLD, have created something fantastic - their own self published e-book! The students wanted to create something that could act as an interactive introduction to Australian indigenous culture, so they put their heads together and wrote an engaging and informative publication called ‘Inside the World of Indigenous Culture’. In early 2014, the Indigenous Committee assembled to discuss plans for this year and one initiative grew out of it: to build an interactive iBook that can give an introduction to the wonders of the Australian Indigenous community. They thought: how could digital media make learning about Indigenous people better? By “better” they weren’t just talking about a richer, more interesting and engaging textbook. Here was their goal: to transfer information in a more accurate and efficient way and to improve peoples’ understanding of this amazing culture. With interactive elements such as quizzes, videos, audio, 3D models, galleries and interactive images, this book will spark your imagination and give you a new understanding of Indigenous culture. I have been directing this project since we came up with the initial concept and having the chance to be able to father this idea and to see it published has been a massive achievement for me. One of my main motivations to complete this initiative is that it is a world first idea that has not been attempted before. I also wanted to be able to show my peers that within a short space of time they can also become a self published author. To create an iBook you will need a Mac with iBooks Author installed (a free program available on the Mac App Store) as well as an active Apple ID so that you can self publish. Next, you will need to set up an iTunes Connect account using your Apple ID so that you can submit your books to Apple for checking. iBooks Author is a really simple program to use and with an open mind you to will be able to create beautiful and professional publications for free. We have learnt so many life experiences from this project that we can use in our futures. Time management is an especially important skill that you need when coordinating information from multiple sources. Additionally, we learnt important communication skills that we needed to use when contacting people and businesses with information for our chapters. With these skills, we will be able to move forward as more competent young adults and so can you by undertaking a project in a group of friends. Make sure you check out our FREE iBook by using the link below or searching the title (Inside the World of Indigenous Community) in the iBookstore! Use this iBook as an inspiration for your own projects and become an author too! Click here for instructions on how to download the FREE iBook If you want to try out a project like ours, get together a group of your friends and work on a topic that interests you all. It may be something as simple as your favourite breed of dog or a particular sport that interests you. Remember, if you are interested in this then it is most likely that someone else will too. Also, make use of interactives by contacting relevant sources (e.g . Video archives) to make your book as interesting as possible.