July 13, 2005 -- Journey Stone Creations, LLC and Somatic Digital, LLC today announced a strategic partnership to collaborate in developing interactive hybrid reading books for children.
“ Their vision of providing a complete interactive experience with children including those with special needs is nicely aligned with our mode... ”
Both firms intend to jointly create and distribute an exciting and easy-to-use interactive reading books. The planned books will use Somatic’s touch user interface (TUI) technology connecting Journey Stone’s books to digital content. These reading books will enable the reader to simply press pictures, words, embossed pictures, and Braille, on the printed pages in the book and gain access to associated digital content that is then presented on a PC or Mac.
Somatic Digital’s touch user interface (TUI) technology enables students to interact with the regular printed pages in a book. The child presses a TUI-enabled page and retrieves the associated digital content.
Journey Stone Creations founder and CEO, Patricia Stirnkorb remarked that “We believe that taking any action that will ensure children continue with the reading experience, whether with a book in hand, or an electronic device will be a positive step in developing their reading skills. The fantastic opportunities of Somatic Digital’s touch products opens a whole new category of learning for children of all ages and abilities.”
Somatic Digital founder and President Jason Barkeloo stated, “We are proud to partner with Journey Stone. Their vision of providing a complete interactive experience with children including those with special needs is nicely aligned with our model. Providing a forward leaning organization like Journey Stone with our technology tools to enable interactivity design and implementation is a harbinger of the future.
Barkeloo added, “These TUI-enabled books should have the additional advantage of opening new markets and increasing the size of Journey Stone’s current markets. By meeting the mandates for accessibility as provided by IDEA, NCLB, Section 504 compliance Journey Stone may gain a larger customer audience from the inclusion of special needs and schools.”
Barkeloo concluded by saying that “TUI-based books as a content distribution model can create other interesting revenue models. For example, the child can press a picture on the page and retrieve a song from Apple Computer’s iTunes® store and load it to an iPod®. Another example is updating the content on either the front-end (pages) or back-end (content storage). This is a recurring revenue model for the publisher after the book is sold and deployed to the customer. Instead of the book being a one-time sale, now it can bring in additional revenues due to its connectivity and interactivity. This is done by enabling the child to press an icon on the page and send a pre-addressed email to the publisher or connect directly to the website to buy more books or merchandise.”
Ms. Stirnkorb concluded by saying, “It is both exciting and mind-boggling when we think of the products we can create together. We are thrilled to be a part of this adventure.”
About Journey Stone Creations, LLC
Journey Stone Creations, LLC began with a mission to reach children of all ages with their own characters, the Angels With Attitudes Gang. This delightful gang of kid angels is sure to delight earth kids as they tag along on the A.W.A. Gang’s adventures. With the help of Somatic Digital, the characters come to life on the pages of the books through the help of the TUI technology. Journey Stone Creations, LLC has continued to develop additional characters, new lines of products for various ages, and many different subjects and levels of edutainment products.
Our goal is to put a book in the hands of each child; a book with a purpose of entertaining, teaching, morals and fun. Somatic Digital will help us reach this goal by providing a new platform of technology to reach today’s children. For more information about Journey Stone Creations, LLC and the Angels With Attitudes Gang, visit our web site at www.awagang.com
About Somatic Digital, LLC
Somatic Digital, LLC is developing the touch user interface (TUI) technology. This connects paper directly to digital content that can reside on optical media, the Internet, or hard-drives. This technology enables accessibility for students who normally are unable to connect to digital content. With the press of a finger or stylus or pointer, a physically, visually, or hearing impaired student can gain access to digital content.
The Company's mission is to create and distribute the tools that enable publishers to connect to digital content by touching pages in a book. Somatic Digital seeks to provide a bridge over the digital divide for more students, regardless of learning style, special needs or socioeconomic position, than are current connected. For more information, please visit the Somatic Digital’s web site at www.SomaticDigital.com
Contact:
Somatic Digital, LLC
Jason Barkeloo, 513.225.8765
Contact:
Patricia Stirnkorb
Phone: 513-860-5616
Source: Somatic Digital, LLC
