Bridging the Digital Divide: Linking Printed Pages to Digital Content for Distance Learning Applications

Cincinnati, OH, July 16, 2007 -- Somatic Digital announced today that its founder and President, Jason E. Barkeloo, will present the paper, co-authored with Dr. Michael Seth Mott, Bridging the Digital Divide: Linking Printed Pages to Digital Content for Distance Learning Applications at the First International Conference on Technology-based Learning with Disability (LWD) at Wright State University, Session 4: Information Access and On-Line LWD, Friday, 9:45 am in Dayton, OH.

Mr. Barkeloo comments that, "converging print and digital media environments seeks to change the 'print or digital' paradigm to a 'print and digital model. Now information can be conveyed through converging the best of both the print and digital contents and services."

From the abstract: "Professors and teachers are increasing wanting to manage learning content as learning objects. They want control over educational content. The copyright infringement case against Kinko's by Basic Books (1991) illustrated that professors want to create course packs, but using a copy machine to do it is considered a copyright violation. As a result, there is a split between the content management needs of the customer and the digital rights management (DRM) needs of the publisher. It is likely the student does not benefit from this polarization of needs."

"In addition to demonstrating building a TUI interactive hybrid book, a brief discussion will center on the Digital Content Subscription Services (DCSS) system. The intent of DCSS is to enable the publisher a more secure and flexible delivery mechanism for their proprietary content while enabling the teacher the use of the publisher's materials as learning objects. This system ensures the DRM and compensation model for publishers while enabling the teacher to present self-designed materials to students. This customization system uses software tools and a hardware platform that blends the best of an open source model with the DRM model of the publisher. There are three winners from such a system: (1) students, (2) teachers, and (3) publishers."

More on the Conference and the paper is at: http://www.wright.edu/lwd/technicalsession2.html

The TouchBook™ platform is embedded with the Touch User Interface (TUI) technology. Properly designed content materials using the TUI should meet the requirements outlined in the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

About Somatic Digital

Somatic Digital, LLC, is the developer of the Touch User Interface (TUI) technology as the TouchBook™ platform for media content owners and publishers. As a platform and tool provider, Somatic Digital provides publishers and content owners with the ability to provide an inclusive universally-designed multi-media experience for everyone through the convergence of print and digital environments.

More on Somatic Digital at http://SomaticDigital.com.

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