Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

The objective of this project is to further refine and expand Loud Crow Interactive's ebook developmentplatform and engine, Verso, for industry usability and enhanced participation and social interactivity betweenusers of a given ebook. Loud Crow Interactive continues to be a successful Vancouver-based company thatspecializes in richly animated ebook applications for children's fiction. Emily Carr will use Verso to design aseries of book chapters for genres beyond children's fiction, and will use these prototypes to establish criteriafor the improvement of Verso as an expanding platform. Further, these prototypes will serve as workingexamples of Verso's capacity to foster deeper user participation and integrate social interaction. This is anopportunity for Loud Crow to further prepare their platform for wider commercial use by partners, to grow itsinteractive capabilities for commercial users, and to explore other book genres beyond their current industryfocus. For Emily Carr, this project is an opportunity to make our curricular work and research manifest usingcutting-edge industry tools in a collaborative environment. Graduate and undergraduate students at Emily Carrwill work with Loud Crow's team to develop professional tools for the rapidly expanding field of ebook design,focusing on qualitative solutions for participatory and socially interactive products.