Implementing new technologies in publishing: Enhanced printed books

Although reading e-books is becoming more popular, printed books are still dominant medium in the publishing industry. This paper describes an experimental project that implements new technologies in printed textbook publishing. A textbook for a university course was published and its content was enriched with three innovative possibilities that include usage of tablets, smartphones or personal computers. QR codes are printed in the book in order to extend content by linking the reader to verified internet sources. In addition, web application was developed to help in the learning process - the application is a quiz composed of ten one-choice questions for each book chapter (with 250 questions in the database that will be upgraded periodically). Prior to publication, the application was tested and the results showed that students are ready to accept new ways of learning. The application is a single-page application that executes its logic on client-side and is written mostly in vanilla JavaScript. Besides QR codes and web application, social networking is used to accomplish interaction between readers, author and publisher. Usage of social networks and application converts a printed book into an integrating resource.