Innovation That Matters

Smartphone-enabled coffee table book brings photographs to life

Publishing & Media

Inside Tracks is a photography book which lets readers find out more about each image by pointing their smartphone at it and receiving extra video footage.

While a good book should be able to make you think and feel as if you yourself were the main character, physical novels are more and more using technology to add an extra element to the reading experience. While ideas such as the Sensory Fiction project at MIT are using haptic feedback to provide tactile sensations at relevant points in the narrative, other books are taking more straightforward approach. Inside Tracks is a photography book which lets readers find out more about each image by pointing their smartphone at it and receiving extra video footage.

Featuring photos taken for National Geographic by Rick Smolan, the book follows writer Robyn Davidson during her 1,700 mile journey across the Australian outback in the 1970s. The trip resulted in the award-winning memoir Tracks, which has now been turned into a film of the same name.

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As a tie-in to the movie, Smolan has produced Inside Tracks to show fans the photos that inspired many of the scenes. While viewing the images and reading Davidson's quotes about her trip, readers can also get a better idea of how the moments in each image were incorporated into the movie using HP's Aurasma app. When pointing their smartphone at an image, extra video content is unlocked.

The video below acts as a trailer for the book:

Are there other ways to incorporate accessible technology into print books to make them more engaging?

Email: insidetracksrewards@gmail.com

Website: www.insidetracksbook.com

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