Encyclopaedia Britannica stays in touch with new iPad app by Wailin Wong

Photo: Wailin Wong

Wailin Wong writes, "Britannica works to adapt business model to digital information age.
Encyclopaedia Britannica wants consumers to have the world at their fingertips — virtually, anyway."

The 243-year-old company's newest iPad app, released in late October, has an interactive "LinkMap" feature that shows a web of thumbnail images representing articles. Pinching the tablet's touch screen to zoom out displays an increasingly bigger web of interconnected topics. And someone with small, nimble fingers should be able to get the entire encyclopedia onto one screen.

Touch screens on tablets and smartphones "allow for a different kind of engagement with your brand," said Jorge Cauz, Britannica's president. "It's much more intimate because of the ability to zoom in, the responsiveness of the screen … the closeness between the user and publisher. The Britannica brand comes much more alive on these apps than on the Web."

Chicago-based World Book, which caters to students, has introduced educational material for classroom teachers, as well as digital content for the iPad and smartphones. Both World Book and Britannica continue to publish print versions of their encyclopedias, although much of the focus has turned to digital products.
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Visit iTunes to buy and download apps.

Source: Chicago Tribune