HJF Creates eBook for DVCIPM

As technology companies have grown fond of telling us, publishing has changed. You can in fact, curl up with a movie, watch a newspaper or listen to a magazine thanks to a profusion of new devices. For the reader, or maybe the watcher or curler, this is all good news. For publishers, though, each new opportunity means new skills to master.

When the Defense & Veterans Center for Integrative Pain Management came to HJF’s Department of Strategic Communications and Design with a relatively simple-sounding problem, this publishing challenge became a reality.

The problem was that their how-to guide, the Military Advanced Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia (MARAA) book, is hugely useful in the field, but bulky. Could HJF turn their publication into an eBook that medical workers could carry on smartphones, tablets and e-Readers?

The team was more or less prepared for the request; they were already building an app and had experience optimizing websites for smartphones. Still, as designer Troy Curry points out, e-publishing requires a unique approach: “Publishing for print is one thing. Publishing for all forms of media at once forces you to think harder up front.”

After some homework, Curry and developer Paul Popernack, got the hard thinking and technological challenges squared away. Now, as a result, the MARAA book is available via msartphone or tablet in a number of formats. Just as importantly, the Foundation has mastered new skills that will serve it and its clients well in the future.