Fast forward a little over a year, when Adobe announced the release of the Digital Publishing Suite (DPS), a complete solution for creating interactive and multimedia smartphone and tablet apps. Suddenly the Sports Link project was revived.
Rather than engage in weeks or even months of complex programming, Digital Publishing Suite provided us with a turnkey solution. With DPS, we get our work into app stores and teach cutting-edge tools that take students’ projects into the real world — beyond prototypes.
At Ball State we now have what we call our Digital Publishing Studio where we develop a number of different publications helping us to accomplish multiple academic goals.
First, it allows students to experiment with new technologies. It also lets them work on projects outside of student media. For example, the Digital Publishing Studio creates apps that serve the university, such as a compilation of content for the university’s budget request to the Indiana state legislature. It also produces iLearn, a magazine about online and blended course development published by Ball State’s Integrated Learning Institute.
Additionally, since InDesign is already seamlessly integrated into a curriculum that serves nearly 1,000 majors, we can enhance classroom learning by giving students easy access to tools that allow them to move swiftly from ideation to distribution.
More importantly, after working in the Digital Publishing Studio, many students have attained digital publishing internships and jobs, showing that there is a growing demand for advanced competencies in digital publishing.
For example, Ellen Collier, who is currently a sophomore, worked on the iLearn, 72 HRS, and Ball Bearings publications and parlayed the experience into a summer internship with Indianapolis Monthly magazine. Recent graduate Chelsea Kardokus also worked in the studio as an honors student and wrote her honors thesis about developing the Ball Bearings app.
Her experience with Digital Publishing Suite helped her land her first job, at TIME, where she helps design the magazine’s iPad app.
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