Jumpstart Bengaluru Report: ‘Technology transports stories’

The day-long interactions with experts and delegates at the Goethe Insitut/Max Mueller Bhavan in Bengaluru, was also just that, fun, thought there were of course, serious discussions among cross-section of participants working in different areas of children’s content, as creators and users – writers, storytellers, teachers, curators of activities, bookshop owners, parents, sketch artists, illustrators and others.

Over the last few years, the Garden City has witnessed the birth and growth of several groups dedicated for childhood learning and development, engaged in curating storytelling events, arts and crafts activities, reading and writing sessions, indoor games and much more. In this context, the Jumpstart event gave the Bengaluru public a platform to bring together everyone invested in children’s content, something that was lacking so far in the city.

Inaugurating the event, Andrea Christ, deputy consul general of Germany, said, as playing and reading are perceived to be two separate actions, it is a challenge to bring them both together. “It is a good thing to bring together experts from difference sides – for a more holistic approach,” she said. She added that it was a smart decision for Jumpstart to come to Bengaluru, which is a vibrant city.

What followed was an eventful day packed with two panel discussions and two masterclasses, and a talk on discoverability.

The first session of the day, titled, ‘Hopscotch: storytelling in a playful world’, began with its moderator Manasi Subramaniam asking her panelists: how do writers engage with ideas? Author Asha Nehemiah said, “The creation of writing for children is playful. Working with an idea is a personal and private activity; there is no formula to it.”

Artist-illustrator Sophie Benini Pietromachi, said, she likes to be near children and start to discover things with them. “Step-by-step we discover together. One way is through treasure hunt. They look at the structure of what they have found and then transform it into a character.”

Author and game designer Anshumani Ruddra said, “The part of coming up with ideas is enjoyable. The part of writing in miserable. But I can’t write when I am not miserable.” He emphasized on the role of research while developing an idea: “I need the backstory to understand the world in which I am creating the story. For example, if it is a magic-based world, what are the rules of this magic-based world?”

When it came to designing games, the solitary activity of research and writing made way for a social endeavour. “The process of exploration is pretty similar and shared across with other people,” he said.

Subramaniam highlighted the difficulty of deciding what children want to read. “Children’s literature is the only genre in which you are not marketing to the target audience but to parents, teachers and other adults who work with children.”

The segment that publishes for children is close-knit in India, said Subramaniam. “There are so few publishers that we help each other out.” Asha spoke about the Bookalore Club in Bangalore, which is a collective of children’s writers who conduct activities and workshops for children, and visit schools to promote books and reading.

In the interaction that followed, a participant expressed concern that while new media was being propped up as the next big thing, the effects of these technologies on a child’s cognition and motor skills were being overlooked. Books and offline games were proven to improve cognitive and motor abilities. Are publishers acting responsibly while pushing for use of new media technology for children’s content?

The debate over which was better – the printed book or the digital book – was addressed with full force by two worthy contenders in the session titled, ‘Ctrl Alt Del: storytelling in a time of technology.

Nury Vittachi, one of Asia’s most successful authors of children’s books, introduced a “new” technology to the audience. “It is 1/100th of the price of an iPhone. The best thing is that it is not multifunctional. We have a relationship with it.” He was, of course, holding a book in his hand. He added: “If your kid says ‘I’m bored’ that’s good. It means he’s not being assaulted by various media at the moment. Sitting doing nothing is very important for a kid. There’s no time for daydreaming otherwise today. We lived in daydreams and spent much of our time fantasising…these days kids get on to a bus and look at their phones, come home and switch on the TV…”  

Ralph Moellers, publisher of printed books and ebooks for children, meanwhile, held the flag high for new media technology. “Technology transports stories. Storytelling is deeply rooted in our DNA. The printed book is a technology too.”

When moderator Samina Mishra wondered about the moral panic surrounding new media, Moellers said, “The moral panic is useless. There is not much difference in the ‘inner wrapper’ – in the creation of stories.”

Later in the discussion, Mishra asked, “Will ebook destroy inner lives?” Moellers countered: “Medium is totally irrelevant. A story is a good story is a good story. The really good game is when it is all put together – what is nicely written and beautifully designed…”
 

To develop good games, “you need wild imagination”, said Vittachi. “Our children are being given poorly imagined material,” he added. Moellers offered that it boils down to the totals, “because a lot of this is being done by looking at the ‘international’ market.” He said: “Children’s book publishing should focus much more on local culture. Publishers should be more grounded and not have one eye on the American public.” He said that such attempts at making a book appeal to an “international” audience strips from it much of the imagination that is informed by local cultures.

Later, Ralph pointed out: Earlier, publishers invested in books by spreading their income. They handed out a portion of it in the form of royalties and invested the rest into creating new books. There was an understanding between publishers and authors. “But, publishers have stopped doing it. They need to share their income.”

While responding to a question about the challenges in writing for children, Nury spoke of the debate raging on in the Young Adult (YA) segment – whether YA authors are creating plots with sex, drugs and horror just to get attention.

It isn’t just new media that is the future. What about 3D printing to produce tactile books for children, asked a participant. “They are great for imagination. I am waiting for it to come into homes. Kids can do so much with their imagination using 3D printing technology,” said Moellers.

The two panel discussions were followed by simultaneous masterclasses on writing for children, and on creating illustrations, led by Nury Vittachi and Sophie Benini Pietromachi respectively. While introducing his masterclass, Vittachi said, “Every children’s story has a secret message.” In Pietromachi’s masterclass, participants began by conceptualizing a game, and then creating rules and characters for it.

Excerpted from a longer report by Vinutha Mallya, published on booksy.in