Contact: Wendy Erman Wels Conference Chair International Digital Publishing Forum [email protected] tel: 917-586-4484 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JANE McGONIGAL, Ph.D., FAMED GAMING EXPERT, FUTURIST, AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR JOINS ROSTER OF TOP NOTCH KEYNOTERS AT IDPF DIGITAL BOOK 2015 New York, NY (May 13, 2015) Gaming specialist, futurist, Penguin author, and accomplished TED Talker Jane McGonigal, PhD, has been announced as a surprise speaker in the keynote address sequence at the 2015 IDPF Digital Book Conference, which opens BookExpo America on May 27 at the Javits Center in New York City. While McGonigal is best known for her cross-cultural humanitarian game designs and advocacy of gaming as a positive, collaborative force in cultural development, she will focus her presentation for IDPF’s #DigiBook15 on the challenge that electronic media pose today to reading. Her title: Reading is an Epic Win: How to Engage the Gamer Generation with the Future of Books. IDPF’s overall conference theme is “Putting Readers First,” and McGonigal’s address will be preceded by a focus on “The Customer as Curator” by London publisher and author Michael Bhaskar of Canelo, and by a consideration of reader primacy in the global market from Richard Charkin of Bloomsbury Publishing and the International Publishers Association. McGonigal’s presentation will look at the generational-entertainment gap and what publishing today faces in trying to engage the readers of tomorrow who today reach for joysticks, not e-readers. An outspoken critic of gratuitous “gamification,” McGonigal is the author of the controversial Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (Penguin, 2011). Chief Creative Officer with game-research center SuperBetter Labs, McGonigal has worked with the New York Public Library, the World Bank Institute, the American Heart Association, and the Institute for the Future. She has been named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders; one of Fast Company’s Top 100 Creative People in Business; one of Oprah Winfrey’s (O Magazine) 20 Most Inspiring Women in the World; one of MIT Technology Review’s Top 35 Innovators Changing the World Through Technology; One of BusinessWeek’s Top Ten Innovators to Watch; and one of Game Developer Magazine’s Most Important 50 Game Developers. IDPF Digital Book 2015 comprises two days of presentations and panel discussions designed to spotlight issues and answers in the industry-wide imperative of “Putting Readers First.” Featuring publishing leaders Ken Michaels, Liz Perl, Chantal Restivo-Alessi, Amanda Close, Angela Tribelli, Otis Chandler, and Francie Alexander, the program also fields innovators Andrew Weinstein, Richard Nash, Hugh McGuire, Peter Hudson, Andrew Lipstein, Molly Barton, Joe Wikert, Kristen McLean, Sherisse Hawkins, Kevin Franco, Paolo Albert, Nicolas Zimmer, and many more. Early Bird rates continue to May 19 for the conference, set in the Jacob Javits Center’s Special Events Hall. More information is at the site. BISG's Making Information Pay, a track of IDPF Digital Book 2015, will take place on Thursday, May 28 from 1:15 pm - 3:55 pm and will highlight the wide-ranging role of standards as the bedrock of innovation. Speakers include Dr. Jeff Jaffe, Maureen McMahon, Dr. Rob Abel, and many more. The program will conclude with a panel of the BISG's 2014 Industry Innovation Award recipient and nominees, including Mary Alice Elcock of BitLit, Jason Illian of BookShout, Rebecca McDonald of Library for All, Joshua Tallent of Firebrand Technologies, and Alex White of Next Big Sound, discussing the factors necessary for innovation to flourish. #digibook15 About the International Digital Publishing Forum The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) is a non-profit trade and standards organization for the digital publishing industry with a membership of over 300 companies and organizations from 35 different countries. IDPF is responsible for the EPUB 3 open standard interchange and delivery format for digital books and publications as well as related technical information to promote the development and growth of the global digital publishing market. Proceeds from Digital Book 2014 conference directly support the organization’s mission and work. Further information about the IDPF, including membership options, can be obtained by visiting idpf.org. EPUB and EPUB 3 are registered trademarks of IDPF. About the Book Industry Study Group, Inc. The Book Industry Study Group, Inc. (BISG) is the book industry’s leading trade association for standards, education, and research and information. BISG facilitates the connections and conversations that solve common problems, advance new ideas, and more profitably bring published content to readers. For over 35 years, BISG has provided a forum for all industry professionals to come together and collaboratively address issues and concerns to advance the book community. Its 200 members include publishers, manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, librarians, and others engaged in the business of print and electronic media.
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