Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Stephen Fry's 'myFry' App Turns Linear Narrative Into a Colorful Pinwheel

by Amar Toor on September 13, 2010 at 03:20 PM

myFry App
When Stephen Fry was putting together an e-reader version of his new autobiography, 'The Fry Chronicles,' he could've gone the traditional route, slapped his text onto an iPad app, added a few graphics, and/or garnished his book with a Hugh Laurie voice-over narration. Instead, he decided to reinvent the narrative wheel. Literally.

Available for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad, Fry's new 'myFry' app breaks down his new autobiography into various sections, which are represented in an interactive colorwheel design. As the author explains in this instructive video, readers can browse the book's 'spines' by turning their fingers around the digital pinwheel. Once a user taps on a particular section of the book, the app will automatically bring up a list of topical tags within the section, and will also list other parts of the book with the same tags. "This non-linear structure allows you to create your own personal narrative," reads the app's description. "Instead of doing something rather prosaic, like reproducing the printed book on a touch-screen, myFry's unique visual index encourages users to discover and interact with Stephen's story in new and unexpected ways."

myFry


Penguin is simultaneously releasing Fry's autobiography on the Kindle and other e-reader platforms, as part of an appropriately broad digital launch for a notoriously tech-obsessed author. "We wanted to produce a unique digital publication for his book," Penguin's digital publisher Jeremy Ettinghausen told the Telegraph. "Every word of 'The Fry Chronicles' is in the 'myFry' app, but the design and technology have allowed us to create an experience that would not be possible in print, and discover a new way to present an author's work."

Tags: books, e-reader, ebook, ipad, IpadApp, iphone, IphoneApp, kindle, myFry, reading, StephenFry, top

Comments

2

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular