Hit WEBTOON series "Yumi's Cells" and
"Hooky" will be made available for free in braille on Dot Inc.'s
Dot Pad technology, expanding access to more fans around the
world
Key supporting assets available
HERE
SEOUL,
South Korea, Oct. 30,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WEBTOON Entertainment, a
leading global entertainment company and home to some of the
world's largest storytelling platforms, today announced a
first-of-its-kind collaboration with social venture company Dot
Inc. to create tactile digital comics. Through the partnership,
popular WEBTOON series will be converted into braille on Dot Inc.'s
innovative Dot Pad.
Dot Inc. provides barrier-free products and services to build
inclusive public infrastructure for the visually impaired. Its
tactile display, the Dot Pad, is the first smart tactile graphics
display for the visually impaired, converting any input from a
connected device into a tactile graphic.
Hit WEBTOON series "Yumi's Cells," by creator Donggeon Lee, and
"Hooky," by MÃriam Bonastre Tur, will be the first two series to
launch on the Dot Pad. Tactile digital comic versions of both
titles will be available globally on the Dot Pad.
"The popularity of webcomics is at an all-time high and we
thought it would be great if visually impaired individuals could
enjoy them too. This is my first time exploring webcomics,
listening to audio descriptions, and reading dialogue. It brought
the imagined scenes vividly to life in my mind, and made the
content even more engaging," said Misook Go, the community
manager at Dot, who is visually impaired herself. "I was
especially curious about how the individual cells in 'Yumi's Cells'
looked, and being able to feel their shapes brought a new level of
excitement."
"Part of our mission at WEBTOON is to make webcomics more
accessible for fans around the world," said David S. Lee, Head of US WEBTOON. "Dot Inc.
shares WEBTOON's commitment to innovating for inclusivity. After
making comics more accessible to people all over the world in a
mobile digital format, we're thrilled to work with Dot Inc. to
create a new content experience for the visually impaired."
"The new experience of engaging with webcomics through touch was
very impressive. Even if you did not know Braille, the process of
understanding through illustrations was fascinating, and I hope to
help many people visiting the library experience the world through
the new tactile opportunities provided by the Dot Pad," said
Monique E. Mariani, Braille
instructor at the Braille Institute of America.
The Dot Pad is a real-time tactile graphic and multi-line
braille display for the visually impaired and the blind. The Dot
Pad is compatible with mobile devices and laptops via Bluetooth. It
displays charts, graphs, images and visual data with 320
refreshable braille cells. Users can run their fingers over the
display and perceive the image with their fingertips.
About WEBTOON Entertainment
WEBTOON
Entertainment is a leading global entertainment company and
home to some of the world's largest storytelling platforms. As the
global leader and pioneer of the mobile web-comic format, WEBTOON
Entertainment has transformed comics and visual storytelling for
fans and creators.
With its CANVAS UGC platform empowering anyone to become a
creator, and a growing roster of superstar WEBTOON Originals
creators and series, WEBTOON Entertainment's passionate fandoms are
the new face of pop culture. WEBTOON adaptations are available on
Netflix, Prime Video, Crunchyroll, and other screens around the
world, and the company's content partners include Discord, HYBE and
DC Comics, among many others.
With approximately 170 million monthly active users (as of the
quarter ended June 30, 2024), WEBTOON
Entertainment's IP & Creator Ecosystem of aligned companies
include WEBTOON, Wattpad--the world's leading web-novel
platform--Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, Studio N, Studio LICO, WEBTOON
Unscrolled, LINE MANGA, and
eBookJapan, among others.
About Dot Inc.
Dot Inc., a leader in solutions for the
visually impaired, has introduced groundbreaking products like the
Dot Watch, Dot Pad, and Dot Kiosk since 2015. Recognized as a CES
Innovation Award honoree in 2023 and 2024, Dot is expanding
partnerships across North and South
America. Through collaborations with Google, Microsoft, and
Apple, Dot drives global accessibility. With a strong focus on the
Social aspect of ESG, Dot strives to address social challenges
through technological advancements for people with
disabilities.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dot-inc-and-webtoon-entertainment-release-worlds-first-tactile-digital-comics-302291075.html
SOURCE Dot Inc.