Can books built for iPads be used for rich media journalism?

That's the question my online journalism students in the MAJ program at the University of Western Ontario are tackling.

And, we're working with rabble.ca and thetyee.ca to get a made-in-Canada answer.

Starting a couple of weeks ago, two student teams in the class partnered with rabble and The Tyee to take a sizeable chunk of their content and convert it into a book on the iPad using Apple's new iBooks Author software.

Consider this a delayed obituary for McClelland & Stewart, "The Canadian Publishers," which effectively expired this month after a lengthy decline in the care of several owners and convoluted arrangements. They waited till the firm's 100th anniversary had passed -- a full week. Our question is: does this also mark the demise of Canadian cultural nationalism?

Last week Apple announced a new tool for content creation -- iBooks Author. The free software was part of a broader mid-January event heralding Apple's new thrust into education. The Cupertino-based company also unpacked deals with major K-12 textbook publishers including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw Hill Education and Pearson. As well, it introduced a revamped iTunes U, which will allow university and K-12 instructors to provide full, rich-media courseware for free through iTunes U.