Discis Knowledge Research
Discis Knowledge Research is a company, founded in Toronto in 1988, that acquired rights to children's stories and published them as CD-ROM-based interactive children's books.{{Cite web|date=1993-03-08|title=Discis branches out to multi-format 'books'|url=https://strategyonline.ca/1993/03/08/7020-19930308/|access-date=2020-10-27|website=strategy}}
History
By 1993, the company had published 20 interactive titles including The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, and Thomas’ Snowsuit by Robert Munsch. That year, Discis had sold more than 300,000 discs, primarily across North America.
Discis' two main brands are Little Kids Can Read and Kids Can Read. Users can "have words defined, hear pronunciations, identify parts of speech, and have access to questions and commentary."https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED392069.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}} MacUser wrote that series like Living Books and Kids Can Read "operate on two levels" by letting players follow the story narrative and by exploring the story's contents.{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://vintageapple.org/macuser/pdf/MacUser_9412_December_1994.pdf|title=MacUser|publisher=|date=December 1994|isbn=|location=|pages=92}}
Discis Books is a series of Interactive storybook by Discis Knowledge Research.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-17-fi-3031-story.html|title=Best PC for Families May be No PC|website=Los Angeles Times |date=17 December 1992}}
Entertainment Weekly wrote that "interactive storybooks" like Living Books' Harry and the Haunted House series promoted "less reading comprehension in kids" than "moderately interactive, more fact-oriented" CD-ROMs like Discis Books’ Thomas’ Snowsuit.{{Cite web|title=Fail Safe?|url=https://ew.com/article/1998/09/04/fail-safe/|access-date=2020-10-30|website=EW.com|language=EN}}
Kids Basics
Kids Basics is a sister series of four educational video games by Discis Knowledge Research of Toronto, targeted to children aged three to six who are learning to read.{{Cite web|date=1994-03-07|title=Discis intros 'Kids Basics' CD-ROMs|url=https://strategyonline.ca/1994/03/07/8366-19940307/|access-date=2020-10-27|website=strategy}} The series was created "in an effort [for Discis Knowledge] to broaden its coverage of the children’s market for multimedia". The brand began shipping on February 28, 1994. The titles are written by Susan Amerikaner and illustrated by Judy Ziegler. MacUser said My Silly CD of Counting was "funny" and "effective".https://vintageapple.org/macuser/pdf/MacUser_9412_December_1994.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}
= Kids Basics titles =
- My Silly CD of ABCs
- My Silly CD of Counting
- My Silly CD of Colors
- My Silly CD of Opposites.