The history of De Marque dates back to the 1990s. Marc Boutet, then aged 15, saw his summer plans fall through the cracks: the job he had planned to occupy during the school holidays did not come to fruition. materialized. Discouraged, but far from defeated, Marc decides to put his passion for computers to good use and sets himself a challenge: to use his programming skills to design a program to help people develop their keyboarding method. 'computer.
Who would have known that this summer project would turn into a career? However, at the end of the summer, Marc officially founded Les Logiciels De Marque, a pun on his name, which would later be shortened to De Marque, the current name of the company.
And that summer project he was working on became the famous typing program Tap'Touch, De Marque's first foray into the development of software for Quebec schools. Moreover, this product acted as a catalyst for the lasting relationship between De Marque and the world of education.
“I have always been passionate about knowledge and learning,” explains Marc, now president of De Marque. “The prospect of using computers and technology to help teach and improve access to knowledge and culture struck a chord with me. I didn't just want to witness this transformation; I wanted to take an active part in it. "
Promote the distribution of Quebec digital content in schools
While Tap'Touch is being used more and more across the province, Marc notes an important problem: there are few other digital resources in schools.
“Long before the accessibility of the Web, we worked in schools and we had the motivation to offer digital content, French and Quebec, because what existed was mainly English,” recalls Marc. “I saw that the language barrier could prevent our schools from moving forward and entering the digital age. An offer in French was necessary. "
Leveraging the network that Marc had been developing for years, the De Marque team (yes, it was now a real team) thus propels other high-quality digital resources developed by third parties to make them available in the schools in Quebec, such as the Le Robert range of online dictionaries or eduMedia, a resource for teaching science and mathematics, and many others. De Marque is even participating in the growth of École branchée, which brings together a community of teachers enthusiastic about the transformations brought about by digital technology.
Storage, distribution and loan of digital books
Pursuing its mission to make culture and knowledge accessible through technology, De Marque entered the world of digital books in 2008. The Digital Book Warehouse was created through a partnership with the National Association of Book Publishers (ANEL ). It was the first storage and distribution service for digital works in Quebec allowing publishers to sell their digital books anywhere in the world. The success of this project led to the development of De Marque internationally, which implemented its Cantook Hub technology in France, Italy and Spain, but also opened the door to the creation of a solution for lending digital books in libraries. , Cantook Station.
Based on this technology, the PRETNUMERIQUE.CA service was launched in 2012 following a partnership with Bibliopresto. Today it serves 85 % of Quebec public libraries. Since then, more than 6 million digital loans have been made across the province of Quebec.
Over the course of all these developments, De Marque continues and grows its relationship with schools. De Marque continues to distribute quality digital resources, reaffirming its commitment to the school network by expanding its portfolio with innovative resources such as Ideaphora and Edutechno. Even more, the company is now ready to introduce digital books to schools by offering its Cantook Station service to school libraries. This service will make digital lending accessible in a way adapted to school life, with content for young people of all levels.
“The development of Cantook Station for public libraries was natural for us, as it respected our core values of making culture and knowledge accessible,” says Marc. “Of course, we've always thought about the possibility of digital lending in schools, and it's always been part of our vision. However, we wanted to make sure that our technology was ready to meet the needs of schools. I am happy to say that this day has finally arrived. "
Although the summer of 1990 is far behind us, the fundamental values that defined De Marque from its earliest days still fuel its activities today. Despite technological changes and the changing reality of schools, the need to learn and access to knowledge remain essential.
To follow De Marque
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/DeMarqueinc/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/De_Marque
Website : https://demarque.com
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