Pachyderm Project
What is Pachyderm? Pachyderm is an easy-to-use multimedia authoring tool. Designed for people who have little or no multimedia authoring experience, Pachyderm is accessed through a web browser and is as easy to use as filling out a web form. Authors upload their own media (images, audio clips, and short video segments) and place them into pre-designed templates, which include built-in functionality for playing video and audio, linking to other templates, and other features. Descriptive text can be copied and pasted in, or authored directly in Pachyderm. Once screens have been completed and linked together, the presentation is published and can then be downloaded and placed on the author's website, on a CD, or elsewhere. Authors may also leave their presentations on the Pachyderm server and link directly to them there. The result is an attractive, interactive Flash-based multimedia presentation.
What do Pachyderm projects look like?
Pachyderm pieces are interactive, Flash-based presentations that can include images, sounds, video, and text. Take a look at the examples in the Pachyderm Showcase to get an idea of the kind of thing you can do with Pachyderm.
Can I try Pachyderm myself?
Yes! Several organizations offer hosted Pachyderm accounts. For educational use, the New Media Consortium is offering free trial accounts through June 2007; at that point, you will be able to purchase a yearly account, including help desk access, for a nominal fee. To inquire about an account, please send an email to info@nmc.org.
If you are associated with the California State University system, please inquire about Pachyderm accounts from the Center for Distributed Learning by writing to info@cdl.edu.
Can we install Pachyderm at my institution?
Yes! The code is available free of charge on SourceForge. Pachyderm is a server product; individual authors do not need to install Pachyderm, only to have an account. Installation is best done at the institutional level by a system administrator. For assistance with questions related to installation, please see the Developer section of the Pachyderm Project Website. Later this year, the New Media Consortium plans to offer Pachyderm installations for rent to institutions who do not wish to set up and maintain their own. For more information, please direct inquries to info@nmc.org.
What development work is happening now?
Pachyderm is now a fully open source project. Developers are working on new templates; templates for touch screens, handhelds, and other formats; the installation process and package; and bug fixes. If you are interested in becoming a Pachyderm developer, please visit the project page on SourceForge for more information.
How did the Pachyderm Project start?
The Pachyderm 2.0 Project began as a partnership led by The New Media Consortium and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The project brought software development teams and digital library experts from seven NMC universities together with counterparts from six major museums to create a new, open source authoring environment for creators of web-based and multimedia learning experiences. The new tool is based on Pachyderm, the authoring and publishing tool developed by SFMOMA to author its successful series, Making Sense of Modern Art . [More project information... ]
I still have questions.
Please write to info@nmc.org and we will do our best to help!
