A Pachyderm Retrospective presented to AAM in 2009

1. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Museum Open Source:
Make or Break
Pachyderm Retrospective
Scott Sayre
Chair, Pachyderm Governance Council

2. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Pachyderm at a Glance

3. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Pachyderm: A short history
• 1999 Successful single museum tool (SFMOMA)
• 2001 Interest from the field in access to the tool
• 2003 Grant to redesign as open source (Pachyderm 2.0)
• 2005 Pachyderm 2.0 released to open source
• 2007 Pachyderm 2.1 development begins
• 2009 Over 20 installed servers at museums and
universities. 1000’s of users worldwide.

4. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective

5. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Today’s Face of Pachyderm

6. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Key ingredients for successful
open source software
1. Active communities
2. Support mechanisms
3. Documentation
4. Use of standards
5. Transitioning strategies

7. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Active Communities
• User Community
• Developer Community
– Commercial
– Non-commercial
• Administrative Community

8. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Support
• Financial/resources
• Communication mechanisms
• Technical
– Commercial
– Non-commercial
• Documentation

9. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Documentation
• Developer
– Commented code
– Forums
• End-User
– Instructions
– Help - forums
– Training materials

10. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Standards
• Metadata
• Toolsets/components
• Integration/exchange
• Accessibility
• Etc.

11. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Transitioning
• Funding and supporting organizations
• Versions of software
– Roadmap
– Contribution of customization
• New developers

12. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
A quick review of what to look for in open
source software:
1. Active communities
2. Multiple support mechanisms
3. Quality, up-to-date documentation
4. Adoption of standards
5. Successful transitions

13. AAM 2009 © Sandbox Studios/Museum411Scott Sayre
Museum Open Source - Make or Break Pachyderm Retrospective
Here we go again…