Tom Cramer
Chief Technology Strategist
Stanford University
The Hydra Project and its complement Blacklight are mature and successful open source collaborations. Hydra provides a repository framework for managing, preserving and providing access to digital assets; Blacklight gives a compelling search, browse and presentation layer. Both projects have tremendous uptake, and show every sign of vibrant, successful, sustainable projects. But just as importantly, the projects have become something greater than an open source code base; they are catalysts for transforming the architecture, development practices and services of the institutions that adopt the projects. As libraries co-evolve with the digital systems and services they offer, these projects are beginning to reshape institutions that created them in the first place. Something new is emerging: a technical framework that promises an integrated stack of services for all manner of digital content, supported and advanced by a distributed community working in an uncommonly deep collaborative level.
This session will give an overview on the current state of the Hydra and Blacklight communities, and then discuss their futures in the context of emerging trends in the landscape.
