Michigan Publishing Announces Beta Launch of New Publishing Platform, Fulcrum

From Michigan Publishing (U. of Michigan):

The University of Michigan Press/Michigan Publishing, in collaboration with University of Michigan Library IT, is proud to announce the initial beta launch of its Fulcrum publishing platform.
In its beta phase, Fulcrum is focused on the presentation of digital source and supplemental materials that cannot be represented adequately in print form. Fulcrum allows for a richer experience and deeper understanding for the reader and enables authors to make better, multi-faceted arguments. The platform readily supports multimedia content, including playback for audio and video files and pan-zoom capability for high resolution images. All content is discoverable and preserved via durable URLs. Structured metadata and faceted search results also allow for further exploration of the materials.
The first project to launch is The Director’s Prism: E. T. A. Hoffmann and the Russian Theatrical Avant-Garde by Dassia N. Posner, published in print this fall by Northwestern University Press.  The Director’s Prism includes video clips of theatrical productions, an audio file, and additional full color images that can be viewed in more detail with Fulcrum’s zoom functionality.
Fulcrum was developed with generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and was developed in collaboration by publishers and libraries using an open source software framework, Hydra/Fedora.
The Director’s Prism marks the first of four beta releases which will feature additional content from partners, University of Minnesota Press, Indiana University Press, and Penn State University Press. Each forthcoming release will feature individual branding and include further revisions of the presentation and functionality of the supplemental materials for optimal user experience.
Beginning in 2017, development will focus on support for “born-digital” works, opening up possibilities for the dissemination of scholarship in new and innovative ways. For more information on Fulcrum, visit https://fulcrum.org.
For more on The Director’s Prism, go to https://www.fulcrum.org/northwestern.

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