Plumi

by Andrew May 19, 2013
EngageMedia produces Plumi, a video-sharing web application, in partnership with developers Unweb.me. Plumi is a package of software modules and customisations built on the popular open source content management framework Plone.

Plumi logoPlumi is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and available for others to freely use and further develop. Almost all video sharing sites do not make their software available for others to utilise. We wish to make what we do here at EngageMedia possible for others to replicate.

It's our contribution to creating truly democratic media, by helping independent video initiatives gain control over their own distribution infrastructure.

For more information, how to get involved and to download the software, see the Plumi blog: http://plumi.org.

Selected Features (see full list here)

VISUAL THEME

  • Fresh Skin You can customise Plumi to look however you like, using the new Diazo framework. But, right out of the box, you will be pleased to see a shiny, contemporary skin, easy to use and pretty to look at.
  • Mobile Friendly, Adaptive Layout The layout is designed to adapt to different screen sizes, and videos will play back on Android and iOS devices.

VIDEO PLAYBACK

  • HTML5 Video Player We use mediaelement.js, an HTML5 player that will work in any modern browser. You can view video fullscreen and play/skip/pause the video and scrub through it using the controls. Choose high/low resolution playback.
  • Video Embedding Users can easily embed the video by clicking to grab an <iframe>.
  • Sharing on Social Networks Share videos on social networking sites with the click of a button.

SUBTITLES & LANGUAGE OPTIONS

  • View and Create Subtitles We have integrated the Amara subtitling system, so it’s a snap to view subtitles in any language that’s been added, or add your own subtitles to the video instantly through Amara’s user-friendly interface. This, plus internationalisation capabilities to translate the interface into another language, makes Plumi a powerful choice for multi-lingual video-sharing sites.

UPLOADING VIDEOS

  • Video Upload Form Add a video using our simple drag ‘n’ drop widget, watch the upload progress bar, and add metadata to your video including title, description, tags, categories and an open-content licence.
  • Auto Transcoding of Any Format Plumi automatically transcodes most video codecs to webm & mp4, and automatically generates a thumbnail (or attach a custum thumbnail image).
  • Open Content Licensing You can add a Creative Commons or other licence, making it easy to choose how others may distribute your work.
  • Resumable Uploads via FTP Users can log in via FTP and upload videos. This is very helpful with slow and/or unreliable internet connections and for users uploading very large files.

BROWSING VIDEOS

  • Taxonomy and Templates Users can classify videos by genre, country, topic and keywords. Templates are available to also view videos by genre, country, topic, tags, video language or by each user. Developers can customise the taxonomy system to your own needs.
  • Advanced Search Use Plone’s powerful search function to find videos and other content, and filter your results via advanced search.
  • RSS Feeds RSS1 and RSS2 and video podcast feeds are generated for every user, genre, country, topic, keyword, search, video collection and for the latest videos.

COMMUNITY FEATURES

  • Profiles Users can register, add their bio and a thumbnail, add their interests (which will group them with users of the same interests), or add a PayPal account as a virtual tip-jar. A user’s profile lists all the videos and other content they have added, plus a link to their own personal video podcast.
  • Users and Groups Plone has powerful groups functionality that can be customised to manage content among users – for example working on content privately as a group. Manage roles for different users.
  • Feedback & Commenting Users can engage in threaded discussions on any content, and receive notifications. Contact a member of the site via their profile, or use the site-wide contact form to communicate with site admins.

SITE ADMINISTRATION

  • Moderation & Workflow Control publishing of videos, news, events and comments. Site administrators or editors receive email notifications to let them know when content is ready to moderate.
  • Admin Panel Use the Plone site admin panel to add/remove and configure add-on Plone products (modules).

Future features will include:

  • Integration of campaign media methodologies
  • Add videos from other sites