This project began in 1994. My only thoughts were to bring Longfellow's poem, "Evangeline" into computer format so that students could read it at no charge(the book's copyright expired years ago). After I converted the poem over to computer format, I then realized that people reading the poem would not really understand what was happening in the story, unless they knew about the history and culture of the Cajun people. I began gathering text, pictures, drawings and maps, sound clips, and videos to explain more about our Cajun heritage. So, what started out as a small one night project turned into a five year labor of love, which I hope readers will appreciate.
I did not accomplish all of this by myself. Literally dozens of individuals and organizations contributed time, money and materials to make this project happen. I will list them here, but just showing their names does not do justice to their efforts.
Special thanks to: Adam Steg, Tom McHardy, Robert Desmarais Sullivan, David Marcantel, LSU Center for French and Francophone Studies, Fondation CODOFIL, Apple Computer, Inc., Dr. Robert Lafayette, National Data Products, Glenn Booth, D.L. Menard, Michael Doucet, Louisiana Office of Tourism, Maida Owens, La. Folklife Program, Judi LaDousa, Irene Young, Annabel Matherne Hogan, Sean Smith, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Chef John Folse, Brad Broussard (Nexxt Productions), Tom McHardy, Gary Dauphin, Pat Mire, Rick Duet, Jaque Davison, Earlene Broussard, Chef John Folse, Inkie Landry, J.P. Landry, Sally Angelle, Brad Broussard, Jay Edwards, Adam Steg, Jace Melder, Maria Lyles, Dr. Carl Brasseaux, Dr. Glen Conrad, Marti Ratcliff, Isabel Borras, Dr. Carl Brasseaux, CODOFIL, La. Office of Tourism, Bruce Morgan, Vicki Cappel, Earlene Broussard, Rose Marye Boudreaux, Nancy Broussard, Chef John Folse, RasterOps Corporation, Radius, Blue Heron Press, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Craig Geautreaux, Karon Davis, Sally Angelle, Inkie Landry, Alice Carroll, Nutrition Education and Training Program, Louisiana Dept. of Education, Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, Mary Alice Fontenot, Louisiana Folklife Program, Maida Owens, Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, Brad Broussard, Nexxt Productions (Lafayette), J.P. Landry, Inkie Landry, D.L. Menard, Bill Dalton and Slide Effects (Lafayette), Katrinna Huggs, Judi LaDousa, The Times of Acadiana, Peggy Singer, John Hanley, Dr. Nat Wing, Dr. Jay Edwards, Dr. Barrett Kennedy, Dr. Glen Conrad, Glenn Booth, Clinton Leforte. USL Educational Technology Review Center, Dr. Carol Whelan, Andrey Barishkov, Jane Vidrine, Pat Mire, Jaque Davison, Jeff Iverson, Dr. Bob Lafayette, Marti Ratcliff, LSU Division of Instructional Support and Development, Sean Broussard, Jace Melder, Jolene Adams, Frieda Fusilier, Annabel Matherne Hogan, Ray Matherne, May Gwin Waggoner, Lauren Morgan, Julie Fontenot Landry, Rick Duet, Isabel Borras, Gladys Clark, Diane Cagle, Michael Doucet, Anne-Sophie Lamborelle, Earl Comeaux, Mary Menard, Ken Meaux, Rene Babineaux.
We originally created this as a simple Hypercard stack on a Macintosh computer. Over time, we added pictures, videos, and sounds, and turned it into a multimedia CD-ROM, of which more than 3000 copies were distributed free of charge to schools in Louisiana, Canada, and France. It became obvious later that this could be come a terrific tool for teaching French. Several years later, with the help of the Anne-Sophie Lamborelle and the Francophone studies program at LSU, we converted the English version into French, and distributed another 1500 copies of the CD-ROM. Then in 2003, I got crazy again, and decided we should put the whole project on the World Wide Web, so that we could reach more readers, and be used on almost any computer.
We started the original project on a black-and-white Macintosh, using Hypercard, HyperGASP, Macromedia Director, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Premiere. But, it was Apple Computer's QuickTime technology that allowed us to add the great video and audio clips. Since we created the original project on a Macintosh, it was easy to create a Macintosh version of the project on CD-ROM using Toast software, and thus the original CD came to be. Now, we are converting it over to the Web so that our friends with Windows PCs, WebTV, and Unix computers can view most of the materials. We are currently using Claris HomePage, Media Cleaner Pro, QuickTime 4.0, and Photoshop to create the Web version of this project.
If you have any materials to contribute to this project, please send them (in French and English). If you find any errors, please let me know.
Enjoy!
-- Gary Dauphin