CurationTelling Stories for the Digital Age The Curated Journey Continues …
!
!
21 January 2014
Objective‣ Appreciate the broad nature of the term 'Curation'
!
‣ Collecting, Organising and Displaying ‣ Private Sector - Carefully Selecting and Sharing
(Marketers are taking over the term) !
‣ What is curation? ‣ What are the components?
Readings‣ Storify - How and Why to Storify ‣ Omeka - Peers?
Last Week‣ Questions? ‣ DRAPIer *is* available again
Alternatives‣ WordPress - We’ll Talk about in presentation ‣ Drupal - We’ll Talk about in presentation ‣ Exhibit - We’ll Talk about in presentation
!
‣ ContentDM - We’ll Talk about in storage management ‣ Duraspace (DSpace and Fedora)
!
‣ Noting that Omeka and these all can co-exist - all are parts of a larger ecosystem
"The emergence of the web has brought scholars and librarians, archivists, and museum professionals into
increasingly closer contact and conversation as humanists are required to think differently and more deeply about the nature of information and librarians are required to play an
ever more public role online."
Bit of Background‣ Omeka was developed at Center for History and New Media
(CHNM) at George Mason University as a "next generation web publishing platform for museums, historical societies, scholars, enthusiasts, and educators." The feature-rich offering provides for the presentation, searching and browsing of digital collections along with a robust metadata management facility.
Who is CNMH?‣ Roy Rosenzweig Centre for New Media and History ‣ Founded 1994 ‣ George Mason University in Washington ‣ Collaborative Space Supporting 50+ Scholars ‣ To preserve and present history online ‣ Transform scholarship across the humanities ‣ Supported by grants from AHA, NEH, NHC, Library of
Congress, Meloon, Sloan, Rockefeller and Kellog Foundations amongst others
Products
Zotero !
Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to
help you collect, manage, and cite
your research sources.
Omeka !
Designed for cultural institutions, enthusiasts, and educators, Omeka is a platform for publishing
online collections and exhibitions.
Omeka.net !
Let Omeka.net host your collections, research, exhibits, and digital
projects.
THATCamp !
Short for “The Humanities and
Technology Camp," THATCamp is a
BarCamp-style, user-generated
“unconference” on digital humanities.
Scripto !
Scripto is a free, open source tool that enables
community transcriptions of document and
multimedia files.
PressForward !
PressForward is pioneering new
methods to capture and highlight orphaned or
underappreciated scholarship and
share it with digital humanists across
the web.
ScholarPress !
Manage your class, publish research, or
collaborate on a conference
presentation with this hub for scholarly & educational plugins.
Anthologize !
Anthologize is a free, open-source, plugin that
transforms WordPress into a platform for
publishing electronic texts.
Survey Builder !
Build online surveys that are especially
applicable to oral histories.
Timeline Builder !
CHNM Labs: Easily create and manage a timeline of historical
events for your website.
Serendip-o-matic !
Serendip-o-matic connects your sources to digital
materials located in libraries, museums, and
archives around the world.
Web Scrapbook !
Store all kinds of media items —
URLs, images, text, and movies — &
collaborate thru the CHNM online scrapbook.
What is an Omeka?
So What can you do with it? In Education‣ Example 2
So What can you do with it?‣ Example 1
So What can you do with it?‣ Example 1
OMEKA Core Features‣ Based on Open Source
Technology: Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP;
‣ Free to Use, Free to Change;
‣ Easy to Use; ‣ Change Design using
Themes;
‣ Add Functionality with Plug-Ins;
‣ Unqualified Dublin Core Metadata;
‣ Strong Support Community;
‣ Extensible, Scalable, Flexible;
‣ Interoperable
What is 'an Omeka'‣ An Omeka 'instance' contains: ‣ Items (digital Objects of various types) ‣ Collections (of objects) ‣ Sites (set of collections) ‣ Exhibits (curated subsets of site
collections)
Sidenote: Buying Server Space‣ Simpler then you may think ‣ $12/yr on reclaimhosting.com for example ‣ $4-6 gets you as much as you may need for personal or
project usage ‣ Hostgator, Bluehost, DreamHost, Site5 are good examples ‣ Domain Name + Shared server space ‣ Software Installs are automated ‣ Mailserver etc. standard
Supported Item Types‣ Document ‣ Still Image ‣ Moving Image ‣ Sound ‣ Oral History ‣ Email ‣ Lesson Plan ‣ Website ‣ HyperLink
‣ Event (Time-Based Occurrence)
‣ Person (Biographic) ‣ Interactive Resource
A Rather Quick Introduction to Dublin Core
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Title ‣ <dc:title></dc:title> ‣ What the formal name of this resource - how would a user
know it? ‣ Examples: title of a painting, photo, document; the name of a
person when using the "person" item type; the name of a lesson plan.
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Subject ‣ <dc:subject></dc:subject> ‣ What is the domain area/topic (non-spatial or temporal) that
the object is part of? ‣ Controlled vocabularies such as the Getty can help here. ‣ Typically keywords, key phrases, or classification codes. ‣ Examples: Library of Congress subject headings; subject-
specific nomenclature.
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Description ‣ <dc:description></dc:description> ‣ What sort of short narrative will help a user to know whether
this resource is relevant to their needs? ‣ This is often an abstract, a table of contents or even a
graphical representation of the object ‣ Examples: a photo caption; descriptive information of an
artifact/museum object; summary of a lesson plan; abstract or summary of a long document;
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Creator ‣ <dc:creator></dc:creator> ‣ Who is responsible for making this digital resource - digtiser,
digital author? ‣ The original author or the digitising institution? ‣ Examples: Author/authors; artists; photographers; institutional
authors or producers, such as university or federal agency.
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Source ‣ <dc:source></dc:source> ‣ From what resource did the derived digital resource come
from? ‣ This can be a type, a descriptor but best practice recommends
a string conforming to a formal identifier system ‣ Examples: Accession number; Collection of objects; Division of
an archive or library.
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Publisher ‣ <dc:publisher></dc:publisher> ‣ Who (what institution is making this resource available? ‣ If there is a license or copyright involved helps to determine
this one ‣ Examples: actual publisher, if there is one; entity or
consortium publishing digital materials.
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Date ‣ <dc:date></dc:date> ‣ A point or period in the lifecycle of the digital object ‣ When was this scanned? When was it published? ‣ Consistency - decided by project management - documented ‣ Consider in relation to the coverage of the object ‣ Date is one of the trickiest fields to fill. You will want to decide how best
to use it for your project for consistency. There is an open text field for date so that you can reflect the type of date information you have whether it is a very specific date MM/DD/YYYY or if it is "circa 1940".
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Contributor ‣ <dc:contributor></dc:contributor> ‣ Who (individual, institution, organisation - entity) is making
this object available/responsible for its digitisation? ‣ Examples: person who contributed a story or file for an Omeka
collecting project; owner or donor of collected objects.
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Rights ‣ <dc:rights></dc:rights> ‣ What restrictions are held in and over this resource? ‣ This is typically a statement relation to the intellectual and
usage rights relating to this digital object ‣ Examples: spell out conditions of use for specific items here;
Creative Commons type; Public Domain.
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Relation ‣ <dc:relation></dc:relation> ‣ What resources are related to this digitised object? ‣ Best practice is to refer to a <dc:identifier> ‣ Examples: a still image of a person entered as a "person" type.
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Format ‣ <dc:format></dc:format> ‣ What is the file format of this digital resource? ‣ Examples include size and duration. Recommended best
practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the Internet Media Types (MIME).
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Language ‣ <dc:language></dc:language> ‣ What is the language(s) of the digital resource? ‣ Again best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as
RFC4646 ‣ Examples: English; Russian; Spanish, et al.
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Type ‣ <dc:type></dc:type> ‣ What defined type best represents the object you are
referencing? ‣ Best practice to use the DCMI Type controlled vocabulary ‣ http://dublincore.org/documents/2010/10/11/dcmi-type-
vocabulary/ ‣ Examples: For consistency, use item type controlled vocabulary
provided by Omeka: Document, Moving Image, Oral History, Sound, Still Image, Website, Event, Email, Lesson Plan, Hyperlink, Person, or
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Identifier ‣ <dc:identifier></dc:identifier> ‣ Where will a user find this resource via the web? ‣ A direct and unambiguous identification of the resource -
unique and persistent - handle?
A Rock Quick Look at the 15 Elements‣ Coverage ‣ <dc:coverage></dc:coverage> ‣ To what defining place or time is this item relevant (spatial or
temporal)? ‣ Typically relies on a controlled vocabulary relevant to the
domain, ie. The Getty Museum / Research Institute ‣ Where appropriate, named places or time periods can be
used in preference to numeric identifiers such as sets of coordinates or date ranges.
Spend time thinking about your metadata in advance‣ This is 'simple' Dublin Core ‣ You need to qualify to describe more fully ‣ How will people find what they are looking for? ‣ How will they differentiate from one 'thing' over another? ‣ How will your information architecture refer to the digital
objects? !
‣ Useful for Straight Dublin Core: Dublin Core Generator
Planning an Omeka Site1. What are the primary goals of the website? 2. Who is the primary audience of this website?
1. Secondary audiences? 3. What sections will this website include?
1. Items: (renamed however you would like Archive/Sources/Objects) links to a browseable list of items, sortable by type of item and tags.
2. Collections (renamed however you would like): groups of items, public can dig through collection to find items.
3. Exhibits: (renamed however you would like) Exhibits contain interpretative text and rely on items/sources/objects as their building blocks.
What About Items in this Website?1. The item is the building block of your site.
1. Add the objects and materials you want to display in your site.
2. Add descriptions using some or all of the standard Dublin Core fields.
3. Once you have items in the Omeka archive, then you can build an exhibit with them or display categories of items organized by collections or tags.
2. Determine the types of items/sources/objects you plan to use in this site: (ie, Document, Still Image, Moving Image, Audio, et al),
3. Do you want to modify any of the item type fields or types? See Item_Types for additional types and explanations.
4. Do you need additional core fields? —> Install the Dublin Core Extended plugin.
5. It is wise to determine before you start building the item archive what type of consistencies you desire in your metadata--this may be especially true for fields such as date, publisher, creator, et al.
6. Would you like to establish your own Controlled Vocabulary for specific metadata fields, to make it easier for your team to enter consistent data? —> Install Simple Vocab plugin.
7. Do you need Library of Congress subject headings? —> Install Library of Congress Subject Headings plugin.
What About Items in this Website?1. Do you want to establish a controlled tagging
schema? You may add tags to individual items and exhibits. Before building your archive you may want to devise this schema to help control vocab and spelling. Tags can help you pull together different items for the purpose of arranging them on a map or creating navigational links to browse items with a specific tag.
2. Do you have materials in other databases or repositories? You may be able to batch add them into your Omeka site. Can items be exported in a Comma Separated Value format? —> CSV Import plugin.
3. Is there an OAI-PMH harvestable set? —> OAI-PMH Harvester plugin.
4. Do you have hundreds of files, or large media files? —> Dropbox plugin.
5. Do you want to display items on a map? —> the Geolocation plugin, you must geolocate each item individually.
6. Are you interested in collecting materials from your visitors through a web form, such as a story or textual reflection, photos, videos, et al. —> Contribution plugin to facilitate collecting.
7. Do you want to build an exhibit with your items? —> the Exhibit Builder plugin.
Thinking About Displaying Items1. Do you want to add social bookmarking icons to the bottom of items/
show to allow users to share links to that item w/their social networks?
1. —> the Social Bookmarking plugin. 2. Do you want to open commenting on items (only available at item
level, and for all items or none)? 1. —> the Commenting plugin.
3. Do you want to create and print QR Codes that link visitors in a physical place to individual items in your Omeka site?
1. —> the Bar Code and Reports plugin. 4. Do you have documents that you wish users to read through on the
Extending Omeka Even Further‣ Do you want to allow users to be notified of changes to
your items, collections, or exhibits? ‣ —> Atom Output (Atom Syndication Format) ‣ Do you want users to be able to harvest objects to their
own bibliographic managers (such as Zotero)? ‣ —> CoinS metadata ‣ Do you want to track user demographics? ‣ —> Google Analytics ‣ Do you want to generate derivative images?
Extending Omeka‣ Would you rather user PBCore (VRCore being spoken of)? ‣ —> PBCore for AV
‣ Are you working with Audio material? ‣ Send it directly to SoundCloud with the SC Plugin
‣ Do you use Library of Congress Terms? ‣ —> LOC augosuggest
‣ Would you like to crowdsource transcription of materials in your collection?
‣ —> Scripto Transcription plugin
Omeka.net in a NutshellPros ‣ Simple ‣ Lightweight ‣ Standards-Based ‣ Extensible ‣ Embeddable in other
systems !
!
Cons ‣ Scalability ‣ Some cross-browser
issues ‣ Restrictions on Look and
Feel ‣ Extensive customisation
means getting into code ‣ Mobile on the way
Features omeka.org omeka.netServer LAMP server required no server required
FTP client Required for file uploads and modifying Omeka not required
Web-based administrative interface for adding, editing, deleting items, collections, exhibits Yes Yes
Storage Space Determined by your server admin Determined by your plan: 500 mb; 1 gb; 5 gb; 10 gb; or 25gb
File size limitations Determined by your server admin, with ability to use Dropbox plugin for files that exceed that limit. 32 mb maximum
Sites per Installation One website for one Omeka installation Depending on plan, multiple sites available managed by one user.
Custom Domain Redirects You may point any Omeka installation to any domain name.
No redirects available. All sites are subdomains of Omeka.net (yoursite.omeka.net)
Plugins and Themes Any and all available in Add-ons directory (see more on other pages)
Not all Omeka plugins are available for use on .Net. And availability of those plugins depends on the plan chosen
(see more on other pages).
Pricing Free: all versions of Omeka, and all of its plugins and themes are free and will be always.
Free basic plan will always be available, with other options available for small fee: http://www.omeka.net/signup
Support User Forums: http://omeka.org/forums Help section with detailed instructions: http://info.omeka.net
Developers' Google Group: https://groups.google.com/group/omeka-dev/ Troubleshooting help form: http://info.omeka.net/contact
Advanced development: GitHub: http://github.org/omeka
Where to Go —> Neatline‣ From the Scholar’s Lab at UVa
Where to Go Next‣ Links ‣ Beginners Guide ‣ You’ll get a lab on this ‣ A Couple Tutorials for those that want to play
‣ Examples ‣ Tara ‣ Grab a couple more of the website ‣ Digital Amherst
For Next Week‣ If you have not done so already, submit at least one tool to
the wiki (but don't feel constrained to one) and come prepared to discuss your addition in the context of the variety of tools submitted and encountered.
!
‣ Take a Read of: ‣ Spiro - "Signs that Social Scholarship is catching on in the
humanities" ‣ Friedlander - "Asking Questions and Building a Research
Agenda for Digital Scholarship"
Thank [email protected] @iridium
Recommended
