Omeka: Serious Web Publishing

Omeka is a free and open source collections based web-based publishing platform for scholars, librarians, archivists, museum professionals, educators, and cultural enthusiasts Its “five-minute setup” makes launching an online exhibition as easy as launching a blog. Omeka is designed with non-IT specialists in mind, allowing users to focus on content and interpretation rather than programming. It brings Web 2.0 technologies and approaches to academic and cultural websites to foster user interaction and participation. It makes top-shelf design easy with a simple and flexible templating system. Its robust open-source developer and user communities underwrite Omeka’s stability and sustainability.

Until now, scholars and cultural heritage professionals looking to publish collections-based research and online exhibitions required either extensive technical skills or considerable funding for outside vendors. By making standards based, serious online publishing easy, Omeka puts the power and reach of the web in the hands of academics and cultural professionals themselves.

Major Partner: Minnesota Historical Society

Omeka is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

How Might You Use Omeka?

Scholars:

• Use Omeka to publish an essay or digital dissertation, share primary source collections, and collaborate with others in the creation of digital scholarship.
• Features you might like: design themes, exhibit builder, tagging, dropbox plugin, iPaper plugin, geolocation plugin.
• Examples: Digital Worcester, Euclid Cooridor, Experiencing Medieval Places

Museum Professionals:

• Use Omeka to share collections and build online exhibits with objects you cannot display in the museum. Invite your visitors to tag and mark items as favorites, or to contribute content. Start a blog to publish museum news and podcasts.
• Features you might like: Dublin Core metadata standards, W3C and 508 compliant, design themes, exhibit builder plugin, MyOmeka plugin, contribution plugin, dropbox, data migration tools (coming soon).
• Examples: Object of History, Catawba River Docs, Gulag: Many Days, Many Lives

Librarians:

• Use Omeka as the publishing tool to complement your online catalog or launch a digital exhibit.
• Features you might like: Dublin Core metadata standards, W3C and 508 compliant, extensible and customizable item fields, RSS/Atom syndication, MyOmeka plugin, data migration tools (coming soon).
• Examples: Photographs by Homer L. Shantz, Eminent Domain, Upper Ringwood Library Collection.

Archivists:

• Use Omeka to share your collections, display documents and oral histories, or create digital archives with user-generated content.
• Features you might like: Dublin Core metadata standards, W3C and 508 compliant, exhibit builder plugin, extensible and customizable item fields, iPaper plugin, tagging, data migration tools (coming soon).
• Examples: Bracero History Archive, Hurricane Digital Memory Bank

Educators:

• Use Omeka to build inquiry-based tasks for students, to create lesson plans with accompanying primary sources, or build learning modules with your team.
• Features you might like: design themes, exhibit builder, MyOmeka plugin, blogging plugin, iPaper plugin, tagging.
• Examples: Laurel Grove School Teachers Workshop, Making the History of 1989.

Enthusiasts:

• Use Omeka to share you personal research or collections with the world, build exhibits and write essays that showcase your expertise.
• Features you might like: design themes, exhibit builder, contribution plugin, live directory (coming soon), blogging, tagging.