We are using the Transifex.net site to manage our translations, which will then be shipped with the next version of Omeka. To work on a translation, just register for a free account there, and go to the Omeka project page. Translation work is organized into teams for each language, so click the teams tab to see what languages have already been started. If someone has already started working on your language, follow that link, and ask to join that team. If not, request to create a new team for your language. Additional information is in the Translate Omeka page in our documentation.

Have some spare time over the holidays? Want to contribute to Omeka while you exercise your language skills? Then sign up for a Transifex.net account and help us bring Omeka to an even wider audience!

As always, you can get Omeka 1.4.2 from the download page.

This release fixes several issues:

• Fixed problems that made some files impossible to delete.
• Files can now be ingested from cloud storage services like Amazon S3.
• Thumbnails are now created correctly for images with multiple frames (like animated gifs).

For a full list of the fixes in Omeka 1.4.2, read the release notes.

You can see the code at https://github.com/omeka/Omeka. Some other CHNM projects are at https://github.com/chnm.

Required

• Proficiency in PHP and Javascript
• Strong Object-Oriented programming skills
• Familiarity with the MVC design pattern
• Familiarity with Zend Framework
• Excellent communication skills with others at all levels of programming skill, from “Hello World!” novice to seasoned guru
• Ability to balance competing needs and priorities in designing code
• Creativity in problem-solving, and openness to experimenting with unfamiliar approaches

Preferred

• Experience working on open source software projects
• Familiarity with HTML5, CSS3, and graphic design principles
• Experience with Amazon Web Services and other cloud services
• Experience with PHPUnit testing framework
• Background or experience in the Humanities

CHNM is the leading producer of open source tools for humanists and of award-winning history content on the Web (for example: Zotero, Omeka, teachinghistory.org and the Bracero History Archive). Each year CHNM’s many project Web sites receive over 16 million visitors, and over a million people rely on its digital tools to teach, learn and conduct research.

Our preference is for a freelance developer who can join us onsite at George Mason University, which is located 15 miles from Washington DC, and is accessible by public transportation.

Please send a resume and cover letter to jobs@chnm.gmu.edu. We will begin reviewing materials immediately and will close the position on November 15.

Designers and developers will now be able to create a page about their plugin on omeka.org and upload their addon to share it with the world.

Designers should read the Designing a Theme page, and plugin developers should read the Building a Plugin page. Both designers and developers will also want to read the details about Preparing your addon for the omeka.org addons lists.

We hope that this will help our community expand and learn from each other, while also helping designers and developers publicize their hard work.

Please keep in mind that the system is new, and surprises could happen. Please help us improve the system either by asking about it on our dev list, or by submitting an issue about it on GitHub.

Some online repositories expose their metadata through the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), an “initiative to develop and promote interoperability standards that aim to facilitate the efficient dissemination of content.”

We here at CHNM developed Omeka with interoperability as a key feature from its early stages. We also envisioned that Omeka would facilitate the sharing of digital collections and archives across institutions and individuals. For example, a regional cultural consortium could highlight collections in an Omeka site featuring digital objects from local museums, galleries, and libraries focused on on thematic topics or for the purpose of celebrating a local anniversary or special event.

Never tried this sharing thing? All you need to do is to install the OAI-PMH Repository to expose data, and tell someone–either through our list of harvestable Omeka sites, or with the OAI community. The plugin reads an Omeka collection as a set. If you have no collections, your entire archive may be exposed.

If you’re interested in testing out the OAI-PMH Harvester plugin, try these examples of harvestable sets. (Don’t worry, you may delete the harvest when you’re done testing.):

• Library of Congress OAI-PMH sets (no files, but contain many sets of item metadata): http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/oai2_0
• Bibliothèque Numérique – Université Rennes 2, University Libraryhttp://bibnum.univ-rennes2.fr/oai-pmh-repository/request?verb=ListRecords&metadataPrefix=oai_dc
• Bracero History Archive: http://braceroarchive.org/oai-pmh-repository/request

The page of harvestable sets is small and we would like to see it grow. Sign into the wiki, add your base URL, and let the Omeka community know if you are exposing your data. Thanks for sharing!

First, we have done some housekeeping work on our main documentation page. We’ve removed some clutter and added some better developed resources to make it easier for you to find what you need to get started.

Second, for people writing themes or plugins, or just making tweaks and adjustments to existing one, we have done some work to formalize and clarify how to write documentation for functions. We’ll be aiming to revise existing documentation to make it consistent with that template. This will be a community effort. Following a call to help us make Omeka better, we have a documentation working group of active Omeka users to whom we are very grateful for helping with that effort.

Last, we have introduced a new component to our documentation: “recipes” that provide real problems and solutions that the community has encountered. Like the function documentation, we invite anyone to register on the Omeka wiki and contribute. There is also a guide to how to write recipe pages. If you have created a particular effect or solved a small issue, you can help the Omeka community by sharing what you came up with. If you have learned from a thread in the Omeka forums, writing a recipe that distills your new knowledge is a great way to solidify it while you help others.

Also, on the admin side, users will find the same item sorting functionality added in 1.3 by column title, plus will see a new toggle to switch from a basic to a detailed view when browsing all items or for viewing the details of one item at a time.

We updated the Zend and jQuery libraries, which will not be evident from logging in to the admin but will be important for developers. Developers may also be interested in new functions available, all of which are listed in the 1.4 Release Notes.

Update and download version 1.4 today. Please let us know how it works and how you like the new functionality.

Happy Summer!

Thank you to those who already help in a variety of ways:

• helping fellow users on the forums and developers’ group;
• tweaking existing Codex pages that you think need a little love;
• chatting with fellow Omeka developers on the #omekaIRC channel;
• sharing your finished Omeka projects in the Showcase wiki.

In our continued efforts to ensure that this open-source project belongs to and is cared for by the community and not solely by CHNM, we are seeking volunteers from the community to help improve the documentation by forming a new Documentation Working Group.

We convened such a group over a few phone calls in 2009, and as a result we reorganized the Codex and added many more pages and documented many more functions.

This time around, we want the group to identify areas that need attention in theming and plugin development and customization. Such work may include defining helper functions, identifying useful patterns for plugin and theme development, enhancing explanation of the theme API, adding use cases for customizing specific design elements, or contributing other pages and elements to improve the depth and coverage of the documentation. We want members of this group to be active and regular contributor/editors to the codex and to the community, even if this is your first step toward becoming an Omekan.

We plan to conduct most of the working group discussions on the forums in the Documentation Working Group category, and anyone may subscribe to the discussions. While we will appreciate suggestions, we may ask users with many suggestions to help in the process of documenting.

We all benefit from the community’s participation and the variety of ways that you help fellow Omekans. We hope that through this effort to improve the documentation, we can expand the community of participants.

Here are a few examples of what people are building and sharing in their Omeka.net sites.

• Robert & Monnoyer: French Botanical Artists of the 17th Century, created to complement and promote a spring 2011 exhibit of materials from the Dumbarton Oaks Rare Book Collection.
• Fire Files Digital Library, built as a personal project by a professional librarian.
• Eastern Oklahoma Tuberculosis Sanatorium, created by family members of former patients at EOTS.
• About Deseronto (Ontario), launched as a community history project managed by the Deseronto Archives
• Presidential Visits to Charlotte , created by graduate student and librarian as a digital component of a physical exhibit at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte J. Murrey Atkin Library.

Curious to know whether Omeka.net will serve the needs of your new project? Sign up for a free, basic account and start playing with the software.

• added the plugin_footer() hook to all design themes, which is used by several plugins to display information at the bottom of each page, such as Google Translate.
• edited the custom_show_item_metadata function to correctly display multiple values for Dublin Core metadata fields on item pages.
• repaired the installer so that it will not produce a misleading error message.

Read the release notes for a complete list of updates, or simply download and upgrade to version 1.3.2.