URLs

I running tests with omeka and my site is:
http://mysite.edu/omeka/ . Amy I able to rename to http://mysite.edu/digital collections/ without breaking? Am I able to do this after i build collecitons as well as before.

I see in step 4 of the installation:
(http://omeka.org/codex/Installation)

You can rename the omeka directory either before or after you upload it to give it a URL that is relevant to your project.

However, I have two subsequent questions:

What happens if I change the directory name after a collection is built?

Also, what is meant by a project? Should each digital collection have its own instance of Omeka?

Normally, each archive project has its own Omeka installation. You can see some example projects in our showcase: http://omeka.org/showcase/
You can have multiple collections in a single project. For example, if you have an archive about your family photos, you might make a different collection for each set of photos your took, or a set of photos that you received from a friend.

You can change the directory name from omeka to whatever you want before or after installation.

Can I change a directory name after a collection is built?

Is there an issue with conflating the idea of projects and collections? We might have one collection on the erie canal and another on 34th st. in manhattan within the same installation/project. Would that be an issue? What are the implications of proceeding that way?

Yes, you can change the directory name of your installation after you have added items.

I'm not sure that I understand the second part of your question. You may have two different collections within the same Omeka project on different topics. An item may only belong to one collection at a time, but they can be tagged with multiple tags so that the two collections intermingle in the tag cloud.

Sheila

Let me clarify the first part of my answer: you can change the name of your entire Omeka directory--so that the name that appears in the URL is different.

You don't want to change the names of any of the sub directories within the installation that relate to the application, plugins, themes, archive, et al.

So I can change the root directory after install, but not after building a collection?

Each collection I will build will be on completely different subject matter and archives. They may or may not share subject headings. What are the implications of having multiple collections on the same installation?

You may change the root directory name after building a collection.

By "collection" do you mean a collection in the ways that Omeka organizes collections around items in the archive?

Many people have multiple collections on different subjects within one site. All of those items do mix, though, in the "Archive," which contains all of the items.

You can create multiple exhibits on different subjects and create multiple collections.

But if I change the root directory my paths will be different to my files.

For example if the file I am pointing to is:

http://146.96.128.35/omeka/images/EC0011.jpg
and then I change omeka to erie_canal how will the item point to the image?

I am unsure what you mean by collection. I merely mean an omeka collection (a group of items). Maybe there is something that that I can read that elaborates on the taxonomies and relationships between items, collections, projects and archives? Again, what are the implications of having distinctly different collections with different subject matter in the same installation/project?

Thank you.

gnosis_omeka,

The links on the item pages use helper functions to dynamically write the urls to your images. So if you change your root directory, the helper functions will rewrite the urls with the new location.

In terms of the implications of building an archive with items and collections, I'm not sure I can answer that effectively. Perhaps Sheila or others could point you to some resources on that.

So the helper function understands that I may change a URL and it will dynamically point tot he new URL?

Again, I do not understand the idea of an project|Installation/archive and collection in Omeka. Before fully deploying I would like to understand if I should install Omeka for each project my archivists are working on.

I am still having trouble understanding this:

"Normally, each archive project has its own Omeka installation...You can have multiple collections in a single project..."

So if I have an archive project on medieval European history and another on 1950's beatnik new York, they should probably exist in different Omeka installations? Or could they be 2 collections in the same install.

Thank you.

If you want separate URL's/website domains, you will need different Omeka installations.
For example, you would have one at beatnikny.org and another at medievaleurope.org.

However, if you do not care about the URL, you can have two different collections within the same Omeka installation that share the same base URL, such as myhistorystuff.org/collections/show/5 for your items on Beatnik NYC.

Hope this helps to clear up the confusion.