Omeka

A Thanksgiving Message from the Director:

2018-11-20T00:00:00-05:00

Dear Omeka Community:

Heading into Thanksgiving week here in the US, I’d like to do a bit of review and to take the opportunity to say how grateful I am to you for your use and support of the Omeka platforms. 2018 has been a year of milestones and changes for the Omeka Team. A brief review of the calendar and commits turns up a significant list of accomplishments:

In February, we celebrated Omeka Classic’s 10th birthday. Ten years is quite an achievement for an open source project! Like our compatriots at Zotero and Tropy, we are dedicted to providing continued development and support for our users because we are committed to the mission of creating and sustaining cost-effective tools for digital scholarship and interoperable open access work.
In April, we released Omeka Everywhere with our collaborators at Ideum and University of Connecticut’s Digital Media and Design Department. The suite of tools extends Omeka Classic’s web interface to provide a touchtable collections viewer and a mobile application, making a single Omeka site a launch pad to bring digital collections into a gallery space and into a visitor’s pocket.
In June, we officially launched Omeka Services. As a contracting unit, Omeka Services makes it possible for users to work with the Omeka Team for consulting, custom design and development, hosting, and support.
While not a landmark anniversary, the end of October marked Omeka.net’s eighth year in the software-as-a-service landscape. Omeka.net makes it possible for users without the means or time to run their own Omeka Classic installations to use the software for their personal, instructional, and institutional digital collection building and publishing needs. Currently, the Omeka.net system hosts over 36,000 sites from more than 58,000 users.
And, last week we celebrated the first anniversary of Omeka S’s move out of beta. During the past year, users have embraced Omeka S’s linked data infrastructure and built some outstanding sites and collections. We are eager to help scholars, libraries, museums, and archives manage many sites from one installation, while also easing them into publishing linked open data.

That’s a pretty good track record of progress for a single year! And, we’re not stopping there. As a Thanksgiving bonus, next week we will offer two new releases for you to play with after the break:

the Omeka S 1.3 release brings a number of updates and improvements;
and, the much-anticipated Numeric Date Module for Omeka S provides users with the ability to specific a numeric or date datatype for resource properties. This data type makes it possible to sort by and to search between ranges of integers and dates.

These developments would not be possible with out the hard work and dedication of the Omeka team, which I like to think of as the hardest working group in the open source digital humanities software landscape. The team has seen its own share of changes this year. First, I’ve moved on to my new institutional home at Michigan State University, but I am pleased to be able to continue in my role as director Omeka. Much more important than my relocation, though, is the fact that two key people in the Omeka team moved on to new opportunities this year:

Sheila Brennan, who had been an integral part of Omeka from its inception (as “sitebuilder”), began her new role as a Senior Program Officer in the Office of Digital Humanities at the National Endowment for the Humanities. Sheila’s work and vision helped shape the functionality and user experience of much of what users have come to know and love in the Omekas, through her roles as Director of End User Outreach, Testing Coordinator, and project Director in 2017-2018.
Patrick Murray-John moved on to great new position as Associate Director for System in the Digital Scholarship Group at Northeastern University. In his role as the Director of Developer Outreach, Patrick shepherded countless projects through rough spots and encouraged and supported so much of the community developed plugins that demonstrate the ways that you all have made Omeka a core element of your digital cultural hertitage and digital scholarship work.

Sheila and Patrick’s new roles put them in the position to continue to share their intelligence and experience with the larger world of open, collaborative, digital work, which is a great benefit to the whole field. Nonetheless, we miss having them take part in our daily work, development, and hijinks, and we thank them for their years of dedication to Omeka and its users.

Finally, I want to thank you, our community of users and developers, for your loyalty and support over the past ten years. We appreciate the trust you place in our work, and your willingness to make Omeka a core piece of your scholarship, your teaching, and your cultural heritage work. Your use-cases, feature requests, comments, questions, issues, and pull requests help us make the Omeka platforms better, and we always take them into consideration as we plan our future development. Furthermore, we are eager to share your work. Let us know about your new sites, so we can show them off. Submit your plugins, modules, and themes to our add-on registration system so we can share with our community of users.

You have my very best wishes for a peaceful and relaxing Thanksgiving. Enjoy your friends and family, and some good food.

Sharon M. Leon

Director, Omeka

Happy Birthday Omeka S

2018-11-14T00:00:00-05:00

One year ago today we released Omeka S 1.0 into the world.

Since then, we have been delighted by the response to S. Our directory of Omeka S sites has contributions from around the world, including sites in Finnish, Spanish, and French. “Unfolding Histories: Cape Ann before 1900” continues in digital form an exhibit which was mounted at the Cape Ann Museum in Glouchester, Massachusetts, in 2018; it explores themes such as education, charity and welfare, and life during wartime. From the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral in Chile comes “Memorias de la Patagonia Austral” (Memories of Austral Patagonia), which makes use of the Mapping module to allow visitors to browse content by geographic location. And a recent addition to the directory, “Journey to the Sea Ranch” uses an elegant custom theme to display a large collection related to the design and development of a unique site in costal California.

In addition to the many excellent modules we’ve developed in house, our worldwide community of developers has contributed their own work, often associated with an Omeka S installation they’ve created. For example, the Search and Solr modules were created by BibLibre for their site Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL) Digital Library. See them all in the modules directory

If you haven’t explored Omeka S, explore it now by playing around in our sandbox installation! We continue to develop Omeka S and look forward to seeing more amazing work from the community.

An update on Scripto

2018-10-02T00:00:00-04:00

The Scripto Alpha is still available for interested parties to download and experiment with, even as we move forward with development.

New features in Scripto for Omeka S so far include a dashboard for transcribers so that they can keep track of documents they’ve transcribed, as well as the ability to watch additional documents which interest them. Scripto for S will also support translation and description of media resources in addition to transcription.

Admin view:

Public view:

We expect to release a stable beta of Scripto for Omeka S in the spring of 2019. The beta, like the alpha, will benefit from feedback. If you would be interested in installing the beta and providing feedback, please let us know and we will contact you when the beta is released.

Scripto for Omeka S is made possible thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Office of Digital Humanities.

An Alpha of Scripto for Omeka S

2018-08-02T00:00:00-04:00

Good news for developers and project planners interested in Omeka S and Scripto - we have an alpha!

Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Office of Digital Humanities (NEH-ODH), we have been working on a version of Scripto for Omeka S. The new Scripto will be available as a module for your Omeka S installation, with its own landing page and the ability to support multiple Scripto projects per installation.

We are delighted to announce that we have an alpha of the Scripto module available. Please note that an Alpha is an early version of a software program, and is not ready for production! We are publishing the alpha so that our community of developers and Scripto project teams who are interested in the final version can explore what we have created thus far and give feedback.

Before you download the alpha be sure that you are running Omeka S 1.2. Leave any feedback for us as issues on the Scripto GitHub repository.

We have draft documentation available (feedback for the documentation should go in that repository).

Again, this is NOT ready for production! Enjoy experimenting with the alpha and we look forward to hearing from you.

Geolocation 3.0: Leaflet and more

2018-06-19T00:00:00-04:00

Big changes have come to the Geolocation plugin for Omeka Classic with today’s release of version 3.0!

This new version uses the open-source Leaflet library to provide maps, rather than Google Maps. Not only does this mean you no longer need to worry about registering for an API key or setting up billing through Google, but you can now choose from a wide variety of base maps, including maps using OpenStreetMap data, maps designed for data visualization, and even maps without labels or human-defined borders. Plus, there’s built-in support for using Mapbox. Mapbox does require an API key (somewhat like Google Maps), but you get access to their pre-built maps as well as the ability to use some more advanced features like uploading and using your own map tiles.

We’ve also added a new feature to Geolocation: clustering map points. With this new option enabled, if you have a number of items in the same or similar locations, they will be grouped together visually when the viewer is more zoomed out, with an indication of the number of items in the group.

We hope you enjoy the revitalized Geolocation! As always, if you run into problems, tell us about them on the forum.

Omeka S Workshop Schedule

2018-06-15T00:00:00-04:00

Omeka S Workshop Schedule

We are happy to share the schedule for the upcoming Omeka S Workshop on June 22, 2018 in Founders Hall on the Arlington campus of George Mason University.

About twenty people have registered, reflecting a wide range of positions and interests. Roughly a third are developers or designers, a third are managers, and the remainder have a wide range of roles that lead them to learn more about Omeka S. We have tried to finalize our schedule and planned presentations based on the information supplied in the registration form.

Here’s our schedule:

9:00 - 9:30

Arrive, morning beverages, and light breakfast

9:30 - 10:15

Introduction/overview of Omeka S: Founders Hall 111

10:15-10:30 Break

10:30 - 12:00

Module structures and patterns: Founders Hall 477
Project planning & resource creation: Founders Hall 478

12:00 - 1:15

Lunch on your own (we’ll suggest local options; there are many!)

1:15 - 2:15

Hands-on module-building: Founders Hall 477
Hands-on site planning and building: Founders Hall 478

2:15-2:30 Break

2:30 - 3:00

Final Q&A session and wrapup: Founders Hall 111

We have an additional free-space room, 479 Founders Hall, if people want to diverge from this track to tackle their more specific interests.

We look forward to meeting you and helping you boost up your thinking, planning, and coding with Omeka S!

Announcing an Omeka S Workshop

2018-05-08T00:00:00-04:00

Announcing an Omeka S workshop

UPDATE: To help us plan, we ask that you register by JUNE 8 2018

We are happy to announce a day of workshops and activities for developers and users of Omeka S on June 22, 2018. The event will include an overview of the design of Omeka S, as well as introductions to resources (mostly items, but other things as well), module, and site development from the Omeka team. The morning will give a high-level conceptual overview of Omeka S, and the afternoon will involve hands-on exploration of site building and module development. It’s a Friday, so we expect to wrap up around 3pm.

Omeka S is a next-generation web publishing platform for institutions interested in connecting digital cultural heritage collections with other resources online. First released out of beta versions in November 2017, it has already enjoyed widespread adoption and community contributions.

If you haven’t yet explored it, please dive in to the latest release in our sandbox.

The workshop will be held on the Arlington, VA campus of George Mason University in Founders Hall. It is conveniently located a ten minute walk from the DC Metro Virginia Square-GMU station, and lodging is just a stop (or a healthy walk) away at the Ballston Holiday Inn.

Please register to attend. There is no fee to attend, but space is limited to about 70 participants. Along with the registration, we will ask about your interests and desired outcomes for the day for our planning. Participants might want to create an Omeka S installation to work from, but it is not necessary.

We will be posting a schedule and other details soon. It will reflect the initial feedback we receive from the registration form about what will be most useful to you. Many thanks for your interest and contributions.

Questions about the event should be directed to the Omeka Director of Developer Outreach, Patrick Murray-John, at pmurrayj@gmu.edu.

Explore Omeka Everywhere

2018-04-12T00:00:00-04:00

We are delighted to announce the full release of Omeka Everywhere, a set of digital tools which extend the reach of Omeka websites into the gallery and to mobile devices. The Collection Viewer is now out of the beta stage and is joined by the Mobile application and Heist!

The Omeka Everywhere suite simplifies the task of creating and sharing digital cultural heritage content. Create content first in an Omeka Classic site and then share collection items on a website, in the gallery, and on mobile devices.

The Collection Viewer delivers selected Omeka Classic items to a touch table or other touch-enabled device in your exhibit space using the Omeka API. Visitors can browse and discover items on touch devices, look at mulitple items at once, and zoom in to inspect images, and learn more details about each item.

With the Omeka Everywhere mobile app installed, users will discover items from your collections, in and outside of the exhibition gallery. The Omeka Everywhere app is available in the Android and iOS stores, or your institution can deploy your own, branded version using the instructions provided with the code.

App users can save their favorites items and easily share them with their social media networks.

The Heist features allows visitors to connect to the touch devices already running the Collections Viewer in the gallery. Using their own mobile devices, gallery visitors scan a QR code that will let them easily save their favorite items available on the touch table to their phone or tablet. Once saved to the Omeka Everywhere app, users can not only revisit their favorite items from your collection, but can easily share them.

For over 10 years, Omeka has supported the needs of museums and galleries, and Omeka Everywhere expands the possibilities for your Omeka Classic site. We look forward to hearing from you as you use these tools to share your content with old and new audiences

Omeka Everywhere is a multi-year collaboration between the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, Ideum, and the University of Connecticut’s Digital Media and Design Department, and is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

10th Birthday Stream

2018-02-22T00:00:00-05:00

A huge thanks goes out to the Omeka community who sent Birthay messages from around the world, tagged with #Omeka10Years.

One of the major themes of these posts show how working with Omeka has been a “gateway drug to DH”. For many, Omeka was the first system they installed or designed content for and have been using it ever since. For example, developer Erin Bell (Curatescape) learned how to code in 2008, “specifically because someone asked me to set up an Omeka site, then asked me to change something.”.

Amanda Visconti, Managing Director at UVA’s Scholars Lab, starting usting Omeka in 2009 and “found clear code” which meant she could “figure out what every file did, really understand what was going on.”

Even as our team received high fives, our Lead Developer, John Flatness, reminded followers of the breadth of the Omeka community by not forgetting to recognize “the 30+ outside developers, hundreds of volunteer translators, and thousands of users asking and answering questions on the forums that all continue to help make Omeka what it is.”

Thanks to all of you–our international collaborative community of users–who continue to support and contribute to Omeka’s longevity. Here to another 10 years!

#Omeka10Years Tweets

“Omeka Now Public” for 10 Years

2018-02-20T00:00:00-05:00

On February 20, 2008 the Omeka team released its public beta, version 0.9.0., and last week, a few days shy of this 10-year milestone, we released version 2.6. Back in 2008, I don’t think any of us from the original team imagined Omeka celebrating its 10th Birthday. It is time to celebrate and reflect on this journey.

Before Omeka existed, the Center’s talented developers created other database-driven systems, like “ADAM” (Adaptable Digital Archive Manager) that powered early online collecting projects, including the Critical Infrastructure Protection Oral History Project and “Site Builder” which ran the beta version of the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank. The platform we now know as “Omeka” borrowed from both of these early systems. The project’s name is a Swahili word meaning to display or layout wares; to speak out; to spread out; to unpack. The team chose this name, because it signifies the practices that Omeka helps its users to do with digital content and through building digital projects for online communities.

Since 2008, we have seen thousands of digital projects that exemplify those practices built by librarians, archivists, and museum professionals; high school, undergraduate, and graduate students; faculty, independent scholars, and enthusiasts in dozens of languages.

Take a minute to read more about Omeka’s history below, order an Omeka 10 Years button or sticker, and share your memories on Twitter or Facebook with #Omeka10Years.

History of the Omeka

When we first applied for funding to support the development of Omeka in 2007, few options existed for museums, libraries, and archives wishing to publish collections and narrative exhibits to the web as easily as one could launch a blog. Most museums had websites, but institutions of all sizes lacked in-depth content. Even award-winning narrative-intensive museums exhibitions came packaged in multi-media wrappers making the content non-508 compliant, and impossible to share, bookmark, or Google. We believed that publishing accessible standards-based collections and exhibitions, containing standards-based metadata, could be accomplished by building a free, open-source platform that, like blogging software, offered an easy-to-use administrative interface, provided syndication for sharing content, extended the core functions of publishing collections and archive with a flexible plugin architecture and rich design theme API.

RRCHNM’s assessment of the need for Omeka came from experience building dozens of web projects, work with more than a dozen museums, discussions with our museum partners on this project, an in-depth review of the muse-tech literature, and our own survey of museum professionals.

First funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) from 2007-2010, Omeka targeted small museums and historical societies. Since launch, it has been downloaded over 150,000 times, and is the content management system for thousands of websites developed by libraries, archives, museums, scholars, and enthusiast users. Omeka provides a free and open source answer to the need for a web publishing platform that honored the importance of standards-based metadata and that allowed their content experts to showcase their unique knowledge about their collections, and allowed other experts, to better use these materials in their work.

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funded the earliest versions of the Geolocation and Contributions plugins in the creation of the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, launched in 2006. And the Samuel H. Kress Foundation funded the earliest integration of metadata vocabularies used for describing visual resources as well as means for harvesting materials from Omeka sites.

Understanding that not every organization, or individual, has the ability or resources to download and run Omeka on their own server, RRCHNM began to offer a hosted solution called Omeka.net in 2010. Since launching, Omeka.net hosts over 45K users and runs nearly 30K sites, and continues to grow.

In 2010, the Library of Congress recognized the centrality of Omeka as an open source software for the library community by funding two years in support of ongoing work on the core software and in strengthening the developer community. The partnership between RRCHNM and the University of Virginia Libraries’ Scholar Lab supported the building and testing of the Neatline suite of plugins for creating geospatial scholarship, was held up as a shining example of cross-institutional developer collaboration. Through that partnership, the Omeka dev team improved developer and designer documentation and built easier ways for community members to share plugins and themes they developed for their own projects with the entire Omeka user base.

Beginning in 2012, we made the Omeka core and its plugins translatable and invited users to contribute their translations on Transifex, and made those available for any Omeka administrator to select as their base language. Omeka is available in over a dozen languages, with more started each day. Our community of dedicated users is wide and expanding. This commitment from an international open-source community, will sustain Omeka’s development for the coming years.

Development has continued in new directions as technologists began approaching RRCHNM asking for access to the codebase for Omeka.net, so that they could create and maintain similar centralized networks on their own servers. In October 2012, with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Omeka development team began work on a new version of the popular open source web-publishing platform to satisfy the needs of larger institutional users.

Omeka S is the result of those efforts: a web publishing platform that offers institutions a single point of administration for installation, software upgrades, and the extension of functionality and look and feel for all of the sites developed in the network. Together these features offer Omeka S administrators a critical balance of flexibility and control over their networks. Omeka S uses JavaScript Open Notation-Linked Data (JSON-LD) as its native data format, which makes it possible to enmesh Omeka S in the Linked Open Data world.

Development on the Omeka Classic version continues with development funds that enhance Omeka’s functionality and user experience serving different audiences. IMLS Museums National Leadership Grant funded a partnership with Ideum and University of Connecticut to connect Omeka’s online collections with museum gallery touch tables and tablet installations as Omeka Everywhere. The Getty Foundation funded design and development work to create additional themes and plugins appealing for art historians in 2016-17.

An IMLS Libraries National Leadership Grant funded the research and development of plugins that enable close reading of items through text and image annotation, as well as distant reading of items in a large Omeka collection through text analysis plugins. We are testing those plugins with user contributions found in the September 11 Digital Archive, which we migrated to Omeka Classic.

Some of the most popular plugins for Omeka Classic are updated for Omeka S with funding from the Mellon Foundation and IMLS, including new funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities Office of Digital Humanities to upgrade the popular transcription tool, Scripto.

Additional funding for the maintenance of Omeka, Omeka.net, and Omeka S comes from the Corporation for Digital Scholarship, contracting projects with Omeka Services, and contributions from users of the Omeka family of products.