Today we’re very excited to announce the general release of Omeka 0.10b and the relaunch of a redesigned Omeka.org.
Omeka 0.10b incorporates many of the changes you asked for: an unqualified Dublin Core metadata schema and fully extensible element sets to accommodate interoperability with digital repository software and collections management systems; elegant reworkings of our theme API and plugin API to make add-on development more intuitive and more powerful; a new, even more user friendly look for the administrative interface; and a new and improved Exhibit Builder. While the changes are extensive and represent a next-to-last step forward toward a 1.0 release in early 2009, existing users of Omeka should have little trouble switching to 0.10b. New users should have even less trouble getting started. Meanwhile, visitors to Omeka.org will find a new look, a more intuitive information architecture, easily browsable themes and plugins directories, improved documentation and user support, and new ways to get involved in the Omeka community.
In the coming weeks and months, the Omeka team will turn to the hard work of tying up loose ends for 1.0, building new plugins, designing new themes, and building data migration tools for CONTENTdm, D-Space, Fedora, The Museum System, Past Perfect, and other repository and collections management software. We will also continue to improve our documentation and host a series of informal “play dates” for existing or aspiring Omeka users and developers. Later in the new year, we will begin work on a hosted web service, to give users a choice between running Omeka on their own servers or signing up for an account at Omeka.net.
Many thanks to our committed user and developer communities for helping to make this new release happen. We’re looking forward to your feedback in the forums, on the dev list, on Twitter, and on Flickr, and to your help in spreading the word about the new Omeka.
(Download press release (.pdf) / Download flyer (.pdf))