Message from the Director
Happy Fall, Omekans!
Fall is a season of change and taking stock and that is no different for the Omeka Team. During this month we’ve said a fond farewell to Zach Francis-Hapner. For the past two years, Zach has diligently developed and grown our training programs, helping so many of you take better advantage of the facilities of Omeka platforms. But, in addition to being a talented instructor, Zach is a skilled archaeologist who has dedicated his career to the responsible disposition of native remains and cultural objects to their communities. So, we’re happy to have him dedicate all of his time to those important activities for the University of Wisconsin system. While we’ll deeply miss Zach’s contributions to the team, we are pleased to welcome Dani Willcutt to the group as an Omeka Training Specialist. Dani is an experienced digital historian who is minutes away from completing her doctorate at Michigan State University, and she will take charge of our training activities going forward. So, if you’re considering participating in a training intensive in 2025, you’ll be in good hands!
Take care,
Sharon
New Developments
As we promised in our 2024 Development Priorities, the Omeka Team has been working to provide some concerted support for Oral Historians, and this month represents the culmination of an important part of that work. We have just released the OHMS Embed module for Omeka S, which allows users who have used the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries’ Oral History Metadata Synchronizer application (now hosted by Aviary) to index the media file to publish that file, index, transcription, translations, and metadata in the context of an Omeka S item. This brings the linked data goodness to the description of the well-indexed oral history. The module uses an Omeka-specific viewer and operates seamlessly with Omeka Team themes and site building. In the not too distant future, there will also be a new plugin for Omeka Classic that streamlines the process of working with OHMS objects in that context, superseding the current two plugin operation.
Spotlight: Jane Addams Digital Edition
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This quarter’s Omeka newsletter Spotlight is the Saltaire Collection, a collection that tells the local and global story of Saltaire since the 1850s. This Omeka S site makes use of the Foundation theme as well as the Mapping, Item Carousel, and Data Visualization modules, and showcases over 6000 documents, photographs, maps, plans, newspaper cuttings, artworks, books and objects. This extensive digital collection includes items from the Salt and Roberts families who built and sustained Salts Mill and Saltaire; photographs and documents related to working in the mill and living in the village; legal and business documents; personal memoirs; maps and plans; even crockery used for a Royal visit; and lots more. The Saltaire Collection is managed by The Saltaire World Heritage Education Association (SWHEA) through a partnership with Shipley College. Explore the collections and learn more about the project today.
Share your work with us for inclusion in our directories, and for a possible future Spotlight!
Omeka in the World
This Fall the Omeka Team has been out and about. In September they offered a brief workshop at the International Federation for Public History meeting in Luxembourg, which offered public historians an introduction to the ways that using linked data in web publishing with Omeka S can enhance their community engaged work. This international gathering always offers us a valuable opportunity to hear more about the many ways that public historians are putting the Omeka platforms to work in the world.
And, at the end of this month, Sharon Leon will offer a half-day workshop at the Oral History Association meeting to introduce the new OHMS Embed work to the field. If you’re at the meeting, come say hello!
Meet the Team
Name: Ken Albers
Role: Omeka Services Manager
How long have you been with Omeka?
The whole time! I was working at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media as a graduate student when we started a project called Site Builder. Eventually that turned into Omeka and I’ve been with the project ever since.
What work have you done that our community would be familiar with?
I developed some early themes for Omeka Classic, such as Seasons. I now manage the daily operations of Omeka.net, as well as the sites on our managed hosting.
Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on or just a favorite part of working with the Omeka team/community?
Of course I love working on Omeka.net, helping tens of thousands of users build their sites. There are too many great projects there to single any out. I also was part of a team that developed the Locating Slavery’s Legacies site. It’s a great project put on by some great people, and I was excited to play a small role in it.
What’s a fun fact about you?
I love the NY Mets and doing crossword puzzles.
Note on Sales and Use Tax
The Omeka project is a project of Digital Scholar. Recently, all of the Digital Scholar projects have crossed the threshold in sales of services that require that we collect and remit sales and use tax in a number of locations in the US and around the Globe. If you are renewing your Omeka.net subscription or contracting with the team for services, you may be charged tax depending upon your location. If your organization is tax exempt or if you have a VAT ID, we are happy to accept those from you at the time of transaction so that we can process your transaction appropriately.
Preview
Keep an eye out for our upcoming editions of this newsletter, which will include…
- Updates on Omeka’s emerging processing services
- News on our efforts to support the work of archivists
- Information on our Spring, Summer, and Fall intensive courses offerings for 2025
- …and much more!