Omeka-S

www.omeka.org

Background

• Omeka-S is the enterprise version of Omeka
• Omeka Classic originally intended for small institutions – local historical societies, etc.
• Larger institutions developed interest, needed an institution-wide IT solution to support numerous users and sites
• WordPress multi-site segregates contents of each site; Omeka-S shares content across sites (available for all institutional users to see and use)

Components

• Item (same concept as Omeka Classic)
  • Dublin Core metadata (title, description, etc.)
  • Not only text, but also links to other items, URIs, media (files or HTML code), dedicated YouTube video (with variable start/end time for shorter segments)
  • Items can be in multiple collections, not just one
• Vocabulary
  • Set of established metadata labels (Dublin Core, Bibliographic Ontology)
• Resource Template
  • Set of metadata labels the user wishes to utilize for a class of items
  • Labels of any resource template are drawn from one or more vocabularies
• Item Set
  • Analogous to a collection in Omeka Classic
  • Any label applicable to an item can be applied to an item set
  • Allows large groups of items to be added to pages more easily
• Site
  • More complicated and versatile than Omeka Classic
  • Content of each page built separately
  • Navigation between pages established independently

Major Tools

• CSV Importer
• Omeka-2 Importer
• Custom Vocabularies
• Zotero Importer

Permissions

• Two levels of permissions – global (institution-wide) and specific to an individual site
  • Global Administrator – Site Administrator – Editor – Reviewer – Author – Researcher
  • Users can have different permission levels for different sites (except Global Administrators)

Omeka

www.omeka.net

(omeka.org has original version and enterprise version, which require more technical knowledge and webmaster capacity)

amandafrench.net/2013/11/12/introduction-to-omeka-lesson-plan/

Overview

• Web publishing platform for sharing digital collections and creating media-rich online exhibits
• More durable/useful than other means of posting information online
  • Material that has generally not been online previously
• Server-based, subscription-based
• Trial plan does not expire (fewer capabilities)

Components of an Omeka Site

• Item
  • User-defined – could have multiple files attached
  • Each item has a single set of Dublin Core metadata (title, subject, description, source, date, legal rights, format, coverage, etc)
  • No files required – but could be images, video, audio, map with embedded links, etc.
• Collection
  • Group of related items
• Exhibit
  • Group of related items with substantial interpretive text, captions, deliberate visual arrangement
  • Multiple pages with navigation links may be used
• Tag
  • Optional, additional keywords that can be applied to any item, collection, or exhibit
  • Visitors can search all items, collections, or exhibits, or can search by tags
• Theme
  • Set of visual appearance preferences; aesthetic
• Plugin
  • Functional capability
  • Subscription plans are differentiated by number of plugins available (20-32), number of themes (8-11), storage space (2-50GB), number of sites per account (2-∞)
  • Examples:
    • PDF Embed
    • CSV Import
    • Exhibit Builder
    • Google Analytics
    • Hide Elements
    • Geolocation
  • Multiple User Roles with varying permission levels
    • Super User – Administrator – Contributor – Researcher
      • Changes, by default, are not published until user with permission actively publishes

Tropy

www.tropy.org

Overview

Similar to Zotero, but for images (i.e., photographed documents). Features include ability to:

• Upload all photos from a source into Tropy
• Attach the basic info to them (which archive, collection, etc. do they come from?)
• Add additional categories
• Group photos into documents, annotate, add metadata (including long-form notes), categorize, search, export (to Omeka, Flickr)

Tropy v1.0 Characteristics

Strengths

• Possible to edit metadata with multiple items highlighted
• Also possible to “merge items,” (highlight & right click) apply metadata, then “explode” item
  • Same metadata (including title) applied to all individual images
• Tags – you can color code them and can also tag items in bulk
  • More than one tag per item allowed
• Once you click on a photo – to edit the notes etc – you can actually select a selection of the photo; useful to show material
• An institution can create a Template for an institution saying what they want recorded about the material – forcing/encouraging researchers to think about these things – you can add different Properties, such as date
  • Preferences -> Template Editor; 3 basic templates: 1) Archives; 2) Archives Correspondence; 3) Art Objects
  • When changing templates for an image, you do not lose any fields that were filled in; you do lose fields which were blank
  • Includes the ability to create mandatory and read only fields (was created with institutions in mind); you cannot describe every folder/document in the box – but you can describe the box as an institution; and then use material for researchers
• Global Search function – searches through tags, metadata, notes etc
• Can export items (json format; cn be converted to .csv – you can also get rid of some fields in this way, because you can export just the metadata)
  • Planning to add plugins for Omeka
• ArchivesSpace; Archivists Toolkit (digital assessment system) – plug ins being built for this type of system to move information from Tropy; use that information to populate finding aids
• Possible to create lists and add photos from your main project there
  • Whatever you delete from the lists is not deleted (it’s just a link)
  • Metadata edits will be applied to items on lists though
• Once portability is in place you will be able to share Tropy files – via cloud or otherwise
• Simple features to make the photos more legible (e.g., more contrast) to be developed
• You can add items without photos (you might not have the right to take a photo, etc.)
• No theoretical maximum file size
• Tropy – Zotero interaction under development (Tropy does not generate citations)

Limitations

• Exclusively handles .jpg and .png formats at present
• Desktop program only (no mobile app or plan for mobile app)
• No automatic organization of images
• Cannot have more than one project open at one time
• Does not work with proprietary software (example: Scribner)
• No plans for OCR or ways to link it with transcriber software
• Tropy does copy your photos in a smaller size
  • It will use a lot of space; but still, maintain a connection with the original photo
  • If you move the photo on your hard drive Tropy 1.0 will be able to update the path

Other Notes

• Interest has been expressed in building collaborations with archives/libraries
  • Asking researchers to share their photographs with the institution
  • Making sure researchers apply basic metadata
• Some institutions plan to use Tropy internally to avoid scanning and re-scanning the same items over and over again
• After generating templates for any collection, people could use those templates in Tropy
  • Once work is done, could send back to the archival institution/library