Introduction to Omeka workshop taught at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, Cape May, April 12 2012.

1. Here are some things you can do
while you wait
1. Open your omeka.net site in your browser
(e.g. http://rebecca.omeka.net)
2. Open a new tab and open your omeka.net
admin view in your browser (e.g.
http://rebecca.omeka.net/admin)
3. Find and open your workshop folder on your
laptop

2. Omeka!

3. Quick introductions
Flickr Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8623220@N02/2162710987

4. What is Omeka?
• a “a free, flexible, and open source web-
publishing platform for the display of
library, museum, archives, and scholarly
collections and exhibitions” –Omeka team’s
definition
• a “system for storing digital objects
(photos, PDFs, video, etc.) and their
metadata, and creating digital collection and
exhibitions around those objects” –my
definition

5. What isn’t Omeka?
• If you need a quick-and-dirty way to put
content online…use Wordpress or other
blogging software
• If you need a quick-and-dirty way to put
images online…use Flickr
• If you need a digital asset management
system…use ContentDM, or an open source
DAMS like ResourceSpace

6. How does Omeka work?
• Administrative and public interface: no coding
or HTML required
• Customize your site with themes and plugins
• Two options: free/paid hosting (account at
omeka.net) or self-hosting (download
software from omeka.org and install it on a
server)

7. Self-hosted Omeka Omeka.net
LAMP server required No server required
FTP client required No FTP client required
Customize themes and plugins by Customize themes and plugins
editing server files (PHP and CSS) through the admin interface only
Mostly
copied
Storage space determined by your Storage space according to the plan
from
server and/or server administrator you choose
http://info.
omeka.net/
Unlimited number of plugins and Plugins and themes determined by about
themes the plan you chose
File size limitations determined by
File size limitations: 64mb
your server administrator
Multiple sites, depending on your
One site per installation
plan, per user account
Free basic plan, other options cost
Free
$

8. Let’s look at the public interface
Watch my screen!

9. Basic content types
• Items
• Collections
• Exhibits
• Simple Pages

10. Items!
• Item = files(s) + metadata
• Files can be images, PDFs, audio, video…

11. Collections!
• A grouping of items
• Displays with a description of the collection (if
you provide one) followed by a list of thumbnails
and links to all items in the collection
• Omeka doesn’t care how you create collections.
You could do it by archival collection, by
creator, thematic, etc.
• Omeka 1.5 (the latest version) allows you to
create sub-collections
• Collections don’t allow HTML input or text
formatting

12. Exhibits!
• A grouping of items with the option to add
narrative text and captions
• Organized into sections with pages
• You can choose different page layouts and add
captions
• Each exhibit can have its own theme, which
can be different from the overall site theme
• Exhibits allow HTML input and text formatting

13. Collections vs. Exhibits
• Collections provide space to describe a set of
items (or subsets, in Omeka 1.5)
• Collections are easier and faster to create
• Exhibits provide space to describe
sets, subsets, and individual items, and control
over text formatting and page layouts
• You can add items to a collection, but not to an
exhibit—you have to add them to a page within
an exhibit
• Collections are for organizing items, and exhibits
are for displaying items

14. If it doesn’t work as a collection or
exhibit…make a simple page
About page
Site credits
News
• Simple pages can link to
items, collections, exhibits, or any other
content on your site. You can add HTML or
PHP content, so these pages can be simple or
pretty complex.

15. Let’s look at the
administrative interface
Watch my screen!

16. Let’s set up our site
Go to your browser!

17. Let’s add some content
1. Create items using the CSV Import plugin
2. Create an item through the Items tab
3. Create a collection through the Collections
tab
4. Batch edit some items
5. Create an exhibit, and add items to it
6. Create a simple page

18. Questions?
Flickr Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7167652@N06/3595037911

19. Play on your own
• Add another item
• Batch edit your items
• Add a new collection
• Update your site information
• Add more Simple Pages, and create a
hierarchy
• Explore item types
• Activate and play with other plugins

20. Self-hosted Omeka admin interface
With self-hosted Omeka, you can
• Change the default sizes for full-size images
and thumbnails
• Change which file types are allowed
• Upload new themes and plugins via FTP

21. Let’s download a new theme
and a new plugin
1. Go to http://omeka.org/add-ons
2. Click on ALL THEMES
3. Under Berlin (the first theme), click the
Download Latest button, and save the file to
your workshop folder
4. Go back to http://omeka.org/add-ons and
click on ALL PLUGINS
5. Scroll down to Simple Contact Form, click the
Download Latest button, and save the file to
your workshop folder

22. Let’s open Filezilla
• Let’s configure Filezilla to work with jEdit

23. Filezilla connection information
Host: sftp://marac.dreamhosters.com
Username: [REDACTED]
Password: [REDACTED]
Host: [leave blank]
WAIT to click the Quickconnect button until
Rebecca says so!
In the Remote Site box, click on
marac.dreamhosters.com, then capemay, then
your Omeka site

24. What does an FTP client do?
• Transfers files from your computer (local site)
to a website (remote site)
• You can transfer one file at a time, multiple
files, or entire directories (folders)
• Your account to log into a website and your
FTP account are separate

25. Upload a theme

26. Upload a plugin
• Same as for themes, but upload it to the
plugins folder instead

27. Let’s activate our SimpleContactForm
plugin and choose our Berlin theme
• Log in to your site (in your browser, not FTP)
• Plugin: click Settings  Plugins. Click the
Install button next to Simple Contact Form.
This will automatically take you to the
Configuration page. You can configure it or
just click Save Changes at the bottom.
• Theme: click Settings  Themes. Under
Change Theme, select Berlin.

28. HTML and CSS in 60 seconds
• (You should) use HTML to control content, and
CSS to control appearance
• HTML and CSS documents are connected
through links on HTML pages
• Linking multiple HTML pages link to the same
CSS document is a way to keep your site’s
appearance consistent across different pages
• The C in CSS is for Cascading, and different CSS
rules have different priorities

29. Let’s edit the Berlin theme

30. Let’s upload our edited theme

31. Don’t edit themes the way we just did!
• To edit an existing theme:
– Make a copy of the theme, and give the top-level
folder (e.g. Berlin) a new name (e.g. Berlin-edited)
– Open the theme.ini file, and update the
author, title, and description fields

32. Free self-hosting for Omeka
• Dreamhost offers FREE website hosting to
non-profits, and they have a one-click Omeka
install option
• http://wiki.dreamhost.com/Non-
profit_Discount

33. Questions?
Flickr Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7167652@N06/3595037911

34. Extra activities
• Watch me install an Omeka site on Dreamhost
• Download and install additional plugins