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Owning Your Omeka Workshop Series

This how-to guide is meant to support anyone interested in setting up and maintaining their Omeka Classic website using Reclaim Hosting. It is ancillary resource for the "Owning Your Omeka" Workshop Series developed by Kate Thornhill and Franny Gaede

Definitions, FAQs, How-tos, and Documentation

Curatescape logo

 

Computer logoWhat is Curatescape?

Curatescape is web and mobile app framework for publishing location-based content created by the Cleveland State University's Center for Public History and Digital Humanities.  It uses Omeka Classic as it's a technical platform.

It is a great technical solution to emphasize storytelling from the historical to the environmental, to the literacy to the architectural to build meaning evoking context, place, or identity contextualized through text, image, sound, and video that combines writing and special collections, archives, and museum objects.

FAQ iconFrequently Asked Questions

Why should I use Curatescape over another theme?

Curatescape is a good technical solution if you want to create a mobile-friendly tour that sequences individual geospatial specific stories connected by a central topic or theme. Curatescape is unique because by nature the theme and plugins control the entire website instead of like traditional Omeka Classic themes where you need to construct individual digital exhibits using the Exhibits Builder plugin.

Do I install Curatescape theme and plugins like other Omeka themes and plugins?

Yes

Is Curatescape free?

The Curatescape software is free because it is open source. You'll need to setup your own Omeka platform using Reclaim Hosting and install the theme and plugins.

 

Documentation logoSelected Documentation

 

Computer logoWhat are the theme and plugins?

Below are the required themes and plugins for Curatescape. You can keep up with any changes via the Curatescape GitHub code repository.

  1. Curatescape themes
  2. Curatescape plugins (required)
  3. CHNM plugins (required)

 

FAQ iconFrequently Asked Questions

How do I install the themes and plugins?

Just like you would for any Omeka Classic theme or plugin. If you are not sure how to do that then check out workshop 1 and workshop 2 for more information.

How do I keep up with Curatescape theme and plugin being updates?

You need to monitor updates on your own by periodically looking at the Curatescape website and their GitHub code repository.

What do I do if the theme and plugin are giving me issues?

You should reach out to the Curatescape forum and ask a community of Curatescape users and the folx who develop and maintain the software.

 

Documentation logoSelected Documentation

There's loads of documentation to get you going with setting up your Curatescape and learning how to add stories and tours. You can find Curatescape documentation and technical specifications here:

life preserver icon

Ways a UO Digital Scholarship Services Librarians can help you with Omeka?

  • Think through setting up your digital exhibit with you
  • Make technical recommendations
  • Provide consultations for technology troubleshooting issues
  • Help you learn how to use Omeka for digital archives, digital humanities, digital social science, and digital science projects
  • Identify the best places to access online library, archives, and museum objects
  • Strategize with faculty on how to integrate Omeka into the classroom

Curatescape Projects

Image of Rhode Tour's home page

Rhode Tour

A joint initiative of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Brown University's John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, and the Rhode Island Historical Society, Rhode Tour is a smartphone app and website that uses text, sound, and images to bring Rhode Island stories to the palm of your hand. Open Rhode Tour and the map shows you stories near your location. Or look at the list of tours and follow from pin to pin to learn about the places, for example, where Black history was made, where to explore the culinary roots of the state’s food evolution, and where to find forts used during the Revolutionary War. 

Screenshot of Intermountain Histories' home page

Intermountain Histories

Intermountain Histories is a free mobile app and website that provide scholarly information and interpretive stories of historic sites and events around the Intermountain West regions of Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Discover the histories of the region’s peoples, places, institutions, events, cultures, and more. Using an interactive GPS-enabled map, you can take virtual or physical walking tours of historic sites. As your personal tour guide, Intermountain Histories provides historical information, photographs and images, documentary videos, audio interviews, oral histories, bibliographic citations, and other resources as you explore. 

Hosted and managed by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University, the collaborative project features carefully researched histories developed by students and professors in classroom settings from universities around the Intermountain West. 

Screenshot of the Hidden Histories' home page

Untold Stories: The Hidden History of the University of Oregon

The Untold Stories: The Hidden History of the University of Oregon is a  project dedicated to highlighting the often untold and hidden histories of traditionally underrepresented students and diverse communities through the context of the built environment on the University of Oregon campus.

This project has been made possible through numerous years of research and writing by various UO faculty, staff, students, and entire classes who have contributed significantly to this project. The project is funded and hosted through the support of the UO Libraries Digital Scholarship Center.

Screenshot of Cleveland Historical's homepage

Cleveland Historical

Center for Public History + Digital Humanities at Cleveland State University, Cleveland Historical lets you explore the people, places, and moments that have shaped the city's history. Learn about the region through layered, map-based, multimedia presentations, use social media to share your stories, and experience curated historical tours of Northeast Ohio.

Screenshot of Village Legacy Project's home page.

The Village Legacy Project | Le Projet de Legs du Village

Discover the history of Ottawa’s LGBT community through the Village Legacy Project’s interactive walking tour. Take the tour along Bank Street and visit sites old and new, explore public art initiatives, see archival photographs and watch interviews from some of our most significant community leaders to learn about the people, places, topics and events that helped shape our community.

The Village Legacy Project, researched, curated, designed and written by project leader Glenn Crawford, is made possible by the Bank Street Business Improvement Area, the City of Ottawa, Daily Xtra, Swirl and Twirl and other sponsors, volunteers and resources.

Workshop 3: Working with Omeka and Curatescape

The information on this part of the Owning Your Omeka Workshop Series instruction guide supports the third session of the workshop series.

Workshop participants will learn the following during this 2 hour session

  1. Scope a topic and theme to focus on stories about a topic of their choosing that could be conveyed as a tour, e.g. a story about the women faculty who were employed by the UO in the 20th century
  2. Evaluate if a theme has the same or different website functionalities as other Omeka themes that demonstrate a geospatial digital project
  3. Create Curatescape stories using digital images and metadata to be used for mobile tour building
  4. Collaborate with other learners to add map markers and tours to an Omeka site using Curatescape

Want a campus location to work with? Here's some suggestions.