Digital Exhibits

Installing Omeka on Georgetown Domains

If you do not already have one, the first step in the process of creating an Omeka site is to sign up for a Georgetown Domain. I recommend using your name instead of a project title when you set up your domain in case you need to use it again for other classes or projects. Once you’ve signed up for a domain: 

1. Click existing user from the GU Domains homepage and sign in 

2. Select Omeka from the list of Applications on the Cpanel

3. Select Install this application 

4. Follow the setup prompts and select a username and password you’ll remember

5. Now you’re ready to Launch Omeka and sign in with that username and password

Initial Set-Up

Once you’ve installed Omeka there are a few things you need to do to get the system ready to use.

1. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and find where it says ImageMagick Directory Path

2. Enter /usr/bin 

3. Click test to make sure it worked, if you get an error, check there isn’t a space before or after the filepath

4. Next, click on Plugins from the menu on the upper right

5. Click activate for Simple Pages and Exhibit Builder  

Creating Collections

Collections provide an optional way to group the items in your Omeka site into groups. Each item can only be in one collection. If you choose to use collections, you’ll want to set them up before items, as the option to put an item into a collection appears during item creation.

Adding Items 

1. From your Omeka dashboard select Items

2. Click Add an Item

3. Use the Dublin Core fields to describe the item to the level of detail you can. It’s ok to skip fields if it does not apply to your item. Be sure to be consistent across all your items (for example: put in all dates in the same format).

4. Click the tab for Item Type Metadata, select the type of item you have and fill in any desired fields (item type is not required but it’s nice to use if you have information about the item not expressed elsewhere)

5. Click the tab for Files and upload any files associated with the item 

6. Click the tab for Tags and add any tags you want to associate with the item

7. If you have any plugins enabled that allow for extra information to be associated with an item (for example Geolocation) tabs with those options will appear. Fill in the information asked for in those tabs to take full advantage of the plugin 

8. Decide if you are ready to make the item public and if you want to make it featured and check those boxes 

9. Select a collection from the drop down menu to add it to a collection if you’re using collections

10. Click Add Item

Setting up an Exhibit

Exhibits consist of pages of items and text; you’ll select items from your library and connect them with text. They offer a way to add context and connections between the items in your Omeka site.

1. From the admin site, select  Exhibits  from the sidebar; then select  Add an Exhibit .

2. You’ll need to fill out the following fields on the resulting “Exhibit Metadata” page:

   1. Title: The title of your exhibit.

   2. Slug: A short word or words that will make up the last part of the URL (address) for your exhibit and should roughly follow your exhibit title. For example, if the title of our exhibit is “Food and Culture,” the slug might be “food-and-culture”. Use hyphens instead of spaces and keep the slug short!

   3. Credits: Give your team credit for the exhibition.

   4. Description: This [short!] description will appear on the listing of exhibits.

   5. Tags: (Optional) Type in keywords for your exhibit, separated by commas.

   6. Theme: Leave as “current public theme” 

3. After you’ve filled out the preceding fields, save your exhibit by selecting  Save Changes  in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

4. Select the  Add Page  button at the bottom of the Exhibit Metadata page.

5. You’ll be taken to a Page Metadata page; fill out the Title and Slug fields.

6. Next, choose the layouts for your page. Select  Save Changes  in the upper right.

7. On the Edit Page Content screen, you’ll select items from your library to add to the page, optionally write captions for those items, and add text to the page.

   1. Select  Attach an Item  in a content box to select an item from your library. You can select  Show Search Form  to narrow down the list of items by keyword, user, etc. Once you’ve found the item you’d like to attach, select  Attach Selected Item

   2. You can then add a caption for the item.

   3. Repeat the process for however many items and text boxes you want on the page.

8. When you’re finished, select  Save Changes  (or  Save and Add Another Page  if you’d like to go straight into creating the next page).