Digital Exhibits
For researchers, digital exhibits can provide an opportunity to communicate research to a broader audience. Digital exhibits can be used to highlight research on many different topics. The Seahorse Project, California Women for Agriculture, The Latina History Project, are all examples of websites built using Omeka.net.
Digital Exhibits and Pedagogy
Digital exhibit assignments can provide students–both undergraduate and graduate– with opportunities to learn new skills and engage in public research. Skills such as primary source research, digital literacy skills (how to choose a source and evaluate it), knowledge of copyright, open access, and Creative Commons licenses, as well as working with content management systems and creating metadata.
There is a lot of flexibility as to how to incorporate digital exhibits as an assignment. For example, you can either ask students to create their own exhibit or ask students to work collaboratively to create one classroom exhibit.
What is Omeka?
“Omeka” is a Swahili word meaning “to display or lay out wares”. Developed by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, Omeka is a free, open source publishing tool, or content management system, that allows you to curate digital collections and make a searchable database. There are currently three instances of Omeka including Omeka.org, Omeka.net, and Omeka S.
Omeka.org vs. Omeka.net vs. Omeka S
Omega.org needs to be hosted on a web hosting server. It is free and highly customizable but requires more expertise to build.
Omeka S was created for institutions to manage multiple sites.
Omeka.net is hosted on Omeka servers. It is easier to use but it is less customizable. Omeka.net offers a tiered, paid subscription as well as a free trial version. The trial version allows you to build 1 site, with 500 MB of storage space. It has very limited plugins or aesthetic features but it’s a great starting point for beginners and learning how to use Omeka.
Upgrading your Omeka.net account
Omeka.net has a tiered, paid subscription service. You can upgrade your plan at any time.
