this tutorial was developed for the visualizing venice...

This tutorial was developed for the Visualizing Venice 2016 Summer Workshop.

http://www.dukewired.org/visualizing-venice-the-ghetto-of-venice/

Instructors: Mark J.V. Olson, Victoria Szabo

Teaching Assistants: Ludovica Galeazzo, Hannah L. Jacobs, Edward Triplett http://www.dukewired.org/

It is licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 US.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Please use, reuse, mix, and cite your source(s)!

http://www.dukewired.org/visualizing-venice-the-ghetto-of-venice/

http://www.dukewired.org/

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Curating Digital Archives with Omeka & Neatline

About this Tutorial

Omeka (http://omeka.org/) is a content management system (CMS) for scholars, museums, archives, and enthusiasts. It enables its users to structure information about physical or virtual people, places, things; to express relationships between these objects; to curate public digital archives; and to develop public digital Exhibits. In this tutorial, we will learn how to curate and

exhibit historical data.

We will then move to creating spatiotemporal stories with Neatline, an Omeka plugin in which users can visualize and annotate Omeka Items.

Part I: Omeka’s Data Structure

Omeka’s basic archival structure consists of Collections (groups of objects) of Items (objects). These items can be selectively reorganized into thematic Exhibits to which textual narratives and/or arguments can be added.

To allow users to describe Collections and Items in an organized, consistent, extensible way,

Omeka makes use of the Dublin Core metadata standard (http://dublincore.org/). Metadata is

Visualizing Venice Summer Workshop 2016 �1

http://omeka.org/

http://dublincore.org/


simply “data about data” — information about an object such as its

discovery date, geographic origin, creator, etc. A metadata standard is a widely accepted set of terms used to categorize metadata. Using a standard ensures that a wide range of archival collections could be added to or combined. (Indeed, Omeka makes this possible.)

Omeka uses Dublin Core to enable scholars to catalog as wide a variety of objects as possible. Collections and Items can be described using Dublin Core terms at right. These are only some of the possible terms available.

Part II: Omeka’s Interface

1. Navigate to http://vv2016.trinity.duke.edu/admin to login.

2. You will be redirected to your dashboard.

3. Look at the left menu. Here we can access locations for creating

Collections, Items, and Exhibits. There are other menu items available, and we will look at these in future advanced tutorials. For now, make sure you know where the Collections, Items, and Exhibits buttons are.

4. The Collections and Items sections provide areas for users to add and edit Dublin Core metadata. The data entry forms for each are formatted the

same:

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5. Navigate to “Items”, and click “Add an Item” to view the form.

6. Before we begin adding Collections and Items, we’ll want to take time to consider our data

structure:

A. What are our Items? How many are there? What kinds of metadata do we have for them?

B. How will we organize our Items? Which parameters will we use to separate our Items into Collections?


http://vv2016.trinity.duke.edu/admin


7. Parameters might include theme, geographic region, time period, typology, etc.

A. Which Dublin Core fields will you use to describe your Collections and your Items? Which formats will you use for recording dates, place names, etc.? Identify a consistent way of describing your metadata for each field.Record your data structure choices in project notes that you keep outside of Omeka.

Create spreadsheets of your archival data (one for Items, one for Collections) using Dublin Core terms as column headers in preparation for entering your data into Omeka.

Part III: Adding Collections & Items

1. Once you have decided on a data structure, begin your Omeka archive by creating a collection. Navigate in the left menu to “Collections”, and click “Add a Collection”.

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2. Enter your metadata in the appropriate Dublin Core fields.

3. Note that it is possible to add multiple entries to a single Dublin Core field by clicking the “Add Input” button below a Dublin Core field.

4. To add links, images, and embed interactive media in a Dublin Core field, check the “Use HTML” box below a Dublin Core field.|

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5. When you have finished adding metadata, check the “Public” box at the top right of the Add Collection page.

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6. Then click “Add Collection” to save and publish your Collection.



7. You will be redirected to the Browse Collections page. Now your Collection is listed in a table.

Note, however, that your collection is empty: Total Number of Items is listed as 0.

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8. So let’s add Items to your Collection. Navigate to “Items” in the lefthand menu. Click “Add an Item” to fill out the Dublin Core for one Item.

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9. Note that you can also edit HTML and add multiple inputs to Dublin Core fields in the Item data entry forms.

10. At the top of the “Add an Item” page, note the red tabs.

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11. Click “Files” to add attach a file to your item. Files can include images, documents, or other file types that you might wish viewers to download. Note that it is only possible for users to view images, pdfs*, and Word documents* in Omeka.

12. An additional plugin is required to view documents and pdfs.

13. Click “Choose File”, browse your computer, and locate the file you’d like to upload. Note the file size limit.

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14. If you wish to add a second file, click “Add Another File”, and browse for that file.

15. Note that your files are not uploaded until you publish your Item.

16. In the top right box, check the box next to “Public”, and choose the Collection into which you would like to place the Item. Click “Add Item” to publish your Item and to upload your file(s).

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Part IV: Creating Item Relations Using Tags

It is possible to use tags — individual words or phrases — to categorize Items thematically outside of the Collections structure. Add tags to an Item in the “Tags” tab.”

Part V: Creating Exhibits

Once you’ve completed your archive, you are ready to develop digital exhibitions.

1. In the lefthand Omeka menu, navigate to “Exhibits”, and click “Add an Exhibit”.

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2. Exhibits are made up of an introduction page (the Exhibit’s Metadata) and subsequent pages. Each page can include multiple blocks of data: Item galleries, text, interactive embedded content, etc.

3. Enter appropriate data in each metadata field. Click “Save Changes”. Check the box next to “Public” when you are ready to publish your Exhibit.

4. At the bottom of the Exhibit Metadata page, click “Add Page” to add your first Exhibit Page.

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5. On the following page, give the page a Title and a Slug, then choose your content layout and

click “Add new content block.”

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6. To add one or more Items to a Block, select “File with Text” or “Gallery”. Use “File with Text” if you also wish to include an adjacent chunk of text.

7. To add an Item to a Block:

A. Click “Add Item”.

B. A pop-up window will appear. You may choose to search for the Item you wish to add, or you may browse a list of all Items.

C. Click the name of the Item you wish to add, then click “Select Item”. You may then add a caption in the text box that appears beneath a thumbnail of the Item’s File. When you have finished, click “Apply”.

D. Back in the content block, you may click “Add Item” to add another Item, add text to the Text box, or select a new layout under “New Block” to add to the exhibit page.



� (One page may have more than one content block.) Note that you can return to the Item you’ve added to make changes by clicking “Edit” beneath the Item’s title. You may also adjust the content block’s layout by clicking the arrow to the right of “Layout Options”. In

the Block’s top right corner, click the arrow to hide the Block’s content, or click the “X” to delete the content block.

8. Add more Content Blocks as needed to this page. When you have finished creating this Exhibit Page, click “Save” and return to the “Browse Exhibits”, or click “Save and

Add Another Page” to add a new Page to your Exhibit.

Part VI: Creating a Neatline Exhibit

We can take digital exhibits further by adding spatiotemporal visualization using Neatline.

Before we begin, take some time to plan your narrative: What story are you telling? How will you use your Omeka Items to tell it? What will appear on your timeline? On your map? How will your map be structured? What kinds of additional text and media will you need?

1. Locate “Neatline” in the lefthand menu.

2. Click “Create an Exhibit” to begin creating your exhibit.

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3. You will be redirected to a Create Neatline Exhibit Form.



A. Fill in Title, Narrative, and URL Slug. (The URL Slug will be created automatically from your

title, but you can edit it once it has been created by Omeka.) Your URL Slug appears here:http://neatline.dukewired.org/neatline/show/your-url-slug

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B. In the Widgets text box, select SIMILE Timeline and Waypoints. These are extensions of Neatline that allow you to add a timeline and specific points on the map corresponding to each record/Omeka item.

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C. Select a Default Spatial Layer from the drop-down menu. You can always select one, finish creating your Neatline exhibit, view your exhibit, and change the map later if it isn’t suiting

your needs.

D. Input number of Zoom Levels. The default is 20, based on what is available for the Default Spatial Layers. Leave the setting at 20 unless you plan to add other maps.



E. Optional fields:

- You might include a description of your exhibit in the Narrative box.

- In Enabled Spatial Layers, you can select which layers you would like your users to be able to choose from. (If you do not do this, they will only be able to view the Default Spatial Layer that you have selected.)

- Image Layer, WMS Address, and WMS Layers are each areas that allow you to add an

image or map from another location. You can find out more about these in the Neatline documentation: http://docs.neatline.org/exhibits-overview.html

- To add a georectified map over one of the base maps, you will need a WMS Layer (a georectified image saved to a GeoServer--feel free to ask about this).

- In “WMS Address”, add the address of the server on which the layer is saved.

- In “WMS Layers” add the name of the layer(s) you are adding. If you are adding multiple layers, you need to separate the names by commas.

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F. To make your Neatline exhibit public, check the box in the “Public” section just above “Save Exhibit”. Click “Save Exhibit” at the bottom of the page. You will be redirected to the Neatline Browse Exhibits page.

G. On this page, under the name of your Neatline exhibit, you can click “Exhibit Settings” to return to the exhibit’s set up page. You can also preview the project as the public would see it by clicking “Public View” or “Fullscreen View”, and you can delete your exhibit by clicking “Delete”.

4. To being adding information to your Neatline exhibit, click on the title of your exhibit on the

Neatline Browse Exhibit page. You may want to right click and open your exhibit in a new tab so that you can easily return to Omeka if you need to modify something.


http://docs.neatline.org/exhibits-o


5. You will be redirected to the Neatline editor. You should see a map filling the right side of your

browser window, a timeline running along the bottom, and a menu and empty white space on the left side of your screen. If your browser asks to access your location, click “Allow”. You may need to reload your Neatline editor after this to make the map appear.

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6. You can now populate your Neatline exhibit with items from your Omeka collection. Note that each field has a ? by its label. You can click on these to get information on what kind of data that field needs and how to enter data into that field.

A. In the left menu, click “Plugins” > “SIMILE Timeline”. This

form allows you to customize your timeline’s appearance.

- Enter your Default Date. This will be the start date for your timeline. The automatic format is YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS (only YYYY is required). For BCE dates, read this section of the documentation. (http://

docs.neatline.org/working-with-the-simile-timeline-widget.html#dateform)

- Select your time Interval Unit, which dictates how the timeline is sectioned--by Millenium, Century, Decade, Year, etc.

- Interval Pixels controls the amount of space between


http://docs.neatline.org/working-with-the-simile-timeline-

http://docs.neatline.org/working-with-the-simile-timeline-widget.html


Interval Units. 100 pixels is the default. To create more space between Interval Units,

enter a number greater than 100 in the Interval Pixels textbox. To create less space between Interval Units, enter a number less than 100 in the Interval Pixels textbox.

- Track Height, defaulted at 30 pixels, controls the height of the record as it appears on the timeline. Best heights are between 20-50 pixels but will depend on the frequency of events and number of pixels between intervals. Maximum height is 500 pixels, and

minium is 0.

- Similarly, Tape Height is the height in pixels (default is 10) of a line that shows the presence of an event (such as a monarch’s reign) between a start and end date. Optimum heights occur between 3-40 pixels but will depend on Track height. We suggest experimenting with Tape Height and Track Height after you have added all your

data to your Neatline exhibit.

- Click “Save”.

B. Click “Styles”. If you would like to set the beginning orientation of your map--it’s focus and zoom--adjust your map to the view you want. Click “Use Current Viewport as Default,” and click “Save”.

C. Click “Records”.In Neatline, one entry is called a “Record”--these can be made by clicking on “New Record”. Each record can contain a title, description, URL slug, link to an Omeka Item, and georectified

point or shape on the map. It can be styled in a number of ways. A record does not have to be linked to an Omeka Item, but if it is it will pull the Item’s Dublin Core entries into the Neatline record. Its text box in Neatline will also contain a link to the Item’s page.

D. Click “New Record”.

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- To link a record to an Omeka Item: In the top menu, click “Item”. From the empty dropdown menu, search for and select the item you wish to add. Click “Save”.

- Again in the top menu, click “Text”. If you created an Omeka



Item, the Title field will be filled with that title. Fill in the Slug, Title, and Body fields.

Click “Save”.

- In the top menu, click “Map”. In “Drawing Tools”, you can choose to draw a point, line, or polygon on the map. Choose to draw a point, line, or polygon by clicking one of the radio buttons.

Draw on the map by:

- Point -- click once where you want a point to be.

- Line -- click once to create a starting point. Move your mouse to the ending point, and

double click to end the line. To draw a line with a change in direction, or a corner, click once and move your mouse to the next point that you want your line to go.

- Polygon -- click once to establish the first

corner of the polygon. Then click once on each of the other corners. When you reach the last corner, double click to close the polygon.

- Regular Polygon -- Set the number of sides

you wish your regular polygon to have. Click and hold your mouse down over the place where you wish the center point of the polygon to be. Then drag your mouse away from the center to enlarge the polygon.

Release the mouse button when your polygon has reached the shape you want.

E. Note that you can create multiple shapes for one record.

F. Remember to click “Save” as you work!

G. In the top menu, click “Style”. This section will allow you to adjust your record’s shape’s colors, opacities and dimensions. You can also add imagery to your record, assign start and end dates to your record, (remember that there is special notation; see the link on the previous page!) and control the visibility (focus and zoom) of your map. As with setting the



overall exhibit, you can click “Use Current Viewport as Default” to set your record to show a

particular view on the map.

H. When you are finished adjusting the styles for your record, click “Save”. Then scroll to the top of the left section and click the X to return to the main editor view. The

� record you created now appears under the “New Record” button. You can click on the record to make changes to later or to delete it.

I. Repeat all steps in this section to continue creating Neatline Records. of the “Creating a Basic Neatline Exhibit” section to add more records.

7. When you have finished adding information to your exhibit, click “Back to Omeka”. To view your exhibit click “Public View” or “Fullscreen View” beneath your Neatline exhibit’s title.

8. If you haven’t yet done so, click “Exhibit Settings” under your exhibit’s title, scroll to the bottom of the page, and check the box under “Public” to make your Neatline exhibit publicly available online. Click “Save”.



Resources

- Omeka Documentation: http://omeka.org/codex/Documentation

- Wired! Lab Omeka Tutorials: http://www.dukewired.org/workshops/tutorials/#tab-id-4

- Neatline Documentation: http://docs.neatline.org/

- Wired! Lab Neatline Tutorials: http://www.dukewired.org/workshops/tutorials/#tab-id-5


http://omeka.org/codex/Documentation

http://www.dukewired.org/workshops/tutorials/#tab-id-4

http://docs.neatline.org/

http://www.dukewired.org/workshops/tutorials/#tab-id-5

this tutorial was developed for the visualizing venice...

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