CHNM Releases Omeka 0.10b
The Center for History and New Media, in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society, is pleased to announce a major new release of its Omeka web publishing platform, version 0.10b. From the Swahili word meaning “to display” or “to lay out for discussion,” Omeka is a next generation web publishing platform for collections-based research of all kinds, one that bridges the scholarly, library, and museum worlds through a set of commonly recognized standards. In doing so Omeka puts serious web publishing within reach of all scholars and cultural heritage professionals. Omeka is free and open-source, easy to use, standards based, and extensible. It is designed with non-IT specialists in mind, allowing users to focus on content and interpretation rather than programming. Its unqualified Dublin Core metadata structure and adherence to web standards allows anyone to design fully accessible online exhibitions efficiently. Omeka’s modular architecture and rich API empower people with a range of programming skills to participate in its open source community and expand its capabilities by adding specialized metadata element sets and plugins. Plugins bring Web 2.0 technologies and approaches to academic and cultural websites that foster user participation.
CHNM is also re-launching the project website, http://omeka.org, with a new look. The new design showcases a diverse range of Omeka-powered websites and encourages involvement from the open-source development and user community.
Scholars and cultural heritage professionals no longer need extensive technical skills or expensive systems to publish collections-based research and online exhibitions. They only need Omeka.
Omeka is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Omeka 0.10b Features
- Free and open source publishing suite for scholars, librarians, archivists, museum professionals, and cultural enthusiasts
- Unqualified Dublin Core structure is interoperable with existing digital collections systems.
- W3C, 508 standards compliant
- Improved exhibit building Element sets for institution-specific metadata sets
- Web 2.0 functionality: Syndicate content with RSS/ATOM feeds; tag items with keywords; personalize favorite items; invite users to share in content creation.
- Plugins: geolocation, bi-lingual sites, user-created content, document browsing, batch uploading, or build one to suit project needs.
- Themes: easily choose, modify, or build your own site design.
- Data migration tools: Coming soon for popular content management systems
Selected Websites Built with Omeka
- Making the History of 1989, Center for History and New Media
- Eminent Domain, New York Public Library
- Bracero History Archive, Center for History and New Media, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Brown University, and the Institute of Oral History at the University of Texas at El Paso
- Upper Ringwood Collections, Ringwood Public Library, New Jersey
- Gulag: Many Days, Many Lives, Center for History and New Media, Gulag Museum at Perm 36, and International Memorial Society
- Pictures of the Year International Archive, Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri School of Journalism