Public Digital Projects for Courses

Omeka, an open-source program supported by the nonprofit Corporation for Digital Scholarship,  is an excellent tool for sharing digital collections and creating simple online exhibits from them. Omeka is a metadata-forward platform that focuses on the digital objects as the building block. It uses standard metadata such as DublinCore or you can upload your own metadata. Plug-ins allow for integration with oral history metadata (more details here), maps, and timelines. 

There are several versions of Omeka to choose from. Omeka.net is a paid, hosted site, managed by the Corporation for Digital Scholarship. Details here. Omeka.org requires you to use your own hosting; one option is Digital Scholarship @ Brown. For more complicated Omeka sites - if you want to add plug-ins or have more control over the design, for example, you might want to install Omeka on your own device; it’s a push-button install on Digital Scholarship @ Brown.

Examples:

Brown Undergraduate COVID-19 Archives (class project using Omeka.net)

Philadelphia Immigration (oral history project)

Further Reading: 

Up and Running with Omeka

Creating an Omeka Exhibit

University of Chicago Omeka site

ArcGIS StoryMaps allows you to combine maps, text, and multimedia to present engaging, interactive narratives. StoryMaps offers many themes for a polished, well-designed look. You can create StoryMaps with or without a mapping component; if, for example, you wanted to focus on creating a digital exhibition or a multimedia narrative. (For more information on creating a StoryMap that integrates geographic data, see the ArcGIS StoryMaps tutorial in the "Mapping" section of this guide.)

Examples:

The Oak of Jerusalem (mapping)

Morrill Reckoning (exhibit)

Yale Asian American Cultural Center (exhibit) 

Further Reading:

Brown GIS and Data Tutorials

How to make an awful StoryMap

Nine steps to great storytelling

ArtSTOR has more than 2.5 million high-quality images, mostly of art and architecture, including many under copyright protection. It is available only with a Brown login. There are several presentation and collection tools that are built into ArtSTOR; the fundamental collection concept is the group. You can download groups of images into PowerPoint; citation data and links back to original images on ArtSTOR allow you to zoom into images. You can use ArtSTOR’s IIIF image viewer allows you to view images full screen and to compare up to 10 items at once while zooming in on details, and share that display. And you can curate groups of images (including images from outside of ArtSTOR) and share them.

Examples:

Further Reading:

Tips for Using ArtSTOR and Luna Insights

Teaching remotely with Artstor: a crash course

Mukurtu, “a safe keeping place,” is a ‘free, mobile, and open source platform built with indigenous communities to manage and share digital cultural heritage.” It is designed to foster “relationships of respect and trust” by including Traditional Knowledge Labels, cultural protocols that allow differential levels of access to materials, and multiple descriptions of each object. 

To run Mukurtu you need a server; the Library’s “Domain of One’s Own” is a good choice for Mukurtu. Establishing protocols and defining roles makes Mukurtu better for a longer-term research project, not a semester class project. 

Examples:

    Passamaquoddy People: At Home on the Ocean and Lakes

    Tayôshq Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head –Aquinnah Tribal Digital Archive 

Wordpress is the most widely used platform on the web for blogs and other kinds of content. It's easy to get started with, and the huge amount of plugins available can allow you to do many things with a Wordpress site, such as create a digital archive or integrate narratives, maps, and multimedia content. Wordpress updates frequently and plugins may vary in how often they are maintained, so Wordpress sites are harder to keep up-to-date in the long-term. 

There are several different versions are available, each with its restrictions and possibilities.

• A commercial Wordpress site allows for complete control of the appearance and functionality of the site. These are available through the “Digital Scholarship @ Brown” Library service.  

• Wordpress.com provides free, advertising-supported, Wordpress sites. Custom domain names, more storage for audio and video, no advertising, and increased customization come with monthly fees. 

Examples:

https://edspace.american.edu/taylorandfillmore/ 

https://covid.dh.miami.edu/