Instructions:

Step 1 of 1

In this activity, you will learn how to install and set-up Omeka to create an online collection. In the following two activities, you will use Omeka to make an online collection of the items you have digitized from the “Digitizing Your Kitchen” activity, and then an exhibit using that collection. Use the work you just did in Tropy to help you as you figure out what metadata goes where (note: most of Tropy's metadata template uses the Dublin Core. That will come in handy when you put your items into Omeka).

Why are we using Omeka and not WordPress to create an online collection? Omeka is an open-source content management system, like WordPress, but designed for the library, archive and museum communities. Whereas WordPress is primarily a blog, organized around presenting content, Omeka is primarily concerned with organizing collections of items, with associated metadata.

1. Login to your Reclaim Hosting account, and go to your cPanel. We are repeating the same process you used to install WordPress

2. ‘Web Applications’ should be the first set of options - click on ‘Omeka.’
   
   • You are now in Installatron - Click on ‘+ install this application.’
     
   • On the next screen, we can leave most of the settings on the default options:
     
     • Location: in the Directory box, type “mykitchen.” You must add a directory; if you do not you will put the Omeka install in the same place in your domain as your WordPress site, in the process deleting the WordPress site
       
     • Scroll down to Settings:
       
       • In ‘Administrator Username’, enter your name.
         
       • In ‘Administrator Password’, click on the show password button, and record the password.
         
       • In Web Site Title, put ‘My Kitchen.’
         
       • Leave the other settings.
         
     • Scroll to the bottom, click ‘+ Install’- and watch Installatron do its thing!

3. Once installtron is done, note the 2 urls under the name of your site
   
   • Url 1: is where this Omeka site is now installed, which takes you to the front end of the site, which is what appears in the image on the left of your screen.
     
   • Url 2: is to access the back end of the Omeka site, where you add and edit content -- it is the site addess with ‘/admin’ added.

4. Log out of cPanel - we are done with Reclaim Hosting for now.

5. Log in to your Omeka installation- [your domain]/mykitchen/admin
   
   • You do not need to go to Reclaim Hosting to get to your Omeka site - just use the url [your domain]/mykitchen/admin and log-in with the name you entered in ‘Administrator Username’ and the Administrator password you recorded.

6. In the Dashboard, on the top black menu bar, click on ‘Plugins.’
   

   

   • In the list of installed plugins, click the green ‘install’ button for ‘Exhibit Builder,’ and ‘Simple Pages.’ [You need to do this to install any plugin you add to your Omeka site.]
     
   • Exhibit Builder, and Simple Pages have now been added to the menu on the left.

   

7. Click on ‘Simple Pages’ in the menu on the left. Simple pages are static pages in your Omeka site, apart from the pages that are created for items and exhibits.
   

   

   • As in WordPress, a demo page, named “About,” is created by the plugin - in the list of simple pages under the Add a Page button, click on ‘Edit’ under the page title About.
     

     

   • Leave “About” as the page title and slug - click the ‘Use HTML’ editor to see the toolbar. (This toolbar is similar to the one in WordPress.)
     
   • Replace the filler text with a description of the “Digitizing Your Kitchen” activity.
     
   • Click the green ‘Save changes’ button on the top right.

8. Click on ‘Appearance’ on the top (black) menu. Omeka uses themes in the same way as WordPress - there are 2 installed in addition to the default theme (There are an additional 9 themes available; if you wish to use one of those instead, you can add it to your site, using the instructions below).
   
   • Click on ‘Navigation’ (under Appearance).
     

     

   • On the right side of the screen, click on the ‘Select a Homepage’ dropdown menu, and select ‘About.’
     
   • Click the green ‘Save changes’ button.

   Click on My Kitchen in the top left of the dashboard - this takes you to the 'public view' of your site, what the site looks like to visitors. To return from that view to the Dashboard, click on Omeka admin on the right of the menu bar on the site

   

9. Click on ‘Settings’ on the top (black) menu.
   

   

   • In the ‘Site Copyright’ box, enter the rights you want to apply to the images you have taken of your kitchen (choose a Creative Commons license).
     
   • In the ImageMagick Directory Path enter /usr/bin/ - then press Test to make sure the path works
     

     

   • Click the ‘Save changes’ button.

To Add a Theme to Your Omeka Installation
Open a new tab in your browser, and visit the Omeka Themes page to find a theme

• Download the file for the theme you want to add. Do not unzip the file.
  
• Log into Reclaim Hosting and go to the cPanel.
  
• In menu bar under the Reclaim Hosting Banner, click on ‘File Manager.’
  

  

• In the left hand menu in the File Manager, click on the ‘public_html file’ icon to open the file. Click on the folder labeled ‘MyKitchen’ to open your Omeka install. Click on the ‘themes’ folder.
  
• Click on ‘Upload’ in the top navigation bar.
  
• Click ‘Choose File’ and select the downloaded plugin file.
  

  

  • Click on the ‘Back to …’ link at the bottom of the screen to go back to the File Manager.
    

  

• Select the uploaded .zip file, then click ‘Extract’ in the top navigation bar.
  
  • You will see a folder labeled with the theme name - you can now delete the .zip file -- click on the .zip file, then click ‘Delete’ in the top navigation bar. When you return to your Omeka Dashboard and click on Appearance in the top menu, then Themes, you will see the theme that uploaded