Omeka

Omeka
Name	Omeka
Developer	Corporation for Digital Scholarship
Initial release	2008
Latest release version	3.0.2
Latest release date	2022
Operating system	Cross-platform
Platform	PHP
Language	English
Genre	Content management system
License	GNU General Public License

Omeka is a free, open-source content management system designed for creating and managing online collections and exhibitions, developed by the Corporation for Digital Scholarship in partnership with the University of Virginia Library and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. It is widely used by museums, archives, libraries, and cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, and New York Public Library. Omeka provides a flexible and customizable platform for scholars, curators, and archivists to create and share digital collections, exhibitions, and stories, leveraging digital humanities tools and methods developed at institutions like Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of California, Los Angeles. It has been used in various projects, including the American Museum of Natural History's online collections and the National Archives and Records Administration's digital exhibits.

Introduction

Omeka is built on top of PHP and MySQL, and is designed to be easy to use and customize, with a wide range of plugins and themes available, including those developed by Aldo Caputo, Jim Safley, and Patrick Murray-John. It supports multiple metadata standards, including Dublin Core and MODS, and can be integrated with other systems such as ContentDM and DSpace, used by institutions like Harvard University, Yale University, and University of Chicago. Omeka has been used in a variety of contexts, including academic research, museum collections management, and digital preservation, with notable examples including the Digital Public Library of America and the Internet Archive. It has also been used by independent scholars and community organizations, such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

History

Omeka was first released in 2008 by the Corporation for Digital Scholarship, a non-profit organization founded by Tom Scheinfeldt, Sharon Leon, and Patrick Murray-John, with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The initial release was designed to provide a simple and easy-to-use platform for creating online exhibitions, and was developed in partnership with the University of Virginia Library and the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Since its initial release, Omeka has undergone several major updates, including the release of Omeka 2.0 in 2013, which added support for responsive design and mobile devices, and Omeka 3.0 in 2018, which introduced a new user interface and improved performance optimization, with contributions from developers like Aldo Caputo and Jim Safley. Omeka has been widely adopted by cultural institutions and academic researchers, including the British Museum, National Gallery of Art, and University of Oxford.

Features

Omeka provides a range of features for creating and managing online collections and exhibitions, including support for multiple metadata standards, batch uploading of items, and customizable themes and plugins, developed by contributors like Patrick Murray-John and Sharon Leon. It also includes tools for creating and managing exhibitions, collections, and items, as well as support for user authentication and access control, used by institutions like Stanford University Library and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries. Omeka also provides a range of APIs and data import tools, making it easy to integrate with other systems and import data from other sources, such as OAI-PMH and CSV, used by projects like the Digital Public Library of America and the Internet Archive. Additionally, Omeka supports multilingualism, with translations available in multiple languages, including Spanish, French, and German, contributed by translators like Aldo Caputo and Jim Safley.

Uses

Omeka has been used in a wide range of contexts, including academic research, museum collections management, and digital preservation, with notable examples including the American Museum of Natural History's online collections and the National Archives and Records Administration's digital exhibits. It has also been used by independent scholars and community organizations, such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Omeka has been used to create online exhibitions and collections for a variety of topics, including art history, history, and cultural studies, with examples including the Metropolitan Museum of Art's online collections and the Library of Congress's digital exhibits. It has also been used in digital humanities projects, such as the Stanford University's Mapping the Republic of Letters project and the University of California, Los Angeles's HyperCities project, with contributions from scholars like Matthew K. Gold and Patrik Svensson.

Development

Omeka is developed and maintained by the Corporation for Digital Scholarship, a non-profit organization founded by Tom Scheinfeldt, Sharon Leon, and Patrick Murray-John, with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The development team includes Aldo Caputo, Jim Safley, and Patrick Murray-John, among others, and is supported by a community of developers and users who contribute to the project through GitHub and other channels, including institutions like George Mason University and University of Virginia. Omeka is released under the GNU General Public License, and is available for download from the Omeka website, with documentation and support available from the Omeka community forum and the Omeka wiki, maintained by contributors like Sharon Leon and Aldo Caputo.

Community

Omeka has a large and active community of users and developers, with a wide range of plugins and themes available, developed by contributors like Patrick Murray-John and Jim Safley. The Omeka community includes museum professionals, archivists, librarians, and academic researchers, as well as independent scholars and community organizations, such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The community is supported through the Omeka website, which provides documentation, tutorials, and forums for discussion and support, maintained by contributors like Sharon Leon and Aldo Caputo. Omeka also has a strong presence on social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, with accounts maintained by the Corporation for Digital Scholarship and the Omeka community team, including Tom Scheinfeldt and Patrick Murray-John.

Category:Digital libraries