Picking a Platform for a Digital Project

Let the goals for your project lead you in selecting a content management system

• Write a series of short pieces, or a series of longer pieces that you wish to be connected through hierarchical navigation:
  • WordPress, which you have already installed through Reclaim hosting
    • “Everything on Paper Will be Used Against Me:” Quantifying Kissinger, blog  http://blog.quantifyingkissinger.com/
• Invite others to comment and discuss your writing, or open for open peer review?
  • WordPress + CommentPress  suite of plugins and themes
    • Writing History in the Digital Age:  http://writinghistory.trincoll.edu/
• Collaborative writing, without needing much design
  • MediaWiki, PBWiki
    • American Historical Association’s ArchivesWiki, http://archiveswiki.historians.org/index.php/Main_Page
• Publish collections with standards-based metadata (out-of-the-box)
  • Omeka
    • New Roots/Nuevas Raices, https://newroots.lib.unc.edu/
    • Wearing Gay History, http://www.wearinggayhistory.com/;
• Publish cultural heritage collections from Indigenous communities
  • Mukurtu
    • Plateau Peoples’ Project, http://plateauportal.wsulibs.wsu.edu/
• Create narratives based on digital collections
  • Omeka
    • Revisiting Rebellion: Nat Turner in the American Imagination, http://americanantiquarian.org/NatTurner/
    • Ruhelben, a Digital Exhibit, http://library.law.harvard.edu/digitalexhibits/ruhleben/exhibits/show/ruhleben/
  • Scalar
    • The Story of Stuff, Issues in Temporary Memorial Preservation,  http://scalar.usc.edu/works/sots/index
    • Why Busing Failed, : http://whybusingfailed.com/anvc/why-busing-failed/
• Mapping digital items, and creating digital narratives with Maps
  Most of the CMS’s mentioned above offer plugins that extend the basic functionality to allow mapping and creating place-based narrative building. Here are a few examples:
  • Omeka + Geolocation plugin
    • Nicholas V. Artamonoff Collection, Dumbarton Oaks,  http://images.doaks.org/artamonoff/items/map
  • Neatline suite of plugins for integrating maps into Omeka exhibits or for mapping items
    • Prohibition Raids in New Orleans, from the Intemperance project, http://intemperance.org/neatline/show/raids
  • WordPress + DHPress plugins for for integrating maps into WordPress sites,
    • Digital Portobelllo: https://digitalportobelo.org/
  • Social Explorer, subscription service (your library may have a license) to generate embeddable maps with pre-loaded historical census and demographic data sets, http://www.socialexplorer.com
    • “Mapping a Movement,” from Harambee City,  embedded in an Omeka page,  http://harambeecity.lib.miamioh.edu/black-cleveland-in-1950
  • StoryMapJS, hosted, simple maps that connect images and stories in a linear path, designed by journalists
    • “How Isis is Carving Out a New Country,” Washington Post: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/map-how-isis-is-carving-out-a-new-country/1095/
  • StoryMaps with ArcGIS, hosted service,embeddable into webpages
    • An Atlas of Electricity: http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2016/electricity/index.html
• Building a timeline:
  These can be created with 3rd party services and embedded into any web page
  • Timeline JS
    
    • See embedded timeline in the Story of Stuff,  http://scalar.usc.edu/works/sots/problem?path=index
• Collecting, community-sourcing,  from online audiences:
  • Omeka + Contribution plugin or a plain  Google Online Form
    • Our Marathon: http://marathon.neu.edu/

Do you need a CMS?

• How much content are you producing, and in what format? Something simple like Github pages might work.

What are your technical infrastructure needs for this project?

• Do you need web hosting? (Try Reclaim: https://reclaimhosting.com/)
• Will you need direct server access?
• Who will be responsible for setting up and maintaining the project?
• Does this project require preservation or is it meant to be more ephemeral?

Usability/Accessibility:

• Look for themes that are responsive so your site works on many platforms
• Check to make sure that you’re design/build is accessible: http://wave.webaim.org/