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/
- WordPress, which you have already installed through Reclaim hosting
- 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/
- WordPress + CommentPress suite of plugins and themes
- Collaborative writing, without needing much design
- MediaWiki, PBWiki
- American Historical Association’s ArchivesWiki, http://archiveswiki.historians.org/index.php/Main_Page
- MediaWiki, PBWiki
- 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/;
- Omeka
- Publish cultural heritage collections from Indigenous communities
- Mukurtu
- Plateau Peoples’ Project, http://plateauportal.wsulibs.wsu.edu/
- Mukurtu
- 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/
- Omeka
- 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
- 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
- Timeline JS
- Collecting, community-sourcing, from online audiences:
- Omeka + Contribution plugin or a plain Google Online Form
- Our Marathon: http://marathon.neu.edu/
- Omeka + Contribution plugin or a plain Google Online Form
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/