Arguments in favor of Omeka?

Omeka Classic Installing and Upgrading
1

Hi,
I’m new to Omeka, but I’m part of a scholarly organization seeking to move a long-time print series into the digital world. Omeka seems to provide an interface that can be fairly accessible to our members. As I report back and move through various sets of test groups of users, I’m getting reasonable follow-up questions about certain aspects of the platform, and would like any advice that you might have for me as we think about adoping Omeka.

  1. the issue of longevity of the program. I will always note that there are no guarantees, but the breadth of the Omeka userbase its status as open source seem to argue for there being some long-term functionality (and support). I would also argue that since it really runs on top of a mySQL DB, that our DB could be ported to a new system, if ever needed. Are there other arguments or views about this issue that I might want to include?

  2. We are an international group and the ability for users to have access to the Omeka platform in their languages will be important. I am aware that there is some localisation available. Can anyone speak to how successful that has been in their own projects?

  3. I have set up a trial version of Omeka, using Omeka Classic, but are there sufficient benefits to consider moving to Omeka S. ? Our database is text only and our records have very limited fields.

Thanks in advance for any insights, thoughts or suggestions you might have,
NB

2

Hi,

Yes, omeka s is a good choice ! On an omeka site, you will have only users that would say yes. I used in many different projects, from researchers and small archives to big libraries and museums.

For the database, it is not important : the main point is that the data are rdf (semantic) so if you want to change of application in some decades, you will be able to extract data very easily with any tool.

For the language, all the admin interfaces are translated and many languages and if missing, you can translate it yourself on transifex.

The last point to say is to use omeka s for any new project. It is a lot more standardized and usable for long term. Omeka classic is maintained only for old projects that are not yet migrated on Omeka S.

1 Like
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I recommend Omeka S, but that’s for more selfish reasons than technical ones.

The more people adopt Omeka S (the newer, improved application), the less reason there is to divert resources to maintaining Classic. At some point, people will need to convert Classic sites to Omeka S or to static pages (or just leave them frozen in time I guess). The sooner that happens, the sooner Omeka S can get more developer hours and more community members.

Like I said…Selfish.

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Omeka S already garners a significant number of developer hours from the Omeka team, but there is not and will not be any plan to abandon Omeka Classic. It is the heart of the Omeka.net SAAS platform, and more importantly it is the right choice for all sorts of users and projects. We are committed to both projects, and there will be continued support and development of both.