Online Exhibitions

The first step to initiate an exhibition is outlining the objectives, the intended narrative, and desired outcomes. Take some time to explore possible tools and technologies that can assist you in presenting a clear and engaging journey of your exhibition. Some of the tools used in exhibitions are maps, data visualizations, and timelines. Each tool is employed to accomplish specific functions that drive the central narrative.

If you are interested in initiating an exhibition and need some help, please email libdigitalproject@wlu.ca to book a consultation, or submit an exhibition project proposal.

Outlined below are the stages for creating an exhibition:

1. Develop a Research Data Management Plan
2. Develop a metadata schema that follows Dublin Core standards
3. Create an excel file that lists all the digital objects used in the exhibition with complete Dublin Core metadata entries
4. Plan for Project End of life
5. Complete a training session offered by the Library.
6. Create Item Sets to group digital objects together under a subject theme, genre, type, etc.
7. Import a .csv version of the completed metadata excel file
8. Create a new Site
9. Select a theme
10. Populate the site with Pages
11. Publish the Exhibition

Online Exhibitions is built on the Omeka S platform. For more information regarding Omeka S please refer to their online user manual: https://omeka.org/s/docs/user-manual.

The Library is committed to supporting and showcasing Library, faculty, and student exhibitions that meet the technical requirements outlined below.

• Themes & Modules
• Digital Objects
  • Images
  • Videos
  • Audio
  • PDFs

Themes & Modules

The Library supports pre-built and community supported Omeka S themes and modules to ensure reliability and consistent functionality. Based on an assessment of available themes, the Library has chosen three suitable Omeka S themes: Thanks, Roy; Default; and Foundation. For a quick preview of these themes please visit the Omeka S themes: https://omeka.org/s/themes/.  

The Library supports modules depending on the lifetime of the project and the level of active community support in maintaining them. For an overview of the modules, please visit the Omeka S modules: https://omeka.org/s/modules/.

Digital Objects

Digital objects describe the different media used for your exhibition, such as images, videos, audio, etc.

Naming Convention

Prior to adding any digital objects to your exhibition, review your existing digital objects’ filenames and consider developing a consistent naming convention that is both short and descriptive. Appropriately naming each object in the exhibition will improve the findability and discoverability of your content on the web. Here are a few recommended approaches to naming your digital objects, followed by some examples:

• Apply the naming convention consistently across all files 
• Avoid special characters except for underscores or dashes
• Either use Camel Case (the first letter of each word is capitalized), underscores, or dashes to separate words. Avoid the use of spaces.  
• If a date is included use the date format ISO 8601: YYYYMMDD 
• Include a version, if a version number is applicable 

Examples: 

• Underscores: 20211001_peacock_butterfly_v1 
• Camel Case: PeacockButterflyV1
• Dashes: Medieval-European-Map

Images

Images should be selected intentionally and purposefully to ensure they connect with the overall narrative of the exhibition. However, before using any images in your exhibition, you need to ascertain that you have the legal rights to use and share them publicly. There may be instances where a licence is required. If you have any questions regarding the use of any images or digital objects, please contact the digital projects team.

The following guide describes methods of preparing your images for your exhibition:

• Recommended image formats are either .jpg or .png
• Follow the file naming guidelines described above to apply a consistent naming convention
• Images should have similar sizes and proportions. Recommended image sizes are: 800 pixels (w) x 600 pixels (h) or 300 x 300 (pixels). Images should not be larger than 2MB, otherwise they will take too long to render on the page
• To compress images you may want to use:
  • Compressor.io (available online, free, compression tool)
  • Kaken.io (available online, free, compression tool)
• Tools used to compress, resize or edit images:
  • Microsoft Paint application or Mac’s Preview application to resize
  • Adobe Photoshop (proprietary)
• Include long and short descriptions for accessibility purposes

Video

• Recommended video format is .mp4
• Follow the file naming guidelines described above to apply a consistent naming convention
• Video size and resolution are closely related. Aim to have a 720p resolution and a size no larger than 10MB.
• To compress videos you may want to use:
  • VLC (free)
  • HandBrake Video Transcoder (free)
  • Camtasia (proprietary)
• Include transcriptions and/or close captioning for accessibility purposes

The Library strives to support equitable access to all Library-managed resources, including exhibitions, and is committed to delivering user-centred designs. The goal is to create positive learning experiences and engaging exhibitions that are accessible, usable, discoverable, and searchable.

Developing a content strategy assists in planning exhibition content prior to publishing it online. It helps plan a narrative that considers the following:

• Target audience: who is this resource meant for? How can the content and digital objects connect with the target audience?
•  
• Narrative: What story is the collection and research trying to convey? What is the purpose and objective of the exhibition? The narrative message can be identified more easily, if appropriate HTML structures, such as titles, headings, subheading, etc. are used.
•  
• Pedagogical value: What is the educational value of the exhibition? How does it connect to other academic works and resources?
•  
• Engagement: What designed elements of engagement (i.e. maps, visualizations, forms, surveys, etc.), if any, will be included in the exhibition?
•  
• Navigation: what navigational menu items will help lead your site visitors along the exhibition’s narrative journey, establish credibility, and offer room for further exploration?
• As a bare minimum you should consider having menu options similar to the ones below:
  • About
  • Purpose
  • Exhibition
  • Academic resources
• More menu and sub-menu options can be included according to need.
•  
• Mapping Connections: Prior to staging the exhibition, map connections or links between content, digital objects, themes and resources. These connections will assist in organizing the exhibition and ensuring it is more discoverable and searchable by visitors. There are several mind mapping tools that can help with this process, e.g., GitMind (a free mindmapping and brainstorming tool available for PC and Mac).

DMPs identify and organize data management strategies and practices for your exhibition. These include documenting and anticipating storage, sharing, and access requirements, identifying data sensitivity concerns, copyright and licensing issues, anticipated preservation plans, and resourcing requirements. Data description and metadata is a major component of all DMPs in order to improve the exhibition’s functionality.

The Library requires that exhibitions begin with a data management planning consultation so all parties can better understand the needs, capacities, and requirements of the exhibition. This DMP may include information from other DMPs associated with the project, but will guide the development of the exhibition itself. For questions and support on developing a DMP for your exhibition, please contact libdigitalproject@wlu.ca. For information on developing a DMP for other facets of your research project, including grant applications, please contact researchdata@wlu.ca.

Exhibition End-of-Life

“Planning with the end in mind” is a strategic component of all collections, exhibitions, and partnerships at the Laurier Library, including its hosted exhibitions. Exhibitions are hosted for a set period of time, determined in collaboration between the Library and the exhibition creator. Technical and operational planning for end-of-life, as well as resourcing, should be considered at project inception as well as through the life of the project itself.

Exhibition creators should have a clear understanding of their plans for when the exhibition closes:

• Exhibition end-of-life goals 
  • What are your intentions for your content when the exhibition closes?  Will you continue the exhibition elsewhere or look to archive its content?
• Archival plans 
  • Exhibition creators are responsible for finding a home for exhibition content after it closes. The Library can consult and advise on this matter, but it is not committed to archiving all exhibitions.
• Time allocation
  • Exhibition creators should plan from the beginning who will allocate the time to conduct this work with the Library and how it will be costed.
• Access vs Exhibition
  • Will the exhibition’s research data and content be archived for future use? Will platform files be included?  Will the platform be archived at all?  Will the exhibition continue to be presented?

A large part of end-of-life planning will be considered with the development of your data management plan (DMP) at project inception, but plans will evolve over time.

The Library will work with exhibition creators to identify workflows and help find potential homes for projects as exhibitions move toward end-of-life. These workflows and recommendations are unique to each project. They consider types of research content, technical infrastructure, audiences, and stakeholders. All work is guided by the spirit and practice of the FAIR Principles, CARE Principles, and OCAP principles.

Each exhibition needs to present a carefully considered metadata structure that meets the Library’s minimum metadata standards.

With a proper structure, the metadata facilitates the discovery and access to the exhibition’s research content. Search engines and browsers can crawl the site and index it to make it available for a larger group of audiences.

Online Exhibitions uses built-in Dublin Core metadata standards, one of the simplest and most widely used schemas. Each digital object added to the Online Exhibitions must be accompanied by metadata descriptions. For convenience, the Library supplies a sample metadata spreadsheet. Use one row in the excel sheet to describe one digital object at a time. The metadata fields listed in the table below explain the types of terms and descriptive language needed to fill-in the sample metadata spreadsheet.

 

Dublin Core Metadata Element	Element Description	Possible values
Title	The resource name	This element holds information regarding the Intellectual Property Rights, Copyright, and Property rights
Subject	The resource topic	Will depend on what vocabulary we’ll want to employ: LC, CSH, Creator supplied, etc LC: Cree painting. Monkman, Kent
Description	An explanation of the resource	Revision & Resistance reveals the story of Kent Monkman's monumental 2019 diptych commission mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People) for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This book celebrates Monkman's historic achievement with essays and contributions by today's most prominent voices on Indigenous art and Canadian painting.
Creator	The person, organization, institution, or service responsible for making the resource	Monkman, Ken Kent Monkman
Publisher	The person, organization, institution, or service responsible for making the resource available	Art Canada Institute
Contributor	A person, organization, institution, or service responsible for contributing to the content of the resource	Faculty advisor: Philippa Gates
Date	Indicates the date of creation or availability of the resource	2020-02-29 2020-02 2020
Type	The nature or genre of the content	[DCMI Type Controlled Vocabulary] Event
Format	Indicates the media-type or dimensions, the software or hardware needed to display the resource	[Example of Media Types controlled vocabulary] Image Text
Identifier	These could either be DOIs, URIs, ISBNs that offer unambiguous reference to the resource	ISBN: 9781487102258 UPC : 786936750034
Source	Identifies the original resource that contained the present resource displayed	Source="N6549.M648A4 2020" [where "6549.M648A4 2020" is the call number of the print version of the resource, from which the present version was scanned]
Language	Indicates the language of the resource	Recommended is the use of the two or three letter primary ISO 639 tags
Relation	References related resources	This book, created and published by the Art Canada Institute, marks the exhibition mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 19, 2019 - April 9, 2020.
Coverage	Describes the extent and scope of the content	Typical includes spatial location (geographical co-ordinates), temporal period
Rights	This element holds information regarding the Intellectual Property Rights, Copyright, and Property rights	Access available to all users Or Link to fuller rights statement, if available.
Media source	Enter the media filename including its extension (i.e. .jpeg, .tiff, .mp3, .mp4, ... etc)	Eg: peacock_butterfly.jpg