I was interested in including a component to my site that would allow for zooming in on documents. Prof. French – when we last spoke you expressed that this may not be possible. Is there a way to get at the code of Omeka to test this out? Or will I run the risk of breaking my database if I tried to code on my own?

I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I’m still a little confused over how my computer interacts with servers and server software.  If I install Omeka on the NYU server, can I access the program/my work from anywhere?  I would assume so, but are there any advantages or limitations to having the software on one server versus another?

One of my main technical concerns is the amount of control we will have over the layout of the site.  In Don’t Make Me Think, we read so much on minimizing the amount of clicks users will make, omitting needless words, leaving breadcrumbs (home buttons and indexes), creating tags, having straightforward & easy search functions, a site hierarchy, etc.  I had some difficulty applying Krug’s Laws of Usability to my site, since I am unsure how much of the template will be inflexible and determined by Omeka.  We’ll certainly have the freedom with keeping our text clear and concise, but how much of the navigation and user interface will we have control over?

If we did wish to change something that is part of the Omeka template… what skills would we need to learn, and do you think it would be worth it?  Would trying to change it be rather risky?

Steve Krug discussed the issue of usability testing and how important it is before launching a website.  In our case, we are dealing with a more direct audience (I think?) because we are creating an internet archive, and not a business/marketing website.  Should we pick specific types of people (i.e. fellow graduate students) for usability testing because of this, or do a random selection (like Krug suggests)?

Also- there was a section in the Krug book that talked about Java and HTML, and some other really confusing things.  If we don’t fully understand all this, are there chapters in the HTML book that you can recommend that would help us/me understand this better?

I think I have downloaded Omeka, but I seem not able to open the file.  It is in my computer.  When I click on the file it opens to more files.  Is that what suppose to happen?  I very confused…Help Ann

There is a great deal of free, high-quality software available on the Internet. These free applications are written by developers who want to improve their skills (rather like an internship), developers who want to make a reputation for themselves, and developers who want to make a contribution to society. There’s also plenty of low-cost (and also high-cost) software available on the Internet from developers who may have all the above motivations and who also want to make a little money.

One of the best sites to help you find this plethora of software is called simply Download.com. Download.com provides both editorial reviews and user reviews of the applications it lists, for one thing, along with very useful categories and options.

Here are some tips for downloading and installing software:

1) Create a folder called “Download” (if one doesn’t already exist) on your computer, and save all your downloaded files there. You can (and should) set this folder to be the default saved-file folder in the preferences of your browser (Firefox, IE, Safari, etc.).

2) Make sure that you have a program installed on your computer that can “unzip” or “uncompress” or “unstuff” or “extract” files. Software installation files can be very large, so they are often downloaded in compressed formats such as .zip files for Windows and .sit files for Mac. QuickZip is a good free uncompresser for Windows, while Stuffit Expander is a good uncompression program for Mac. Note that you might already have such a program on your computer, in which case you don’t need to get a different one. If you’re unsure, double-click on any compressed file and see what happens. Again, make sure that you know where the program puts the files it uncompresses; I recommend that you make sure the program puts the uncompressed files in the Download folder.

3) Once uncompressed, a software installation file for Windows will have the .exe extension. Double-click on the file and follow the instructions to install the program. Once uncompressed, a software installation file for Mac will have the .dmg or .pkg extension. Double-click on the file and follow the instructions to install the program.

Update: The above instructions refer only to client-side (i.e., desktop) software such as FileZilla, NOT to server-side software such as Omeka. Server-side software has to be uploaded to a server.

Hey all, thanks for a good class — just wanted to follow up on a few things mentioned tonight. I’ve listed some of the books we mentioned on the new links page. Also, if you’d like to add your classmates to your del.icio.us network, you can find their usernames in the list of people in my network at http://delicious.com/alfrench .

I made a couple changes to the site: 1) there’s now a “Site Admin” link above that’ll get you to the WordPress Dashboard, where you can write your posts, and 2) there’s now an “Edit this post” link that will show up on your own posts if you’re logged in.

Re Zotero — if you do want to try to use Zotero to manage your research and you have multiple computers, try out the beta version of the software (the 2.0 version) at http://zotero.org . Also, I gave some thought to the question of how you’d use Zotero on a public computer. Assuming that the computer has Zotero installed (as the lab computers in Bobst do), then probably your best bet would be to click on the little gearshift, choose “Export,” and save an RIS file. You could then put that file on a USB stick (or e-mail it to yourself, or use DropBox, or use NYU Files), then in your own installation of Zotero, you’d choose “Import.”

The above method (allowing for differences in interfaces) is also how you transfer data between programs. Some programs prefer BibTex or other formats, but all should have the ability to import and export data.

How is everyone doing with this week’s tech assignments — not to mention last week’s? Are you getting comfortable with the course website interface, have you experimented a little with the bibliographic software and services we went over in class, have you found an RSS reader yet and some blogs to subscribe to? Comment on this post and let me know if you’re having trouble (or, of course, if wonderful new vistas have opened up to you as a result of the assignment).

Ann said that she was having particular trouble with the concept of RSS and the choice of a reader, so here’s a bit more about that. First of all, here’s a shorter list of RSS readers to make that particular assignment a bit easier. Google Reader is a safe default to choose. Also, there are a number of resources to help you learn about RSS and RSS readers at the 23 Things site, which recommends the Bloglines reader.

Think of it this way: blogs and some frequently updated websites are like magazines, newspapers, and journals. They are “periodical,” meaning that they periodically change. You “subscribe” to all of them, but online content is sent to your RSS reader instead of to your house.

As for blogs and sites to subscribe to, you might begin at ArchivesBlogs.com; if you subscribe to that one blog you’ll get a whole heck of a lot of content from a few dozen individual blogs (ArchivesBlogs rounds up content from all over the web). You might prefer (I would) to keep it simpler, however, and subscribe to only a few of the blogs listed on the side. There’s also a list of history blogs provided by the History News Network, and the blog search engine Technorati can lead you to innumerable blogs, including public history blogs. There are also news sites like http://cnn.com and http://nytimes.com, of course.

By the way, Nicole asked how to share your http://del.icio.us username — go ahead and append it to your discussion question for tomorrow night’s class. Mine is alfrench.

Keep your chin up! It’ll all get easier and more familiar, I promise, and I’m always available to answer questions.

I realize that I didn’t do a very good job of posting instructions for this week’s assignments; I’ll do better next week. I’ve made a glossary with some important terms, and I’ll update that as needed. I’ve included some important terms in the glossary as it is so far that will help you complete this week’s homework.

Note especially that I’ve asked you to buy two things: a domain name and a web hosting plan. The first, a domain name, is simply a web address: http://example.org for instance, or http://myexamplecompany.com. Web addresses (domain names) are purchased from licensed domain registrars such as Dreamhost.com, GoDaddy.com, or NameCheap.com. You’ll enter the URL of your choosing into a box onto the site to see if it’s taken, and if it isn’t, you’ll pay some amount of money to purchase it — or, rather, to rent it. Most domain names cost about $15 per year, although some domain names can be very expensive indeed.

The second thing I’ve asked you to buy is “web hosting,” aka “server space.” We’ll go over this more in class (and the glossary will help you, here), but, to make a long story short, what I’m asking you to do is to rent space on a computer so that you can put your class project website on it. Computers that can host web sites are called “servers.” It is true that NYU provides web space for you to build a personal web page, but NYU, unlike a commercial provider, won’t let you install software on their server, and learning to do that is part of this course. I do apologize for the expense, but Dreamhost.com will rent you space for $9.95 per month if you commit to a whole year.

No one has so far asked me about the assignment to make sure your computer can access the “nyu” wireless network, so I’m hoping that has gone smoothly. If not, we can troubleshoot in class.

See you soon!