In June 2014 I was invited to present at the New York City Digital Humanities (NYCDH) Omeka User’s Group Workshop at the Bard Graduate Center. I spoke about my work with two different collections of historic clothing that are using Omeka as their platform, and shared some of the challenges of representing material culture online. This includes some details of the nuts and bolts behind each project, including samples of customized PHP for showing related items. This builds on the presentation I gave at the annual symposium for the Costume Society of America, "One of Many Small Collections."

1. The
Vassar
Col lege
Costume
Col lection
and
HistoricDress.
org
REPRESENTING MATERIAL
CULTURE ONLINE:
HISTORIC CLOTHING
IN OMEKA

2. BACKGROUND

3. THE
COLLECTION

4. THE
COLLECTION
ht tp: / /pages . vas s
ar .edu/hcpw

5. THE
COLLECTION

6. f rom an
Excel
spreadsheet
to a
Fi lemaker
Database

7. VASSAR AS ONE OF MANY

8. Integrated Access

9. DEMO COLLECT IONS
 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD3911043917853AE

10. THE
COLLECTION

11. OMEKA
HOME
PAGE
ht tp://vcomeka
.com/vccc

12. BROWSE
ITEMS
al l i tems

13. EXHIBITIONS

15. Browse
Exhibi ts

16. EXHIBITION:
Fashioning an
Educat ion
150 Year s of
Vassar Students
and What They
Wore
Spr ing 2011
ht tp://vcomeka.
com/vccc/exhibi
ts/show/fashion
ing/int roduct ion

21. EXHIBITIONS
Int roduct ion
&
Navigat ion

22. EXHIBITION:
For Bet ter
and For
Worse
Si xteen
Decades of
Wedding Wear
at Vassar
Spr ing 2013
ht tp://vcomeka
.com/vccc/exhi
bi ts/show/fbfw
/int ro

23. OBJECTVRS / INVERSE PANORAMAS

24. NUTS AND BOLTS

25. THEME
Deco theme
by Er in Bel l
ht tps://gi thub.
com/ebel lempi
re/Deco

26. COLLECTIONS
 Costumes and Texti les
 Photographs
 Documents
 Reference Images Related to Costumes
 General Research and References
 Inverse Panoramas (Rotating Views)
 Digi tal Images of Costumes and Texti les
 Enti ties (People, Companies, Etc.)
 Videos
 Condi tion Images
 Patterns
 VCCC in Action
 Events
 Repor ts (Condi tion, Treatment , etc.)
 Oral History Interviews

27. BROWSE
BY TAG
tag cloud

28. BROWSE
BY TAG
resul ts

29. 2 BLOGS
pages.vassar.edu tryingonhistory.blogspot.com

30. CONTRIBUTION
plugin

31. ABOUT
PAGE
SimplePages
plugin

32. HELP PAGE
SimplePages
plugin

33. CUSTOM
REPORT
SimplePages
plugin

34. ITEM PAGE

35. ITEM
SHOW
Main
Image
and
Metadata

36. <!- - tes t to echo one set of f ields for for Phy s i cal Objec t i tem t ype, another
set for ever y t hing el se - ->
<?php i f ( i tem_has _t ype ( 'Phy s i cal Objec t ' ) ) : ?>
<p><?php echo i tem( ' I t em Type Metadata' , 'Objec tVR Link' ) ; ?>
<p><?php echo "Creat or : " ; ?> <? php echo i tem( 'Dubl in Core' , 'Creato r ' ,
ar ray ( 'del imi t er ' => ' , ' ) ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Date: " ; ?> <? php echo i tem( 'Dubl in Core' , 'Date' ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo " ID: " ; ?> <? php echo i tem( 'Dubl in Core' , ' Ident i f i er ' ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Region: " ; ?> <? php echo i tem( 'Dubl in Core' , 'Spat ial Coverag e' ,
ar ray ( 'del imi t er ' => ' , ' ) ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Cul ture: " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em Type Metadata' , 'Cul ture' ,
ar ray ( 'del imi t er ' => ' , ' ) ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Per iod: " ; ?> <? php echo i tem( 'Dubl in Core' , ' Temporal
Coverag e' ) ; ?></p>
<di v id=" i tem-des c r ipt ion">
<p><?php echo "Des c r ipt ion: " ; ?><? php echo i tem( 'Dubl in Core' ,
'Des c r ipt ion' ) ; ?><br />
<?php echo "Label : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em Type Metadata' ,
'Label ' ) ; ?><br />
<?php echo "Mater ial s : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( 'Dubl in Core' ,
'Medium' , ar ray ( 'del imi t er ' => ' , ' ) ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo " Techniques : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I tem Type
Metadata' , ' Technique' , ar ray ( 'del imi t er ' => ' , ' ) ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Meas ureme nt s : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( 'Du b l in Core' ,
'Ex tent ' ) ; ?></p>
<p><?php echo i tem( ' I t em Type Metadata' , 'Credi t Line' ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Worn by : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em Type Metadata' ,
'Wearer ' , ar ray ( 'del imi t er ' => ' , ' ) ) ; ?></p>
</di v>
ITEMS/SHO
W.PHP
snippet for
i tem t ype
display
par t 1

37. <di v id=" i tem-des c r ipt ion">
<p><?php echo " Informat ion: " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em Type
Metadata' , 'Publ i c Informat ion' ) ; ?></p>
<p><?php echo "More Des c r ipt ion: " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I tem
Type Metadat a' , 'Des c r ipt ion Main' ) ; ?></p>
<p><?php echo "Condi t ion: " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em Type
Metadata' , 'Condi t ion Term' ) ; ?><? php echo " ; " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em
Type Metadat a' , 'Condi t ion' ) ; ?></p>
<p><?php echo "Spec i f i c Measureme nt s : " ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Ches t : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I tem Type
Metadata' , 'Dimens ions Ches t ' ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Wai s t : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I tem Type
Metadata' , 'Dimens ions Wai s t ' ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Hips : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em Type
Metadata' , 'Dimens ions Hips ' ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "CF length: " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em
Type Metadat a' , 'Dimens ions CF Length' ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "CB length: " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em
Type Metadat a' , 'Dimens ions CB Length' ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Other : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em Type
Metadata' , 'Dimens ions Other ' ) ; ?>< br />
<?php echo "Bes t Mannequin: " ; ?><? php echo
i tem( ' I t em Type Metadat a' , 'Mannequin' ) ; ?></p>
<p><?php echo "Gende r : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em Type
Metadata' , 'Gender ' ) ; ?></p>
<p><?php echo "Referenc es : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em Type
Metadata' , 'Referenc es ' ) ; ?></p>
<p><?php echo "Storag e Locat ion: " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I t em
Type Metadat a' , 'Storage Locat ion' , ar ray ( 'del imi t er ' => ' , ' ) ) ; ?></p>
<p><?php echo "Repo s i to r y : " ; ?><? php echo i tem( ' I tem Type
Metadata' , 'Repos i to r y ' ) ; ?></p>
<p><?php echo i tem( 'Dubl in Core' , 'Right s ' ) ; ?></p>
</di v>
ITEMS/SHO
W.PHP
snippet for
i tem t ype
display
par t 2

38. ITEMS/
SHOW
Related
I tems

39. RELATED
IMAGES
inter ior
const ruct ion
views

40. ITEMS/SHO
W
ht tp://vcomeka
.com/vccc/i tem
s/show/4131

41. < ! - - b e g i n r e l a t e d i t ems - t h i s wi l l d i s p l a y a l l r e l a t e d i t ems , u s i n g t h e s o u r c e i d e n t i f i e r f i e l d 
< d i v i d = " i t em- r e l a t e d i t ems " c l a s s = " e l eme n t " >
< d i v c l a s s = " i t em- e n t r y ” >
<?p h p
$ c u r r e n t i d = i t em( ' I D' ) ;
$ s o u r c e s = i t em( ' I t em T y p e Me t a d a t a ' , ' S o u r c e I d e n t i f i e r ' , a r r a y ( ' a l l ' = > t r u e ) ) ; ? >
< ! - - i n s e r t a n i f s t a t eme n t t o s e e i f i t ' s emp t y - - >
<?p h p i f ( i t em( ' I t em T y p e Me t a d a t a ' , ' S o u r c e I d e n t i f i e r ' ) ! = ' ' ) : ? >
< h 6 > Re l a t e d I t ems : < / h 6 >
< ! - - c h e c k e a c h s o u r c e i d e n t i f i e r - - >
< ? p h p f o r e a c h ( $ s o u r c e s a s $ s o u r c e ) : ? >
< ! - - c h e c k e a c h ma t c h i n g i t em - - >
<?p h p
$ r e l a t e d i t ems = g e t _ i t ems (
a r r a y ( ' a d v a n c e d _ s e a r c h ' = > a r r a y (
a r r a y (
' e l eme n t _ i d ' = > 1 6 7 ,
' t y p e ' = > ' i s e x a c t l y ' ,
' t e rms ' = > $ s o u r c e
)
) ) , 5 0 ) ;
s e t _ i t ems _ f o r _ l o o p ( $ r e l a t e d i t ems ) ;
wh i l e ( l o o p _ i t ems ( ) ) :
?>
<?p h p i f ( i t em_ h a s _ t h umb n a i l ( ) ) : ? >
< d i v c l a s s = " i t em- n img " >
<?p h p e c h o
l i n k _ t o _ i t em( i t em_ s q u a r e _ t h umb n a i l ( ) ) ; ? >
< / d i v >
<?p h p e n d i f ; ? >
<?p h p e n dwh i l e ; ? >
<?p h p e n d f o r e a c h ; ? >
<?p h p e n d i f ; ? >
<?p h p s e t _ c u r r e n t _ i t em( g e t _ i t em_ b y _ i d ( $ c u r r e n t i d ) ) ; ? >
< p s t y l e = " c l e a r : b o t h ” > </p >
< / d i v >
< / d i v > < ! - - e n d r e l a t e d - i t ems - - >
ITEMS/SHO
W.PHP
snippet for
related i tems

42. COSTUME
CORE
ht tp: / /www.
ardenki rkland.
c om/ c os tumecor
e

43. uniting
smal l
col lections
HISTORICDRESS.ORG

44. HISTORIC
DRESS.ORG
Omeka
prototype,
ver sion 1 –
histor icdress.or
g/omeka

45. ht tp://histor icd
ress.org/omeka
/i tems/browse
?tags=1850-
1857+Long+sh
awls+low+cont r
ast

46. ITEMS/SHO
W
ht tp://histor icd
ress.org/omeka
/i tems/show/3
35

47. BROWSE
ITEMS
ht tp://histor icd
ress.org/omeka
/i tems/browse
?tags=wrapper
+%28garment%
29

48. WRAPPERS
EXHIBIT
ht tp://histor icd
ress.org/omeka
/exhibi ts/show
/wrapper -
ser ies/1794-
1829/page-4

49. SHAWLS
EXHIBIT
ht tp://histor icd
ress.org/omeka
/exhibi ts/show
/borderdesign/
int ro

50. SHAWLS
EXHIBIT
ht tp://histor icd
ress.org/omeka
/exhibi ts/show
/borderdesign/
technology

51. SHAWLS
EXHIBIT
ht tp://histor icd
ress.org/omeka
/exhibi ts/show
/borderdesign/
docshawls

52. Integrated Access

53. Contact
Me!
Arden Kirkland
arden@ardenkirkland.com
vcomeka.com/vccc
historicdress.org