Tool Description: Omeka S is a web publishing platform for digital artifacts. Think about an Omeka project as a big collection of items, and the sites are individually curated exhibits.
The Quick Guides and Interactive Tutorials on this page have been created by the Digital Scholarship team at the University Libraries to help you learn the ins and outs of Omeka S.
The Alabama Digital Humanities Center hosts and supports basic Omeka S projects for faculty on campus for the purpose of research and teaching. See these resources for other hosting solutions and additional support!
This workshop is about digitizing features from a georeferenced map, which is the second step in creating a GIS map file of the embedded geographic data in a paper map for the purpose of research and analysis. This tutorial follows our tutorial on georeferencing, so if you have not completed that step, check out the previous tutorial.
As with the Georeferencing tutorial, Digitizing is a complex technical task. This tutorial will focus on the practical steps that you need to take to complete the task. Digitizing is the process of creating GIS layers of the features depicted on a paper map. Using the GIS software QGIS, we will identify features from the georeferenced map and trace them onto a new GIS layer, separating them for later analyses and visualization.
Below, you will find a series of step by step guides to help you learn this process. When you have completed this tutorial, you will be more familiar with the tasks of Digitizing features on a georeferenced map which will be ready for display.
This workshop is about Georeferencing, which is the first step in our Introduction to GIS series. GIS means “Geographic Information System.” Georeferencing is a very technical activity but we are going to focus on the practical elements that will allow you complete the georeferencing task on a scanned image of a map.
Georeferencing, in the most simplistic terms, is layering a scanned map (likely a print map that has been scanned and saved as an image file or a pdf file) on top of a satellite map and locating reference points (known as “Ground Control Points”) on both maps in order to align the scanned map accurately with the satellite map. By using as little as three of these Ground Control Points, you can begin to locate the scanned map on the satellite map, which is the first step to creating and embedding geographic data to that map for comparison and analysis.
Tool Description: QGIS is an open source geographic information systems platform that allows users to create maps, edit layers, process and analyze, and share content. As an open source tool, it boasts a large and active user community and 2000+ plugins.
Are you looking for an easy way to organize your research data in a database without worrying about data loss? Do you want to build logical relationships between your data but don’t want to delve into programming languages? Then Baserow might offer the solution you need!
Why build your database in Baserow
Baserow makes it possible to create an online database without any technical experience. It has the look and feel of an excel spreadsheet so it is very intuitive to navigate. However, it goes beyond a mere spreadsheet as it offers database capabilities allowing you to organize and analyze your data in a relational way. Just as any other relational database, it allows you to link fields (or columns to use spreadsheet jargon) over different tables ensuring data consistency and lets you choose from different types of predefined fields making it possible to easily store and structure various types of data (e.g. images, dates, checkboxes, etc.). Moreover, Baserow is very collaborative: you can easily work together in real-time, with every change immediately visible to all.
Important to mention as well is that the servers of Baserow are stored in Europe (Amsterdam), meaning that it can be GDPR compliant and may be appropriate to store personal data. (Before storing personal data on any new tool, submit an amendment to your existing PRET dossier).
How to get started
On the Baserow website there is a lot of information available that will make you familiar with the platform. You can find everything you need to know to get started here, and this blog post guides you through the process also.
Baserow is still very new but is developing rapidly, with new features being released constantly. So if you notice that there is still a feature missing, chances are high that Baserow is already developing it. You can also browse the forum to check out which feature requests are in the pipeline. The forum is also a great way to ask a question or submit your own request, I can say from personal experience that the Baserow team will get back to you very quickly!
Apart from the forum, Baserow also maintains a nice blog where you can find an overview of the latest updates and interesting articles, e.g. about database use in general such as whether you should choose a spreadsheet or database for you next project or which alternatives to excel are out there.
Pricing
And the good news is, you can use the hosted version on the Baserow website completely for free! The free plan should be sufficient if you are looking to build a simple database. In case you would need more advanced features or more data storage, you can go for their premium or advanced plan (see pricing information).
Some interesting features highlighted
Since I personally use Baserow quite a lot, I wanted to highlight some good-to-know features (obviously this is in no way an extensive overview of all that Baserow has to offer):
Views: Baserow allows you to create different views of a table. This way, you can look at your data in multiple ways which might lead to new perspectives. In the free plan you have three options: the grid view (basically like a spreadsheet), the gallery view (which organizes your data in cards), or as a form (that is automatically created based on your data and can then be customized further).
Sharing: you can share the view of one of your tables more broadly, either by creating a shareable link or embedding your table in e.g. a website. This way, others will be able to consult your data, without the fear of them messing anything up as they won’t have any editing rights.
Snapshots: thanks to the snapshot feature you can make a full copy of your database. This way you could restore your database to that point in time later and you are protected against accidental loss.
I should also mention one downside: when you use the hosted web version you can only access Baserow through your browser, there is no desktop app available.
Example of the grid view
Example of the gallery view
Even though Baserow is still in its early stages, it is already very promising and really accessible, even when you have never built a database before. Try it out and see for yourself!
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