Use Case: Scholars

Neatline for:

• Create exhibits based on a digital collection for showcasing research.
• Creating exhibits in support of academic research.

Neatline add-ons:

• NeatlineText is a useful extension to the Neatline plugin for interconnecting textual studies with geography. NeatlineText makes it possible to connect paragraphs, sentences, and words in text documents with annotations in Neatline exhibits.

See related:

• Waypoints
• SIMILE Timeline

See other work by Scholars:

• Mapping the Catalogue of Ships
• Mapping the “White, Marmorean Flock”: Anne Whitney Abroad, 1867–1868
• Harlem Education History Project
• Ciudad Juárez Urban Art and Poetry
• The Whiskey Rebellion: An Interactive Mapping Project

Steps for getting started:

1. Install Omeka by following the instructions in their Installation guide. For a list of Hosting Services, see here.
2. Add the Neatline plugin to your Omeka instance: Neatline Installation Guide. For Omeka’s full plugin installation guide, see here.
3. Create Omeka user accounts for collaborators and/or students working on your project (Note different user roles, per step 4 below): Omeka Site Administration: Users.
4. Assign appropriate permissions for users on you Omeka site: Neatline User Permissions.
   • Defining user permissions allows you to control access to Neatline exhibits when working with multiple users, and can help in avoiding issues like one user modifying or deleting a Neatline exhibit created by another user. If you are working with a small group of trusted collaborators, you may want to allow everyone to have access to all work on the site, no matter the creator. However, if you’re using Neatline with large numbers of people - for example, if you’re teaching a 200-person lecture course, and want to use Neatline for an assignment - setting user permissions is critical to prevent users from accidentally changing settings or deleting content.
5. After installing Neatline, access the plugin by clicking on the “Neatline” tab on the left-hand navigation panel of the Omeka admin dashboard.
6. Create your first Neatline exhibit: Creating Exhibits.
7. See basics for managing Neatline exhibits: Managing Exhibits.
8. Build your Neatline exhibit content in the Neatline editor: Editor Overview.
9. Add records to your Neatline exhibit: Records Overview, Creating Neatline Records.
10. Publish your Neatline exhibit to your public Omeka site: Publishing Exhibits.

Optional Neatline Widgets

• Add a timeline to your exhibit using SIMILE Timeline: Working with SIMILE Timeline.
• Add waypoints to your exhibit: Working with Waypoints.
• Connect text with geography using NeatlineText: Working with NeatlineText.