Jefferson's Newspaper

Following on my previous entry on adding an image Lightbox to Omeka, today I’ll run through the steps it takes to get a featured image gallery running on your Omeka homepage. I searched for awhile to find a gallery plugin that a.) looks good, b.) works well and c.) is not too complicated for me to figure out. Fitting the bill nicely, I found GalleryView, a fairly lightweight jQuery plugin with lots of options for your tweaking enjoyment. It’s a bit more challenging to implement than Lightbox and requires a fair amount of CSS knowledge to prettify, but this should help you get started.

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Maybe it’s just me, but I had a heckuva time trying to figure out how to implement Lightbox 2 in Omeka. After piecing together info and code from here and there, then adding my own little improvements, I’ve constructed a simple little 4-step guide to document the process and, hopefully, help make this process a little less vexing for others out there who aren’t PHP and Java Script pros.

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I recently set up an installation of WordPress MultiUser (WPmu) + BuddyPress for the History Department where I work. We have a number of different user groups on the site, including Courses, Workshops, and Projects. Eventually we will also have Personal sites (for students, staff, and faculty in the dept.) and perhaps some small organizations and campus groups. Right now the site is small, so it would be reasonable to manually create and maintain a topical directory. As the site grows, however, this could become a burden to say the least. Nobody likes to do that kind of crap – not even graduate assistants. So with the help of an outdated plug-in and a couple of tiny hacks, I easily created a directory of Blogs by Topic so I never need to hand code the directory. Read on to find out how.

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One of the nice features of WordPress is the ability to create static homepages. While most blogs use the standard configuration, where users scroll vertically from the most recent to older blog posts, it often makes sense to use a static homepage instead — especially if you are looking to create a more professional looking site, or are using WordPress as a Content Management System. I recently tackled a project where we needed to create a static homepage with the following features

1. The homepage needed to look “homepagey” (i.e. not “bloggy”)
2. Client needed room for a short introductory text, which could be edited/updated on the fly without disrupting the homepage layout
3. The homepage needed to highlight the many features on the site, so that users could quickly scan the page, see what the site had to offer, and quickly find the latest update in each area.

This quick tutorial will share some code for reproducing something that meets all or some of those criteria. You don’t need to know much code to complete this tutorial, but a little helps. Once you create and implement your homepage template, you will need to use CSS to add styles and adjust the layout.

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I’m one of those people who listens to NPR all day.  In the shower, in the car, while cooking, as a Sunday morning activity with my partner.  I almost never watch television, but I love passively listening to smart people talk, which is not really substantially different than watching dumb people swap wives when you get down to it.  Though I suppose it’s also not unlike sitting in an undergrad history lecture.  The point is, I like to be entertained and I also like to learn.  And I like doing it with my ears, so I can use my eyes and hands for other things.  What follows is an incomplete list of high-quality podcasts dealing with various topics in history.

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I went to library school because I am what some people call “intellectually restless” – constantly moving from one interest to the next.  Honest people call this phenomenon by other names, such as “uncommitted,” “easily distracted” or “lazy,” but I prefer the more aristocratic “intellectually restless.” In any case, given my training and varied interests, I will occasionally pose imaginary questions on this site to give myself micro-research and reference problems. Please feel free to submit a real question and I’ll do my best to answer, and provide citations to any relevant digital sources (sorry, I will not read or find books in your library).

The inaugural Jefferson’s Newspaper Reference question was submitted by the curious 13 year old Latino boy that lives in my subconscious.  His name is Martin.  Martin asks, “What’s the deal with the word maricón?  Why does it mean gay?”

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