Collecting in Omeka S
A brief tutorial on getting started with the colecting module in Omeka S.
What is the Collecting Module?
The Collecting Module for Omeka S is used to create forms on your sites that gather user submitted data in the form of media and metadata.
What you will need
- To start with you will need an Omeka S site with the collecting module activated.
- You will also need Administrator access to that site.
- Lastly you will need to have an item set prepared that collected items will be placed into.
Setting up collecting
To begin, log in to Omeka S and navigate to your site. On the left hand menu you will see a “Collecting” option. Click “Collecting” to go to your collection forms page.
Here you will see any collection forms you have already as well as the “Add new form” button. To get started on a new for click “Add new form”.
This new page is where you will build your collecting form. Begin by entering:
- A label for your form: This will be what is displayed at the top of the form
- The item set: This is where collected items will be stored. Select the item set you prepared
- Anonymity Type: This is where you decide what level of anonymity item submitters have
- Success Text: This is the text that will be displayed on a new page once the form submission is completed successfully.
- E-mail test: This is where you will put the contents of the submission confirmation e-mails that get sent upon a successful submission.
The next section is where you add the prompts for your form. By default there will be a Title prompt already present. To add a new prompt click the “Add Prompt” button to open the prompt menu on the right. From this menu, select the type of prompt you want to add:
- Item Property: This allows you to add a field where the user can submit metadata for an item.
- Choose a type of metadata from the dropdown menu (eg. title, description, etc.)
- Enter some text for the prompt. This tells the user what you want (eg. “Describe the file you are submitting”)
- Choose an input type. Generally, you will use either Text Box or Select Menu.
- Check the box if input is required for this prompt
- Click “Add Changes” to add the prompt to your form
- Item Media: This allows the user to submit files and information as media.
- Choose from the media types (eg. One file, multiple files, etc.)
- Enter some text for the prompt. This tells the user what type of media to submit
- Check the box if input is required for this prompt
- Click “Add Changes” to add the prompt to your form
- User Name: This designates what will be put in the Owner field of the item when it is created.
- User E-Mail: Add this promt if you want users to have the option to recieve a confirmation e-mail for their submission.
Once the form is constructed to your liking, click the “Save” button to create the form.
Before you add the form to your site, it is reccomended that you set up your “Terms of Service” for the site. This will appear in every form on your site. To do this go to the Settings option in the left hand menu for your site. Scroll down to collecting and you will see a space to add your terms of service. This is also where you will designate which e-mail address confirmation e-mail will be sent from. Once you have enetered your content, hit the “Save” button at the top right of the page.
Now that the form is ready, you can add it to a page on your site by adding the “Collecting” block in your page editor and selecting which form to display.
Once some submissions have been made to your form, you can manage them from the collecting section on your site.
- Click on “Collecting” on the left hand menu for your site
- Select the form you want to view
- Go to the “Collected Items” tab to see the collected items.
- Review each item and, once done, use the drop down menu beside that item to set it as either public or private to indicate that it has been reviewed
- Keep in mind that collected items should be reviewed frequently.
And with that your form is fully functional!
Examples
For inspiration, check out the exaples below of existing forms and how they are set up.
Here is an example of a nice item submission form.
https://exhibits.library.brocku.ca/s/COVID-Niagara/page/digital
And a portion of the prompts they used
This is an example of a form being used to collect just text responses
https://exhibits.library.brocku.ca/s/COVID-Niagara/page/qa-summer
And some of the prompts they used
This tutorial is brought to you by the Brock University Digital Scholarship Lab. For more information on the DSL check out our website at www.brocku.ca/library/dsl/ or you can e-mail us at dsl@brocku.ca.