Digital Collection Management for Cultural Institutions: Omeka S as a Case Study
Tugce Karatas
Center for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH)6.10.2025, 15:30
online / Zoom
This lecture introduces Omeka S as a platform for digital collection management and examines its growing role in research, education, and citizen science. Omeka S enables institutions, researchers, and students to create sustainable digital ecosystems by offering tools for uploading, describing, and organizing objects, as well as publishing them in customizable online exhibitions. Unlike traditional collection management systems, Omeka S emphasizes accessibility, collaboration, and interoperability, allowing users to connect digital items across multiple collections and build linked data relationships that enhance scholarly engagement.
Drawing on practical examples, the presentation will demonstrate how Omeka S supports both small-scale and large-scale initiatives. Participants will learn how Omeka S can be implemented to improve metadata consistency, support multilingual environments, and encourage collaborative curation among diverse groups of users. Special attention will be given to its applications in collaborative settings, where participants can gain hands-on experience in digital curation, project management, and user-centered design.
The lecture will also reflect on broader issues related to digital heritage, including the challenges of sustainability, long-term access, and citizen participation in digital projects. By foregrounding case studies, the talk will highlight both the opportunities and limitations of Omeka S, encouraging participants to consider how the platform can be adapted to their own institutional or research needs. Overall, the session seeks to foster critical reflection on digital tools as mediators of historical knowledge, collaboration, and public engagement.
The event will be launched online. To receive an invitation to participate in events, please contact Sofia Andrusyshyn via email: s.andrusyshyn@lvivcenter.org.ua.
Tugce Karatas
C²DHHead of Digital Research Infrastructure at the Center for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH). She is a research scientist specialising in the management, curation, and preservation of large historical datasets. She completed her PhD at the University of Torino as part of the MSCA Fellowship in Digital Technologies for Cultural Heritage in 2022. Her doctoral research focused on developing digital curation techniques using semantic tools to support data representation and integration, resulting in a bespoke RDF database that enables innovative scientific investigation of cultural heritage data. She coordinates the EU Erasmus+ project AISTER, which aims to enhance the capacities of European higher education institutions in leveraging artificial intelligence and participatory methods to safeguard cultural heritage in Ukraine. Additionally, she contributes to the SCIROS project within the OPERAS research infrastructure, fostering interdisciplinary research on open science in the social sciences and humanities.
The event will take place within a series of seminars and workshops around specific cases of urban history digital platforms/projects, "Urban History Digital Infrastructures: Sharing Expertise and Networking Cities", organized by Center for Urban History, with the support of the Center for Governance and Culture in Europe at the University of St.Gallen.
