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SDSU DIGITAL HUMANITIES CENTER

SCALAR

Multimedia//Nonlinear//Open Access//Digital Publishing

https://tinyurl.com/DHCScalar

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Cassie Tanks, Digital Humanities Specialist, DH Center, cdtanks AT sdsu DOT edu

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Dr. Pam Lach, Digital Humanities Librarian, DH Center Director, DH@SDSU Co-Director, plach AT sdsu DOT edu

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PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

THINGS TO COVER

Introduction

Dashboard "Tour"

Multimedia

Nonlinear Relationships

Whole-Whole Relationships

Whole-Part Relationships

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INTRO TO SCALAR

SCALAR.ME/ANVC/SCALAR

SDSU EXAMPLE:

    • ITALIAN MIGRATIONS IN LITERATURE, FILM AND MUSIC (FALL 2018)
    • ITALIAN MIGRATIONS IN LITERATURE, FILM AND MUSIC (SPRING 2019)

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ONE OF PAM'S FAVORITE PROJECTS: SURFACING

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Digital Humanities Assistant

Degree in History

M.L.I.S. Programs

Dog obsessed

Research/metadata used for

Apartheid Heritage(s) Scalar publication

What "wisdom" do I have to give you?

CASSIE TANKS

"BACK OF THE HOUSE" SCALAR WORK

WHY ME?

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I SAID "WAIT...WHAT?!?" A LOT

As a visual and tactile learner, I struggled with the instructional manual

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DASHBOARD "TOUR"

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SCALAR BOOK DASHBOARD

    • Properties: Allows you to edit titles, URL, genre, permissions, comment settings, publisher information, and rearrange table of contents
    • Editorial: Allows you to create and monitor editorial workflows
    • Styling: Allows you to upload a thumbnail image, a background image, add custom CSS and/or Javascript
    • Content (Our main focus today): Allows you to add, edit, and view pages, media, paths, tags, annotations, comments, and terms
    • Users: Edit personal bio pages of authors, editors, and other contributors and adjust their visibility in your book
    • Utilities (Advanced): Import from or export to existing Scalar books, use API queries to gather information about this or other Scalar books you have access to

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SCALAR BOOK CONTENT DASHBOARD

    • ..: Navigate the table of contents and index
    • ..: Jump to recent pages, visualizations, and information about Scalar
    • ..: General search through the contents of the book
    • ..: Help and information about the functions of the buttons
    • ..: Add a new page
    • ..: Edit a page or media in your book
    • ..: Annotate images, video, audio (visual and time based media)
    • ..: Import media from Scalar associated archives, a URL, or upload from your computer
    • ..: Delete
    • ..: Access Scalar Book Dashboard
    • ..: Access your account
    • ..: View citations and context ("step" in the path, tags, annotations, etc)

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MULTIMEDIA

INTERACTIVE & ENGAGING

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IMPORT OR UPLOAD MEDIA

Scalar works with a variety of archives and also allows you to upload your media files.

Plan ahead- schedule time to upload your media, background images, etc

SCALAR ASSOCIATED ARCHIVES

    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    • Soundcloud
    • Omeka sites
    • Metropolitan Museum of Art
    • Critical Commons
    • More....

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UPLOADING MEDIA

    • Select your book from your account page
    • Select "Content"
    • Select "Media" from the drop down menu
    • Go to "Import media" at the bottom of the page
    • Select how you want to import your media
    • Enter relevant metadata and upload
    • Tip: Scalar can be slow- have as many media files saved to your computer to upload as possible

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NONLINEAR RELATIONSHIPS

I HAVE MY TEXT AND MEDIA...NOW WHAT?

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Undertaking a nonlinear multimedia project can be overwhelming. Understanding and maximizing the nonlinear relationships will help.

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COLOR CODE

    • Paths are blue
    • Pages are orange
    • Media are green
    • Tags are red
    • Annotations are purple
    • Commentaries are brown

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WHOLE-WHOLE RELATIONSHIPS

When the entirety of one things relates or responds entirely to the other, it is a "whole-whole" relationship.

A book chapter relates wholly to a book, a book relates wholly to its chapters.

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SCALAR

WHOLE-WHOLE RELATIONSHIPS

PATHS

Linear strings of content that allow you to direct the user experience

TAGS

Nonlinear content groupings that can be used as both descriptors and as content itself

COMMENTS

Direct responses to content in your book in the form of user comments or content you create as a direct commentary

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PATHS

Foundational relationships that guide users along the central narrative and provide the "jumping point" for other relationships. Paths can intersect and interact with other elements as you need them to.

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    • Think of paths like chapters
    • Select the edit "pencil" in the upper-right hand corner of the page that begins the path
    • Navigate to "Relationships" below the text box
    • Select "Path"
    • Create a "page on the fly" or select one of your preexisting pages
    • Add to path
    • Reorder path as necessary

CREATING PATHS IN SCALAR

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TAGS

Tags are used as descriptors and to establish links between content. In Scalar, tags are entire pieces of content -- meaning all types of media (text, audio, video, photo) can be tags and be tagged.

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    • Tags create multimedia nonlinear relationships between content
    • Select the edit "pencil" in the upper-right hand corner of the page you want to tag
    • Navigate to "Relationships" below the text box
    • Select "Tag"
    • Select "tagged by" or "tag of"
    • Create a "page on the fly" or select preexisting media or pages
    • Add tag

CREATING TAGS IN SCALAR

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COMMENTS

Scalar comments are direct responses to other content. Media elements can be assigned as comments to one or more other pages/elements.

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    • Leave a comment at bottom of a page OR
    • Select the edit "pencil" in the upper-right hand corner of the page you want to comment about
    • Navigate to "Relationships" below the text box
    • Select "Comment"
    • Assign page or media that provides commentary

CREATING COMMENTS IN SCALAR

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WHOLE-PART RELATIONSHIPS

When the entirety of one things relates or responds partially to the other, it is a "whole-part" relationship.

A book note entirely responds to part of an element of a book, so it is a "whole-part" relationship.

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SCALAR

WHOLE-PART RELATIONSHIPS

ANNOTATIONS

Notes for a specific portion of media (video, audio, photo, text, code)

MEDIA LINKS

Links a portion of text to media and displays it immediately when clicked (Scalar hyperlink)

NOTES

Scalar style footnotes- links text to the relevant note and the entire note is displayed when clicked over

(Scalar hyperlink)

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ANNOTATIONS

Annotations are content created to respond directly to a specific portion of larger content, such as a phrase on a page or a specific moment in media used in Scalar. Media files and pages can also be assigned as annotations on other media files or pages.

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Video:

    • Select media to annotate
    • Select the edit "paperclip" in the upper-right hand corner of the media page
    • Click the "+" to add annotation
    • Designate time stamps to annotate (if relevant)
    • Add additional descriptions or tags (if relevant)
    • Save annotations

Photo:

    • Same as above except:
    • Select area of photo to annotate rather than video time stamps

CREATING ANNOTATIONS

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MEDIA LINKS

Media links connect a selected portion of text to a media file that Scalar automatically embeds on the page. There is a small media symbol that appears before the media linked text; clicking on it will allow a user to play the linked audio/video. Text can also be linked to other Scalar pages.

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    • Select page with the text you want to add media links to
    • Select the edit "paperclip" in the upper-right hand corner of the page
    • Highlight the word or phrase you want to be a media link
    • Select the media button
    • Select which media file you want to link to the text
    • Save media link

Note:

    • The inline media button looks similar but is used to insert an image to the page generally and does not create the media link relationship

CREATING MEDIA LINKS IN SCALAR

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NOTES

Notes in Scalar function much like footnotes in a book- a section of text is connected to a specific note about that text. The section of text that has a note relationship will look like a hyperlink with a small note symbol next to it. When selected, Scalar will automatically display the text, audio, video, or photo file that has been designated as a note.

Scalar Notes:

Scalar Notes function the same as notes, but an entire Scalar page can be designated as a note, rather than just one file.

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    • Select page with the text you want to add notes to
    • Select the edit "paperclip" in the upper-right hand corner of the page
    • Highlight the word or phrase you want to add a note to
    • Select the note button
    • Select which media file you want to use to make a note
    • Save note

Scalar Note:

    • To designate an entire Scalar page as a note repeat the same process except:
    • Designate an entire page, rather than a media file, as the note

CREATING NOTES IN SCALAR