This is one of those days when I am feeling discouraged. Spent a couple of hours yesterday trying to figure out how to upload the Neatline plugin to Omeka. The directions are sparse: download the file (check), unzip it (check), move the Neatline folder to /plugins (huh??). Where is plugins? After much searching and trial and error, I figured out that this had to do with the FTP program. Unfortunately, we never actually used this at the workshop, so I was clueless as to how to proceed. I think I figured out that I had to go into my Reclaim Hosting portal, and found the FTP thing in the Cpanel. I believe I actually got it connected with my Cyberduck correctly, but still cannot figure out how to get the Neatline folder to plugins and to my Omeka site. Luckily, one of the students in my DH course is a computer science major. I am hoping I can prevail upon him to help me with this. Unfortunately, I will not be showing my students how to use Neatline today! (Okay, so I kinda waited til the last minute to try it; it was a sorta last minute addition.)
What this and a few other frustrating experiences tell me is that I really need to do a coding class. I need to at least learn the lingo, as there are too many times when I am completely at sea with this stuff!!
The course is still perking along, but we shall see how the students conceptualize their projects. And then execution–yikes! One group wants to use Omeka; I believe the other is going to create a site using Drupal. (Needless to say, the latter is the group containing the computer science major.) I am thinking that Omeka.net may be too limited; certainly WordPress.com seems quite limited in terms of plugins and the ability to embed things like StoryMap and such. Having your own hosted site definitely makes things easier!
Enough complaining for one day. I am now going to try focusing on the things that are working well, and getting help for those that are not. Wish me luck!
