Audience
- Who is the audience for your project?
- What do they need to know?
- What do you think they would be interested in knowing?
- How will they find your project?
Files
Knowing what type of information you need to share and how much storage space it will take up can help you decide what platform you will use to develop your project (Omeka, Wordpress, etc.)
- What types of files do you plan to use in your project? Example: 15 photos, and 1 pdf
- How many of them?
- How much storage space will your files take? (For a short overview of file size basics, check out this blog post: https://techdocs.blogs.brynmawr.edu/5523)
Storage
File storage often costs money. Knowing what your boundaries are in terms of budget and technical expertise can help you decide which options are right for you.
- Are you willing to purchase a hosting service like Reclaim Hosting or buying additional space on Omeka.net? If not, how will you work within the file-size limitations of your chosen platform?
Site Appearance
- How important is being able to customize the user interface of your project (change fonts, colors, etc)? In general, if you want more customization, you’re looking at choosing something that requires more technical knowledge.
- Do you have time to learn how to use a new tool? This may sound intimidating, but depending on what you choose, there may already be a lot of free tutorials out there to help you get started.
Rights
Citing your sources is an important practice, both in terms of ethics and in enabling your users to know where the information you’re giving them came from. Don’t forget your rights as an author either, you have the choice to decide how you would like your work to be reused.
- If you would like to use someone else’s media files, do you know if you have the right to do so? You may be able to rely on fair use.
- If referencing someone else’s work, etc, how will you plan to cite them?
- Does the platform you’re using have the option to link back to the original?
- What kinds of rights do you want to reserve or share for your work? (See https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/copyright for more information.)
Metadata
How will people find and use the materials in your project?
