
With the Honors section of Art History 28, “Intro to African Art,” Prof. Steven Nelson explored the combination of Artstor’s Shared Shelf and Omeka to better introduce students to the basic work of the art historian and the librarian. Each student had a group of images for which they are responsible (from the UCLA Art History Department’s Visual Resources Collection), and during the quarter they cataloged those images in Shared Shelf and then used Omeka to mount a digital exhibition about the work that was done. In the process, students learned how to think about the categories of art, learn how to use presentation software and gain experience in visualizing and organizing an online exhibit.
HumTech helped the instructor integrate Shared Shelf and Omeka and provided training and support to the students using the software. This project will also help Steven evaluate Shared Shelf’s effectiveness as a portal to the UCLA Art History department’s Visual Resources Collection, and make a recommendation to his colleagues.