One of the nice features of a dynamic website—the kind of thing that’s often driven by databases—is the ability to run a search feature. Search is a feature across the various content management systems we use (or once used) at RRCHNM – Omeka, Drupal, and Wordpress. But once a site is flattened and no longer reliant on a database for serving content, the built-in ability of search goes away. For many of our sites, the loss of this feature can be dismaying to users. So, a goal this summer was to figure out a way to implement search on a static site.

As part of RRCHNM’s sustainability efforts, we are flattening websites built with content management systems (CMS). In this context, “flattening” refers to the conversion of dynamic, database-based websites to static, simplistic versions. A flat website is built only with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Flattening websites involves accepting different trade-offs. While the flattened versions save server space and reduce security threats, they lose dynamic features such as queries or user-input. A search function is a key site feature that is lost with flattening. A static site search remedies this.

The Bracero History Archive was an early Omeka site built by RRCHNM. The project itself was a collaboration between multiple institutions. It brings together artifacts and oral histories from the Bracero program of the mid-twentieth century. In addition to being a significant digital history project in terms of collaboration, the official curriculum of the state of California requires students to learn about the Bracero Program and teachers frequently use this project for that purpose. This is a site that needs to stay live and functional.

As part of our sustainability efforts, we created the end of project workflow which we have shared on this site. How does that actually work when put into practice? In some cases, it has allowed us to wind down projects in stages – keeping core functionality and data accessible while removing high maintenance features – rather than leaving them up until a crisis demands triage or conservation efforts.

We used the workflow with two projects which serve as interesting examples of how to undertake this staged approach in practice. With Creating Local Linkages, we had to decide how to manage closing down the login-only area with a community of users. While we have written about Consolation Prize as a test case for end of project workflows for podcasts, the website for the show also presents some challenges, largely from the plugins which power the episode index page.

One of the projects which came to the sustainability team was The September 11 Digital Archive. Although I (Megan) had not previously been officially involved with the project, I had been part of projects and conversations which touched on or included the site (specifically the Omeka Classic plugins for topic modeling). I also had some experience with other community collecting projects, including concerns over privacy and harmful language in relation to contributions.

In the spring of 2022, the podcast Consolation Prize was wrapping up its second and final season. As a member of both of the Sustainability and Consolation Prize teams, I (Megan) was tasked with initiating the end-of-project workflow for the show’s website. At the same time, RRCHNM’s other podcast, The Green Tunnel, was concluding its first season and R2 Studios – a podcasting studio at RRCHNM – was set to grow. These events combined to present an opportunity to create a sustainability plan for our podcasting efforts which would allow us to preserve materials proactively rather than triage five or ten years down the line.

Some of the older sites – orphaned and not – which we had to deal with fell into a category which can loosely be called “Antique Omeka sites”. These sites were created mostly before 2011, and ran versions of Omeka Classic from 0.8 through 1.2.

The challenge with these sites was that they could not be easily upgraded to current versions of Omeka Classic. As of 2022, sites running Omeka Classic 1.2.1 or higher can be upgraded straight to the latest version, but earlier versions of Omeka Classic need additional work because of changes in the database and file structures.