DokuWiki is a standards compliant, simple to use wiki, mainly aimed at creating documentation of any kind. It can be used as an encyclopedia of knowledge or resources, for outlining projects, or to draft documents. Some of the features it includes are:

• Simple syntax
• Unlimited page revisions
• Track recent changes
• Colored side by side diff support
• Uploading and embedding of images and other media
• Content can be categorized in namespaces, easily browsable through an automatic index
• Straightforward configuration
• Section Editing allows editing of small parts of a page
• Toolbar and access keys make editing easy for both beginners and professional
• Easy navigation through breadcrumbs
• Automatic table of contents generation
• Locking to avoid edit conflicts
• Automatic save to avoid content lost during editing
• Extended Access Control Lists
• Support for over 50 languages

1. To get started you’ll need to log in to your control panel (https://middcreate.net/dashboard) using your Middlebury username and password.

2. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. Navigate to the Installatron by looking under the ‘Software’ section or typing “Installatron” into the search bar at the upper right corner of the page.

3. Click on the Applications Browser tab (the one with the star). Then select DokuWiki under the ‘Apps for Content Management’ section.

4. This page gives you more information about the DokuWiki software. To begin the install, click ‘install this application’ in the upper right-hand corner.

5. On the next page the installer will ask for some information about this install. The first thing you’ll want to do is decide where to install it. If you’re wanting to install DokuWiki on your main domain, you can leave the directory area empty. If you created a subdomain, you can select it from the dropdown menu. You also have the option of installing DokuWiki in a subfolder by typing in the folder name in the Directory field. Click here for more information about subdomains and subfolders.

6. By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details. Click Install to continue. 

7. The installer will take just a few moments to install DokuWiki and a progress bar will keep you updated. When it is complete you will see links to your new DokuWiki site.

8. Congratulations, you have now completed the installation of DokuWiki! Click the top link to log in to your DokuWiki installation.

Using DokuWiki

You can learn how to use this application in the official DokuWiki User Manual, including how to write in wiki syntax when editing pages. These manuals will help you get started and begin building your DokuWiki.

Known is a social publishing platform that combines aspects of blogging and social media. It’s very easy to use and works like a Facebook group or Tumblr.  You can invite up to 200 users to collaborate by sharing posts, status updates, photos, and audio.  You can also make your own events or RSVP to external events. Known integrates with a number of social networks. When you publish on Known, you can choose to syndicate your content to a variety of sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, Soundcloud, and more. It also has the following features:

• Use hashtags with any content to categorize and organize what you publish
• Privacy settings that let you make posts or the whole site public, private, or for members only
• View, edit, and post from any device (tablets, smartphones, etc.)
• Import posts from a WordPress site

1. To get started you’ll need to log in to your control panel (https://middcreate.net/dashboard) using your Middlebury username and password.

2. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. Navigate to the Installatron by looking under the ‘Software’ section or typing “Installatron” into the search bar at the upper right corner of the page.

3. Click on the Applications Browser tab (the one with the star). Then select Known under the ‘Apps for Content Management’ section.

4. This page gives you more information about the Known software. In order to connect Known to your social media accounts, you will need to install it on a subdomain. Before you proceed with this installation, first create a new subdomain. Once you have set up the subdomain, you can install Known by clicking ‘install this application’ in the upper right-hand corner.

5. On the next page the installer will ask for some information about this install. Select the subdomain you created from the dropdown menu. You also have the option of installing Known in a subfolder by typing in the folder name in the Directory field. Click here for more information about subdomains and subfolders.

6. By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details. Click Install to continue. 

7. The installer will take just a few moments to install Known and a progress bar will keep you updated. When it is complete you will see a link to your new Known site as well as a link to the backend administrative section of the site.

8. Congratulations, you have now completed the installation of Known! Click the second link to log in to your Known site.

Using Known

You can learn how to use this application in the official Known Guides. These support guides will help you get started and begin posting content on your Known.

Scalar is a free, open source authoring and publishing platform that’s designed to make it easy for authors to write long-form, born-digital scholarship online. Scalar enables users to assemble media from multiple sources and juxtapose them with their own writing in a variety of ways, with minimal technical expertise required. More fundamentally, Scalar is a semantic web authoring tool that brings a considered balance between standardization and structural flexibility to all kinds of material.

Scalar also features a built-in open API that allows you blend your Scalar content with other data sources, build your own visualizations, or create completely new interfaces for your materials. You can see some custom designed Scalar sites on this MiddCreate Apps Showcase site.

1. To get started you’ll need to log in to your control panel (https://middcreate.net/dashboard) using your Middlebury username and password.

2. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. Navigate to the Installatron by looking under the ‘Software’ section or typing “Installatron” into the search bar at the upper right corner of the page.

3. Click on the Applications Browser tab (the one with the star). Then select Scalar under the ‘Apps for Content Management’ section.

4. This page gives you more information about the Scalar software. To begin the install, click ‘install this application’ in the upper right-hand corner.

5. On the next page the installer will ask for some information about this install. The first thing you’ll want to do is decide where to install it. If you’re wanting to install Scalar on your main domain, you can leave the directory area empty. If you created a subdomain, you can select it from the dropdown menu. You also have the option of installing Scalar in a subfolder by typing in the folder name in the Directory field. Click here for more information about subdomains and subfolders.

6. By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details. Click Install to continue. 

7. The installer will take just a few moments to install Scalar and a progress bar will keep you updated. When it is complete you will see links to your new Scalar site.

8. Congratulations, you have now completed the installation of Scalar! Click the top link to log in to your Scalar installation.

Using Scalar

You can learn how to use this application in the official Scalar 2 User Guide or Scalar 1 User Guide depending on which format version you choose. These support guides will help you get started and begin publishing with Scalar.

LimeSurvey is a survey making tool that allows you to easily create and execute a variety of assessments. Some of the features available in this application are:

• Unlimited number of surveys, questions, and participants
• Multi-lingual surveys: 80 different languages supported
• Surveys can be shared via a link, or you can send tokens so only specific users can access the survey
• Send invitations and reminders by email
• Ready-made importable questions & surveys
• 28 different question types with more to come
• Conditions for questions depending on earlier answers
• Anonymous and non-anonymous surveys
• Integrate pictures and movies into a survey
• Printable versions of your survey

Installing LimeSurvey

1. To get started you’ll need to log in to your control panel (https://middcreate.net/dashboard) using your Middlebury username and password.

2. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. Navigate to the Installatron by looking under the ‘Software’ section or typing “Installatron” into the search bar at the upper right corner of the page.

3. Click on the Applications Browser tab (the one with the star). Then select LimeSurvey under the ‘Apps for Surveys and Statistics’ section.

4. This page gives you more information about the LimeSurvey software. To begin the install, click ‘install this application’ in the upper right-hand corner.

5. On the next page the installer will ask for some information about this install. The first thing you’ll want to do is decide where to install it. If you’re wanting to install LimeSurvey on your main domain, you can leave the directory area empty. If you created a subdomain, you can select it from the dropdown menu. You also have the option of installing LimeSurvey in a subfolder by typing in the folder name in the Directory field. Click here for more information about subdomains and subfolders.

6. By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details. Click Install to continue. 

7. The installer will take just a few moments to install LimeSurvey and a progress bar will keep you updated. When it is complete you will see a link to your new LimeSurvey site as well as a link to the backend administrative section below it.

8. Congratulations, you have now completed the installation of LimeSurvey! Click the administrative link to log in and begin creating surveys with your new LimeSurvey installation.

Using LimeSurvey

You can learn how to use this application in the official LimeSurvey Manual. This support documentation wiki can help you get started by showing you how to do the following:

• Set your user preferences after your first login
• Create a survey
• Administer a survey
• Manage your surveys
• How to design a good survey

MiddCreate’s Installatron offers 9 e-commerce applications. However, members of the Middlebury College and Middlebury Institute of International Studies community are not allowed to utilize these applications to actually conduct sales or make money.

In Middlebury’s Web Policies under ‘Guidelines for All Web Pages’, section 1b, it states:

Unauthorized use of Middlebury College’s Web sites for commercial purposes is prohibited. Personal or institutional Web pages may not be used for direct advertising for personal profit or gain.

Under section 1d of the ‘Guidelines for Student Organization Sites, Personal Pages and Postings’, it further states that:

The College will review complaints, questions, and concerns regarding allegations of copyright infringement, misuse of intellectual property, harassment, use of College Web resources for commercial purposes, and other legal issues. If the complaint is valid, the College will contact the student organization’s Web editor and request immediate revision of the Web page and/or removal of inappropriate materials in compliance with College policies, intellectual property law, and guidelines for responsible use of computing resources. The College may shut down the Web site if there is inadequate or no response from the student organization. Illegal, irresponsible, or unethical activities may result in loss of privileges or penalties consistent with the judicial procedures and policies of the College.

The cPanel has a Backup Wizard that lets you easily backup and restore all or parts of your domain files and databases.

1. Login to middcreate.net.
2. In the Search Box at the top of the page, search for “Backup Wizard”, or under Files click on Backup Wizard.

3. If you click the “Backup” button, you will have the option to create a full or partial backup. A full backup will create an archive of all the files and configurations on your website. You can only use this to move your account to another server, or to keep a local copy of your files. You can’t restore full backups through your cPanel interface. In order to restore files, you’ll need to download partial backups.

You will lose access to your MiddCreate domain six months after you graduate (or otherwise discontinue) from Middlebury. You can keep everything exactly the same while you still have access to your Middlebury email, which is for 6 months after graduation. However, when you lose access to your Middlebury email, you no longer have access to your MiddCreate cPanel.

You then have a number of options, with the ultimate goal to transition your account to one that is no longer managed by Middlebury or connected to your Middlebury email. 

The easiest option is to migrate your site off of MiddCreate directly to Reclaim Hosting. This option keeps everything exactly the same on the back end, but just moves your content over automatically from the MiddCreate servers to the Reclaim Hosting Customer servers. Reclaim Hosting will give you the option to purchase your own domain name (so it will no longer be yourdomain.middcreate.net) and it will migrate the site for you – easy peasy. You don’t have to do any of the migration work yourself. After that point, your contact for troubleshooting will be “support@reclaimhosting.com.” The most popular plan through Reclaim is $30/year for 2GB of space, which is a very competitive deal.

Other options are to download your entire site to store on your computer, move everything over to another hosting provider, or—if you use WordPress—to export your site’s content, import it to WordPress.com for free, and re-do some of the formatting that doesn’t transfer over. (More info here.)

Using Reclaim Hosting

MiddCreate is hosted through Reclaim Hosting, a company that started out of the University of Mary Washington. Through our special partnership with them, you’re eligible to have your domain and content automatically migrated to a full hosting account for free for the first year. See this link for more details.

Just sign up for your own domain, submit a support ticket, and they’ll do the migration for you. You won’t have to provide any login information since they control the servers on both sides.

To sign up for your own Reclaim Hosting domain:

1. Login to middcreate.net.

2. Go to Migration Information under Manage Your Account in the top navigation menu.

3. Click on Get Started in the Migration Offer box.

4. You will be given the option to 1) register a new domain, 2) transfer your domain from another registrar, or 3) use your existing domain and update your nameservers.

If your site’s URL ends in middcreate.net, and you have never used a different URL or purchased hosting from somewhere else, the Register a new domain option allows you to get your own personal domain with Reclaim Hosting (outside of MiddCreate). Your site will no longer be located at “yoursite.middcreate.net” and you’ll be able to purchase a new URL.

If you have purchased (or intend to purchase) a URL from a different hosting company, but still want your site to be hosted with Reclaim Hosting, select the I will use my existing domain and update my nameservers option. Your site will be migrated to a personal Reclaim Hosting account, but then you will have to update the information that tells the other hosting company (that you got your URL from) where your site is located. It’s possible to get your hosting and URL from two separate companies, but it’s often easier and cheaper to get them together.

If you already have a site that’s hosted somewhere else, and want to transfer everything to a personal Reclaim Hosting account, select Transfer your domain from another registrar.

Other Hosting Providers

If you don’t want to continue with Reclaim and would rather use a different hosting company, you can download all your site files independently, purchase a URL, and upload the files to your new domain through FTP.

If you’ve built a great website at SITES dot MIIS or SITES dot Middlebury but want to customize it beyond the available options, you can transfer it to MiddCreate. Using your own domain on MiddCreate gives you full creative control over your site’s appearance and the flexibility to add new functionality. In addition, MiddCreate domains are hosted through Reclaim Hosting, which provides a convenient migration service so you can keep your site after you leave.

Caution: All the content and media contained within your posts and pages can be migrated, but files in your Media Library, your theme, and any appearance settings will not transfer to your new WordPress site. You will have to set these up again once you migrate your content.

Export Your Site

Go to sites.mis.edu or sites.middlebury.edu and sign in to your account. Go to My Sites and click on the dashboard of the site you want to migrate.

Click on Tools > Export in the toolbar to the left. Select what you want to transfer, then download the export file.

Install WordPress on your MiddCreate domain and go to your WordPress dashboard. You may want to delete the automatically generated example posts and pages (e.g. the “Hello world!” post).

Import Your Site

In your MiddCreate WordPress dashboard, go to Tools > Import in the toolbar on the left. Choose WordPress from the list of systems.

Click on Choose File and select the file you exported from SITES dot. Then upload the file and import it.

You will be asked to assign authors to the posts or pages you import. You can choose to keep and display the authors’ names from the SITES dot version of your content or change them to something else. Remember to update the passwords and roles of imported users once the migration is completed. If you want to keep the file attachments (image, video, document, etc. files uploaded into your posts from the post edit screen), be sure to check the import attachments box before you click Submit.

Congratulations! The migration is complete and you can start customizing your new site on MiddCreate.

Installing Omeka

Omeka is an open-source web application that can be used to create and display online digital collections. Developed by programmers at George Mason University, Omeka was designed to be user-friendly, both during installation and setup and during daily usage. To install Omeka, use these simple steps:

1. To get started you’ll need to login to your control panel (https://middcreate.net/dashboard) using your Middlebury username and password. 
2. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. Navigate to the Web Applications section of the cPanel and find Featured Applications. Then select Omeka.
3. This page gives you more information about the Omeka software. To begin the install click install this application in the upper-righthand corner. 
4. On the next page the installer will ask for some information about this install. The first thing you’ll want to do is decide where to install it. If you’re wanting to install Omeka on your main domain, you can leave the directory area empty. If you created a subdomain, you can select it from the dropdown menu. You also have the option of installing Omeka in a subfolder by typing in the folder name in the Directory field. Click here for more information about subdomains and subfolders. 
5. By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details. Click Install to continue. 
6. The installer will take just a few moments to install Omeka and a progress bar will keep you updated. When it is complete you will see a link to your new Omeka site as well as a link to the backend administrative section for your Omeka site. Click the website link to configure your new Omeka installation. 
7. When you visit your new Omeka installation for the first time, you will be taken to the site configuration page. Enter a Username, Password, and Email for the administrative superuser (i.e. yourself).
   
8. Under “Site Settings,” enter an Administrator Email and a Site Title. The Administrator email is the address that messages from the system (e.g. forgot password email reminder) will appear to come from. You might want to create a custom email address using these instructions, for example webmaster@yourdomain.com or omeka-admin@yourdomain.com, to use for this purpose. The Site Title will appear at the top of your visitors’ browser windows.
   
9. Further down the Site Settings page are several numerical settings; you may leave these at the defaults if you are new to Omeka. When you are done making changes, click the Install button to submit the configuration page and proceed.
   
10. Congratulations! Omeka is now installed. Use the buttons to either proceed to the Public Site, or to begin adding content, go to the Admin Dashboard.
    

Installing Plugins

There are a variety of plugins that enable additional functionality in Omeka, but in order to easily add them you will first need to install Escher, a plugin installer. All the plugins available for Omeka and their descriptions can be found on this page.

1. Find the Escher plugin listing and click the red button on the right to download the Escher zip file.

2. Next, open up your cPanel Dashboard and click on the File Manager. You can find the File Manager under ‘Files’ or by typing “File Manager” in the upper right search bar.

3. Go to the public_html > omeka > plugins folder by clicking on the folder icons in the file menu, or by typing “public_html/omeka/plugins” into the navigation bar at the top and clicking ‘Go’.

4. Next you will need to upload the Escher zip file you downloaded into the plugins folder. Select the Upload option in the top menu to open up a new tab where you can upload the zip file. When the upload is complete, click the ‘Go back to home/yourdomain/public_html/omeka/plugins’ link at the bottom of the page to return to the File Manager. You will see that the Escher zip file has appeared in the plugins folder.

5. Make sure the Escher zip file is selected (it should be highlighted in blue), then click Extract from the menu at the top of the page. A small window will open up to confirm where the file will be extracted to. If you were in the plugins folder, it should say public_html/omeka/plugins, if not, type that into the box before you hit Extract File(s).

6. Another window will open that outlines the contents of the file. Just hit the Close button and the installation will be complete.

 7. The Escher plugin should now be available in the plugins tab in your Omeka.

8. To use Escher to install other plugins, click on Escher in the left hand sidebar.

9. Next, select the plugin you’d like to install from the dropdown menu and click the Upload button. The plugin will be installed and appear in the plugins page, which you can access from the menu at the top of the page. You will then have to turn on the installed plugin by hitting the Activate button.

Using Omeka

You can learn how to use this application in the official Omeka Support Documentation. This support guide will help you get started and begin creating your Omeka site.