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Gather around, folks. I have avoided answering this question since the days when we changed the name from Omekyll to Wax. A library student asks now, so it's time. https://twitter.com/hronweigle/status/1341297301793468416
First of all, let's acknowledge the excellent differences pointed out by @quinnanya
https://twitter.com/quinnanya/status/1341377801245532160
and @brimwats https://twitter.com/brimwats/status/1341359336874905601
https://twitter.com/quinnanya/status/1341377801245532160
and @brimwats https://twitter.com/brimwats/status/1341359336874905601
Second pre-amble to the first section 
:
I use Omeka still when it's the right thing to use. Mostly in some classrooms at Columbia—usually as part of our Domain of One's Own package at @ReclaimHosting. @omeka is great, and we are lucky to have it as an open source tool.
:I use Omeka still when it's the right thing to use. Mostly in some classrooms at Columbia—usually as part of our Domain of One's Own package at @ReclaimHosting. @omeka is great, and we are lucky to have it as an open source tool.
Also what @sharonmleon just tweeted is true in my experience as well. Omeka is a lot less brittle than Wordpress, and still a very stable option. Again, I still use Omeka when its right. https://twitter.com/sharonmleon/status/1341392241655488514
Ok, so now to the differences.
The 1st important group for whom it makes a difference are digital scholarship librarian types like me. My institution basically said no to Omeka for years, which in turn meant no to faculty collaborations. No LAMP for me. Ok. Static sites it is.
The 1st important group for whom it makes a difference are digital scholarship librarian types like me. My institution basically said no to Omeka for years, which in turn meant no to faculty collaborations. No LAMP for me. Ok. Static sites it is.
#2 group, the maintainers: Omeka can generate static sites, but it needs (LAMP) to breathe. Wax just uses a PC. Most folks don't use Omeka to generate static, and prefer continuous generation of new data. This means we maintain software, not documents.
Group #3, the designers: No way designing a new theme for Omeka is easier than a theme for Wax, or new functionality. For an experienced tinkerer, the difference in labor time is enormous. I give new projects 10 hours of candy time, & with that can make very unique sites in Wax
Group #4, faculty: @quinnanya & others often point out that it's easier to get started with Omeka. That depends on what you're asking faculty to do. I ask them to fill out a spreadsheet and send me word files. I build them a new site in 1-2 hours before tweaks. Sound harder?
G #5, students: where it gets interesting. Omeka is way better at classes where you want to focus attention on thinking about digital collections right away, and not computation. Wax is way better at teaching fundamentals of computation along the former. (+)
g#5b: Ingesting data into Omeka and Wax take all of 1-2 hours to teach. Production control of Wax can take about 1 week, and Omeka maybe a day or two. Full control of Wax? 1 semester. Of Omeka, 2 years. These are estimates based on my experience.
g#6, those without reliable internet:
Wax is easy to put on a hard drive.
g#7: those under censoring regimes:
see g#6. Sneakernets are still important in many parts of the world.
Wax is easy to put on a hard drive.
g#7: those under censoring regimes:
see g#6. Sneakernets are still important in many parts of the world.
and to close for now, g#8, thinkers of social justice in cultural heritage & scholarship: Wax and Ed and everything we do around here are half practical tools and half theoretical provocations to get us to think and care deeper about justice (+)
This is why Wax lives on a repo called minicomp, minimal computing. We want offer a reduction in computation as a green provocation, the learning of minimal skills in computation to scholars, the thinking about the dozens of costs that we lose sight of in the division of labor...
because at the end of the day, the most important work we do is take care of each other. That's it. Here's Wax. https://github.com/minicomp/wax
