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Introduction to Scalar

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Make your Splash Page 8 Create a title page for your project using a key image. image_header 2016-04-20T09:42:45-07:00
The Splash Page is basically the title page for a project or path. It displays a large image (like the roller coaster in this example) along with text.
To begin, edit the home page.
Navigate to the home page using the drop-down menu in the upper left corner

Select the edit icon (pencil) from the upper right hand corner to edit the home page

Update the Title and Description
- Title: [Project Title]
- Description: [Describe the project, ie "Scalar Workshop"]
Next, change the Layout to Splash
- Use the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page.
Finally, select your key image
Using the "styling" menu at the bottom of the page, select "key image." Then choose the image you want to use.
Select "save and view" to see your splash page!
If you want to edit it again, use the "pencil" button to reopen the file. Otherwise, follow the path to create your Scalar page!
Uploading Media 3 How to upload Scalar media image_header 2016-04-20T09:22:29-07:00
It's time to make your Scalar page!
There are three ways to add media to Scalar: you can upload a file from your hard drive, you can import media from a website, or you can use one of the affiliated (or unaffiliated) archives. In this workshop, we’ll be doing all three. We will upload a YouTube video to be featured in the website. Then we will upload a pdf file of an academic article and several photos from the internet.

This page will demonstrate "best practices" for adding media: 1) including appropriate bibliographic information and 2) writing rich descriptions.

After all the files are uploaded, you will make a page that incorporates them into a single entity. When building your own project, you can work in any order, uploading files as you go.
Importing Media
To import media, you'll use the "import button" from the project menu in the upper right corner of the Scalar screen. (It looks like an arrow pointing down). Other important buttons on this menu include the "New page button" ("+"), the "edit" button (pencil), and the button that looks like a wrench, which will take you back to the dashboard.

1. UPLOAD A MUSIC VIDEO
Upload
The YouTube video is going to be at the center of your project. Because Scalar has a special relationship with YouTube, it's really easy to import files this way. Other online archives - like Vimeo and Internet Archive - are also affiliated. You might also check out the affiliated Hemispheric Institute, which features videos related to Latin American themes.
- Hover over the “import” drop down menu from the upper right hand corner. Hover over “other archives” and choose “YouTube”.
- Search for the song that you have chosen to feature in your project.
- Select the video you want to import: check the box.
- Click “import selected.” Make sure that you select "edit metadata before importing" at the bottom of the page.
Description
After clicking "import selected" you should see a number of metadata options like "description," "title," etc. If you don't see that, it's okay! Scroll down and follow the instructions for "OH NO: Did you lose your media file?"
- One of the metadata options will be called 'description.' This is where you will write a rich description of the media file. To complete this section, imagine that a blind person is using the scalar page. What do they need to know in order to understand the media object and its relevance to the project?
Bibliographic Record
- Review the metadata to make sure it’s accurate
- Choose the "Add Additional Metadata" section and select "bibliographicCitation"
- Enter a bibliographic entry for the media item. For your final assignment, this should be in MLA format. (For this workshop, a loose approximation will do.)
OH NO! Did you lose your media file?
You uploaded your media file and you saved it, and now you can't find it anywhere. What happened?

Nothing. It's hanging out behind the scenes until you move on to the next stage. To find it again, you can navigate to the "dashboard" by clicking on the wrench icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen. From there, open the "media" tab and you'll see the file. To open it, click on the link under "URI". To edit it, click on the edit button (it looks like a pencil) in the upper right hand corner.
2. UPLOAD AN ACADEMIC ARTICLE
You are required to use an academic article in your final Scalar assignment. This workshop will show you how to download a pdf of an academic article from the library website, and then upload it into your Scalar project.
Find an Article
- Navigate to the UT Libraries website (lib.utexas.edu)
- Search for the artist whose song you have chosen to feature
- Find an article about your artist (any article will do) and download it to the desktop of your computer. Hint: if it doesn't automatically appear as a PDF, you can "print" the article to pdf instead.
Upload the Article
- In Scalar, hover over the “import” drop down menu from the upper right hand corner. Choose “Local Media Files”
- Enter the “Title” of the file (the name of the article) and the description of the file (“Academic article about [Artist’s name]”)
- Select “Choose File” to upload the file
- Select “Upload”
Description
- In this case, the description should be a brief abstract of the article, including key information about who wrote it, where it's from, and what it is about.
Bibliographic Record: Metadata
- Use the "edit button" from the project menu to open the file for editing
- Select “metadata”
- Select: Add additional metadata
- Choose “bibliographicCitation
- Type in the bibliographic citation. You should be able to copy and paste this from the library website.
- Select “save and view”
3. IMPORT PICTURES
You'll be linking your video to images of your choice. In our example, we used images of the artist and composer of the song. You might also choose images related to the lyrics, either literally or symbolically. Find pictures simply by googling the topics of your choice. We also recommend that you choose one image related to cover art. This is also a good time to upload the image you want to use for your title page. Make sure you pick a large image for that, so it doesn't look pixelated.
Upload an image:
- In Scalar, hover over the “import” drop down menu from the upper right hand corner. Choose “Internet Media Files”
- Paste the URL for the image (not the URL for the website) into the “URL” slot
Edit the Description:
- Before you upload the image, you'll want to give it a title and description. This is your opportunity to provide the detailed description that we have discussed in class.
- If you forget to edit the description while uploading, you can do it later using the "pencil" icon in the project menu.
Bibliographic Record: metadata
- Use the "pencil" icon in the project menu to open the image for editing.
- Open the “metadata” tab underneath the title and description
- Select “Add additional Metadata” at the bottom of the page
- Add the "bibliographicCitation" metadata option and the "source" option
- In the "bibliographicCitation" box, add the MLA citation for the image.
- In the "source" box, enter the short url for the website where you found the photo as the source (For example: biography.com)
- Select save and view
Troubleshooting Media
Forgot to edit your metadata?
That's okay! Use the "pencil" icon in the project menu on the upper right corner of your screen to reopen the media file for editing. Then edit the metadata using the tab at the bottom of the screen.
Can't find your media file?
Navigate to the "dashboard" by selecting the "wrench" icon from the project menu. Then select the "media" tab to view all of your imported (and uploaded) media files.
Other difficulties?
Check out the "working with media" path from the Scalar user's guide.