Scalar
Introduction
Scalar is an online publishing platform developed by the Alliance for Networking Visual Culture (ANVC) at University of Southern California, with the support of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It offers Wikipedia-style interconnected text entries while allowing for “pathways” that can guide the reader more systematically through the content. For each given project there is only one editor, making it good for single-user work but less easy to use in group-work settings. The creators offer extensive support and explanations via their About page with a number of entries.
Functionality
The basic editors function similarly to Wordpress, a text editor which can be switched to an HTML view, and where content often needs to be imported before it can be included. It seems intended for more book- or course-like projects that have distinct series of entries to guide readers through content in a linear fashion, but with allowance for random exploration by jumping between interconnected entries on different pathways.
Limitations
It is a labor-intensive platform best suited to collaborative or team projects and larger individual projects that have already been created, written, or formatted on outside platforms. Its interface is not user friendly or adaptable and assumes a knowledge of, at least, html and css. For example, an image cannot be directly copied or imported into a text-based page. Text cannot really be manipulated directly in Scalar and must be manipulated in and copied in from a word processor.
Pedagogical implications
Since it is primarily a publishing platform and links directly to other large scale publicly open academic projects, Scalar enables students to directly engage with ongoing research in the academy. Thus, it would be a useful project-organizing tool and serve as a digital and collaborative alternative to term papers. Also, with the option of sharing it publicly, students can have a first-hand and, most likely, a first chance at digitally publishing their work.
Tutorial
Go to scalar.usc.edu and click "Learn More" on the first page and then "Sign up" on the second. Enter your information and create a username and password. Then click to accept the terms of service and fill out the Captcha. You can also add the title of your first book project here, if you'd like.
Click in your new book, which should be listed under "Your Books," or go to the Dashboard (link top right, under your name) to create a new book. Once there click "New" to create your first page.
Here you can enter a title, a description, and the content of the page itself. Below the main content text box, there are a series of "Relationships" that allow pages to be made into "Paths," "Comments," "Annotations," or "Tags." When you are finished adding content to the page, click "Save" at the bottom right of the page.
This tutorial focuses on basic pages and paths. Paths are sequential series of pages, and as such paths are also the main structuring element of a Scalar book.
The easiest way to create a path is to create the individual pages you want in that path first (by clicking "New" at the bottom of the page after saving the previous page), then the path's main page. Enter a title and whatever introductory content you want for the beginning of the path, then click "specify the objects it contains," next to "To make this page a path" below the main content text box. This will open a window for you to select the pages you wish to add to this path. Click "Pages" at the top, then click the boxes next to the pages you wish to add, and finish by clicking the blue "Add Selected" button at the bottom.
Do this for each path you wish to create, and then you can add those paths to the main menu, so that they will be easy for users to navigate. To do this, click the "Dashboard" button, and it will take you to the "Book properties" tab of the Dashboard. There, next to "Main menu items," click "Add menu item" and select the boxes next to each path you wish to list. Then click the blue "Continue" button. Your book now has its most basic structuring elements, and is ready for initial use!
Section by Christian Straubhaar and David Dulceany
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