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Using Scalar in the Classroom

MediaToolbar

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Working with Media 13 How to import media into your Scalar book plain 2018-11-14T15:07:05-08:00
Scalar has a very unique way of dealing with media. By media we mean images, video, audio, multi-page documents and more. Media files can take up a lot of storage space, so to get around this, Scalar imports the metadata for a media file, not the file itself. One consequence of this is that if the original file is taken down or moved, it will no longer load in your Scalar book. A benefit of this is that it keeps Scalar books small and easy to host, meaning that USC is able to offer the service for free.

To import a media file into Scalar, hover over the media import button.

There are four ways to import media in Scalar:
- Affiliated archives- Scalar worked with these archives to develop a search tool. Their content tends to be the most stable.
- Other archives- Sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and Soundcloud
- Local media files- Files from your computer, upload limit of 2MB per file
- Internet media files- Files for which you have a URL, like from Google Images
Today we’re going to go over the Internet Media Files option. If you’d like to read more about what options you should use when importing media, check out the handy table in the Scalar User’s guide.

Let's get started
Find an image online of the landmark that you’d like to feature in your Scalar book. For this project we went to the UT Libraries website and found an image of the PCL. You can use a search engine if you prefer. Keep in mind that images that you find on the Internet may be under copyright. Once you’ve found your image, right click on it and select “Copy Image Address.”

Now, select Internet media files from the media import menu in Scalar.

Paste the URL you copied into the Media file URL box. You’ll need to add a title and description, just like when you were creating your pages.

Click Save & View. You’ve successfully imported your media file into your Scalar book!

You should see a page with your media file title and the image that you imported.
Adding your media to a page

To add your media files onto a page, use the Index to navigate to one of the pages that you’ve already created. It's in the upper left corner of the screen.

Click the pencil icon to edit the page.

The toolbar to insert media looks like this. Hover over the buttons to read about what they do. For now we're only going to use the first two, but we will use some of the other ones later.

Scalar gives you two options for placing media on the page:

1. Scalar Media Link- The first blue button on the left that looks like a play symbol. This option will embed the media file in a column on either the right or left side of the page. It works best if you have a lot of images that you’d like to link to specific lines of text. To use it, you have to highlight a line of text and then click the Insert Scalar Media Link button.

2. Inline Scalar Media Link- The second blue button from the left. It looks like a play symbol with a box around it. This option will embed the media file in the middle of the page. To use it, click where you’d like the media file to appear and then click the Insert Inline Scalar Media Link button.

Pick one of these options and play around with where you’d like your media file to appear. You’ll also have the option of choosing how large you would like it to appear.

If at any point you change your mind and want to change the display options for your media file, hover over it and then click on the gear icon.
Using Widgets
Scalar has a feature called Widgets that allows you to add interactive elements to your pages. Today we're going to go over how to use the map option. There are other widgets to create visualizations, timelines, and media galleries. For more information on all the Scalar widgets, see the Scalar User’s guide.

The Maps widget embeds a simple Google map on one of your Scalar pages.

Today we’re going to create a very simple map with one point: the landmark that you’ve chosen to feature. Before we can create the map, we need to add the coordinates of the landmark to the image that you imported in the last step. This will tell Scalar where on the map to place the point.

Mapping could be many workshops in and of itself, so today we’re taking a very simple approach. To find the coordinates of your landmark, navigate to it in Google Maps.

Once you have your landmark pulled up, right click on it and select “What’s here?.”

A box will show up at the bottom of the screen with the latitude and longitude of the point you clicked. Copy those coordinates and then navigate back to your Scalar book.

Using the Index, navigate to the media file that you imported in the last step and then click the pencil icon to edit.

Click on the Metadata tab and then paste the coordinates you copied into the field called “dcterms:spatial.” Click Save & View.

Note: We’re not really getting into metadata in this workshop, because it’s a complex topic. If you’re working on a large Scalar project of your own, we recommend reading more about it on the UT Libraries website.

Okay, now that we’ve added the coordinates to our media file, it’s time to create our map widget. If you were creating a map with multiple points, you would want to make sure that you added all of the coordinates to their associated media files before creating your map.

Navigate to the page where you would like to place your map. Click the pencil icon to edit that page.

Now click on the button that looks like a puzzle piece in a box.

Select the Map option from the list of widgets.

Now select the media file that you’d like to place on the map. You will need to filter the results by Media.

Important: It’s a little tricky to select the items from this list. Just clicking on the checkbox next to the item you want to select won’t work. You have to click in the gray box around the item you want to select. Once the box turns blue, you’ve selected the item and can click continue.

After that you’ll have a similar set of presentation options to the ones you used with the media files in the last step.

After this, save and view your page and you should have a map!