Your ability to do things on this webspace is dictated to a large degree by the limits of your imagination (and Brown’s policies). That said, there are some technical requirements and limitations that you should review.
Here are some ideas that might help you get started:
Install a Web Application in Your Space
This hosting space makes it very simple to install certain web applications in your cPanel account. Web applications are just special software that run on a web server. Usually, they allow you to build and manage a website. The kind of site you can build depends on the type of application you install. Here are some examples of applications that you can easily install within the digitalscholarship.brown.edu web hosting interface:
WordPress: WordPress is a simple-to-use blogging application. The tool also comes with a huge array of plugins and themes to allow you to create virtually any kind of website imaginable.
Omeka: Omeka is an open source web application that can be used to create and display online digital collections and archives.
Scalar: Scalar is a content management system (CMS) that enables the creation of media-rich, non-linear, digital books.
Grav: Grav is an open source, flat-file CMS made for folks who are looking for something a little more experimental. Grav provides a straightforward framework for creating pages and inserting media.
Mediawiki: It is the open-source wiki software that runs the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. This tool may be right for you if you’re interested in publishing documents and then collaborating with others on them.
These are just a few of the open-source applications that are available to you in your hosting space. We encourage you to read more about what web applications are and which ones are available to you through this project. Digital Scholarship at Brown provides shell access, and it is possible to install some other software, but this is not a bare server like AWS or Digital Ocean. Please discuss this with CDS staff before trying it. cds_info@brown.edu
Organize Your Site with Subdomains and Folders
Through this project, you’ve received a domain name that you can actually subdivide and organize anyway you like. One easy way to organize your domain is to create subdomains, in which you can then install other applications. More simply, you can set up subfolders for your site (which can also have their own applications installed in them). The table below provides examples of how you might organize your site using the subdomain vs. the subfolder approach.
| Subdomain Approach | Subfolder Approach | |
| yourdomain.com (“root”) | Install WordPress as your “main site” | yourdomain.com (“root”) |
| course1.yourdomain.com | Install a second WordPress instance for a course you’re taking. | yourdomain.com/course1 |
| photos.yourdomain.com | Install ZenPhoto for a public photo gallery of your photos. | yourdomain.com/photos |
| docs.yourdomain.com | Install MediaWiki for a club you belong to that wants to collaboratively edit its bylaws. | yourdomain.com/docs |
| files.yourdomain.com | Install OwnCloud so you can access your files on your laptop and at work. | yourdomain.com/files |
There is no one solution to this challenge of organizing your installed applications. What you do should be driven by what makes sense to you. To start, you may want to install one thing at the root of your domain, and then let the rest evolve as you learn what’s possible. Note that any subdomain that you create adds a fourth level to the name of your site: subdomain.yourname.digitalscholarship.brown.edu.
Map Your Domain (or a Subdomain)
If you already have a digital presence that you’d like to pull into your hosting space, domain mapping is an option you may wish to explore. This allows you to assign your domain (or a subdomain) to another service. Some services that work with domain mapping are:
When you map a domain, users who visit your URL will automatically see your space on one of these services. It’s a great way to incorporate your activity elsewhere into your domain, and it might be a good first step if you’ve already established a presence somewhere else and just want to point your new domain to that space.
