Using Imagen to Access Carleton Photos and Videos
The Division of Communications uses Imagen as its primary image repository. Imagen is a highly customizable tool that is implemented at Carleton in partnership with PEPS and ITS to serve many different purposes across campus and replace multiple existing tools, including ResourceSpace.
As of July 2021, all Communications photos that were previously stored in ResourceSpace are accessible on Imagen, which all Carleton faculty and staff can access via single sign-on (SSO). Depending on how permissions are set when uploaded, some photos are also available for viewing and downloading by students and/or those with a non-Carleton email (such as alumni).
Browsing and Downloading Carleton Photos and Videos
1. Use your Carleton credentials to sign in to Imagen (https://imagencloud.carleton.edu/).
Important to Note: Individual Carleton users sign in by clicking the Log In button in the upper left corner of the Imagen homepage. However, shared department/office accounts (such as admissions@carleton.edu), freelance photographers, or others without a Carleton email address need to bypass SSO by clicking the button in the lower right corner of the homepage that says External User Login.
2. Select Browse Media from the toolbar along the top of the page. You will now see all media available based on the permissions associated with your sign-on, which may include materials beyond the Division of Communications photo and video library. The photos are automatically sorted by date, with the most recent being the first to show up—note that because of metadata information attached to photo uploads, this is often (but not always) the date the photo was taken, not the date it was uploaded.
3. If you are looking for a photo of something specific, type the name of whatever you are looking for into the search bar (e.g. Commencement 2022). To filter results, use the menu on the left side of your screen to select specific departments, years, creators, or date ranges. A large number of records are associated with the College Communications Department.
4. Materials on Imagen are grouped by record. Usually, there should only be one photo or video per record, but there may be multiple types of media associated with some records. The best way to determine which type of media a record contains, and if it contains multiple images or just one, is to hover over the item with your cursor.
5. Clicking once with your cursor on a thumbnail will give you a larger thumbnail with additional information, such as the date it was uploaded and the photographer’s name.
6. Clicking again on the larger thumbnail will bring you to that record. Once the record is displayed, you will be able to see all the media associated with that record (if there are multiple pieces of media in the record). In the menu located on the lower right side, underneath the media, is where you will find the Download Media option.
7. Once you select Download Media, a download window will appear asking which size you’d like to download. By default, the Original Image size is selected and you can leave it as such and click Download.
8. If the Download Media option does not appear, you do not have permission to download that piece of media. If you believe that is in error, contact whoever manages photos/videos for the department associated with the media record in Imagen.
Uploading Carleton Photos to Imagen
1. Staff, faculty, and current students wishing to upload to Imagen should select Upload from the toolbar. Freelancers, vendors, and alumni should select Upload Request instead. Depending on the permissions associated with your account, you may only see the upload request option.
2. This screen provides information on privacy settings and on embedding media. Select Upload Now to continue.
3. There are two tabs in the new record window. Select the second tab, select Add Media and add your media first.
- If you’re uploading multiple images, add all of them in one batch. Then, once all the media has been added, ensure that the option is checked to Create multiple records, each with a single media object.
4. Return to the Information tab. Fill out all other required fields:
- Title
- Clear this field and enter a broad title for the uploaded media collection (e.g. Reunion 2022: MCAN and OAC Reception).
- Description
- Be as thorough as possible in your description to ensure searchability.
- Year Created
- Licensing and Permitted Uses
- All Communications materials should be checked with I own and retain the copyright information for this item. The “I” in this case is the College, and it is meant to separate copyrighted materials or student-created materials from marketing materials that can be used widely.
- Department of
- All images or media items intended for the Communications library should always be tagged with College Communications as a department. This is how we filter our materials from other use cases in Imagen. Multiple departments can be added if there is a client associated with the media item, such as Alumni Relations or Admissions.
5. Also fill out relevant non-required information.
- The most important field is Privacy.
- Click on Private, then click on the field labeled Enter email address or group. Some answers will auto-populate, and you should choose Carleton Single Sign On (if it does not auto-populate, type it in and select it). Keep its smaller drop-down menu as Can view.
- For our use case, relevant fields also include: Creator, Names (subjects), Access Restrictions, Keywords, Item State, and Date Created.
- Embedded metadata will auto populate into description, keyword, and date created field if left blank in the embed window.
- If the photo was taken by a student photographer or alum, remember to include the class year after the photographer’s name in Creator.
- If the photo includes notable people such as the president or a dean/VP, please include their name(s) in Names (subjects) for searchability.
6. Select Save to upload items.
7. After content is done processing, select Browse Media from the header toolbar. If the pieces of media do not show up there (which sometimes happens when the privacy field is not filled out properly), search using the title you gave the pieces of media.
8. Holding down the shift key, select all media items you have just uploaded. They should be highlighted in yellow. Select the pencil icon at the top to edit these items. Click the lock icon next to privacy and add these groups:
- Carleton Single Sign-on: Can View & Download
- If you do not want students to be able to download the photos, leave as Can View.
- ALL FAC-STAFF_DEFAULT_ROLE GROUP: Can View & Download
- College Communications: Can View, Download and Edit
- Also add this permission for any clients associated with the media item, such as Alumni Relations or Admissions.
- Everyone: Can View & Download
- This is only if you want alumni who cannot log in with a Carleton email to be able to download the photos (e.g. they are Reunion photos that Alumni Relations will be sharing publicly).
9. Click Close, then Save. Done! You should always ask someone else in your office with different Imagen permissions than you to test if they can view/download the photos you just uploaded.