Outside of UBC-supported platforms like UBC Blogs or UBC CMS, researchers/faculty may find that third-party services offer more control, customization, or long-term sustainability, which can be especially valuable for experimental projects, require specific plug-ins or data models, or extend beyond UBC’s technical infrastructure.
The following services below are particularly useful for scholars who are building interactive exhibits, collaborative archives, or scholarly tools that need more than what a standard WordPress setup can offer. We recommend external CMS options when your project demands greater flexibility, long-term hosting beyond UBC affiliation, or integration with digital storytelling, data visualization, or archival tools that aren’t supported in UBC’s managed environments.
| Tool/Platform | Description | Use | Challenges |
|---|---|---|---|
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Reclaim is a low-cost, education-focused web hosting service widely used by scholars in the digital humanities. It offers a unique level of control and freedom, asyou can register your own domain (like myproject.org) and install a range of platforms like WordPress, Omeka (for digital exhibits), Scalar (for multimedia narratives), or Drupal.
Ideal for faculty who want to experiment with digital publishing, host a digital archive, or build interactive storytelling projects. With a small learning curve, it’s designed with educators and researchers in mind, with many tutorials and support. While not a UBC-managed platform -it is often recommended for scholars who want long-term ownership over their digital work.
Reclaim Hosting does have an annual fee based on the needs of your website. |
Web hosting service for academia; supports many CMS platforms. | Teaching sites, digital exhibits, sandboxing tools like Omeka or Scalar | Requires user to manage domain, setup, and backups |
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Primarily used by developers to manage and share code, track changes, and collaborate on digital projects, GitHub Pages allows you to turn content stored in a GitHub repository, such as websites, documents, or datasets, into a publicly viewable website. Especially useful for projects involving data visualization, digital exhibits, or collaborative coding work (like text analysis scripts or digital editions).
For this reason, GitHub is best suited for faculty or research teams who have some familiarity with programming or technical workflows. It requires comfort with concepts like version control, Markdown, and repository management. For example, a literary scholar working with digital editions in TEI-XML, or a linguist collaborating on Python scripts for text analysis, may benefit from GitHub’s collaborative and transparent versioning system.
If your project involves coding, scripting, or requires fine-grained collaboration across versions and contributors, it is a powerful, flexible tool; even if you aren’t a developer. A handy place to store digital research projects and make them openly available to the scholarly community, those who are newer to web development may prefer a more guided content management experience, platforms like UBC Blogs. |
Platform for code collaboration and publishing static sites | Version-controlled sites, coding projects, documentation | Requires coding knowledge; not ideal for beginners |
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Mukurtu is a unique content management system designed specifically for building digital archives focused on Indigenous cultural heritage. For faculty involved in projects that engage with Indigenous knowledge or cultural collections, it’s a great choice for scholars looking to create, share, or curate sensitive cultural materials in a way that respects traditional knowledge and intellectual property protocols.
Mukurtu is user-friendly and doesn’t require advanced technical skills to set up or maintain, making it a great option for researchers who are new to digital tools or who are looking for a more guided, intuitive platform. The system allows for detailed metadata management and flexible privacy controls, which means you can choose how materials are shared and who has access. It also supports multimedia content, so it’s ideal for building interactive exhibits or archives that incorporate text, audio, video, and images. Mukurtu provides an accessible, culturally aware framework that can help ensure that materials are treated with care and respect. |
CMS built for Indigenous communities to manage cultural knowledge | Indigenous storytelling, ethical digital archiving | Requires community consultation, buy-in, and guided setup |