Digital UIC

Scalar is a free, open source authoring and publishing platform that’s designed to make it easy for authors to write long-form, born-digital scholarship online. Scalar enables users to assemble media from multiple sources and juxtapose them with their own writing in a variety of ways, with minimal technical expertise required.

Scalar also gives authors tools to structure essay and book-length works in ways that take advantage of the unique capabilities of digital writing, including nested, recursive, and non-linear formats. The platform also supports collaborative authoring and reader commentary.

Scalar is a project of the Alliance for Networking Visual Culture (ANVC) in association with Vectors and  IML, and with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

1. To get started you’ll need to login to your control panel (https://digital.uic.edu/dashboard) using your Net ID and password.
2. Navigate to the Application section and select Scalar. You can also use the search function as well.
3. When you click on the Scalar icon, you will be taken to the Scalar information page. Click install this application.
4. On the next page, fill in the different fields accordingly:
   1. Select the domain or sub-domain where you’d like your Scalar site to live. You can create a sub-domain by following directions in the section Setting up Subdomain. The directory is optional. If you are using a sub-domain, you may not need to use a sub-directory. You can learn more by reading Subdomains vs Subdirectories​.
   2. Under version, select the version that is most recent. -By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely.
   3. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details.
   4. Finally, in Settings, you’ll need to create a username and password for the Scalar install. A password can be generated for you, but you should try to create your own.
5. Click Install.
6. Once the installer is finished loading, you will be taken to the My Apps section of the dashboard. Here you’ll find links to login to your scalar installation.
7. Log into your new Scalar instance with the credentials you set during the install process.

Now that you installed the Scalar application, you can use it to create a Scalar Book.

1. Go to your Scalar site via the My Apps link or the Scalar URL you established during the setup process.
2. Log in to Scalar using the username and password you set up during the installation process.
3. Go to the top right corner and click, Dashboard.
4. Select the My Account tab and at the bottom of the page, type in a title for your book. This can be changed at a later time if needed.
5. Click Create.
6. You will now see your book in the "My books" list. From there you will be able to build your Scalar Book.