Applying Effective Data Modelling Approaches for the Creation of a Participatory Archive Platform

The development of a participatory archive platform such as the one being carried out for the PIA research project requires a flexible infrastructure allowing genuine data curation and a robust underlying data model. A strong assumption to achieve this is to primarily leverage Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) standards, such as IIIF, Linked Art or the Web Annotation Data Model, which help in the dissemination and reuse of cultural heritage resources as well as contributing that digital humanities initiatives become more sustainable

Characterising the IIIF and Linked Art communities: survey report

This report presents the findings and analysis of a survey conducted between 24 March and 7 May 2023, exploring the socio-technical characteristics of two prevalent community-driven initiatives in Digital Humanities, namely the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) and Linked Art. With 79 participants, the survey investigates the practices and activities of individuals involved in these initiatives, which focus on developing and maintaining shared application programming interfaces (APIs) for enhanced interoperability and access to cultural heritage resources. It also seeks to situate these initiatives within a broader discourse of scholarly movements and principles. Additionally, it serves as a preliminary means of exploring the prospective impact of Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) and its underlying design principles in the cultural heritage field

The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF): raising awareness of the user benefits for scholarly editions

The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), an initiative born in 2011, defines a set of common application programming interfaces (APIs) to retrieve, display, manipulate, compare, and annotate digitised and born-digital images. Upon implementation, these technical specifications have offered institutions and end users alike new possibilities. In Switzerland, only a handful of organizations and projects have collaborated with the IIIF community. For instance, e-codices, the Virtual Manuscript Library, implemented in December 2014 the two core IIIF APIs (Image API and Presentation API). Since then, no other Swiss collection has fully complied with the IIIF specifications to make true interoperability possible. The NIE-INE project, overseen by the University of Basel and funded by Swissuniversities, has aimed to build a national platform for scientific editions. There is a shared rationale between NIE-INE and IIIF who both advocate flexible and consistent technical architecture as well as providing high-quality user experience (UX) in their content delivery. Remote and in-person usability tests were conducted on the Universal Viewer (UV) and Mirador, two IIIF-compliant image viewers deployed by many IIIF implementers, in order to assess their satisfaction and efficiency as well as their perceived usability. NIE-INE was the target audience of the usability testing with a view to evaluating how scholarly research and the wider scientific community could benefit from leveraging IIIF-compliant technology. To conclude this bachelor’s thesis, a set of recommendations, based on the usability testing results and throughout this assignment, was drawn for the developing teams of both viewers, the IIIF community and the NIE-INE team members

Implementation of the IIIF Presentation API 3.0 based on Software Support: Use Case of an Incremental IIIF Deployment within a Citizen Science Project

As part of the Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archives (PIA) research project, we have been implementing Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) standards including the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) specifications to disseminate digital objects, their related metadata and streamline our processes. We have taken an incremental approach to IIIF deployment, first by installing the Simple Image Presentation Interface (SIPI), a IIIF Image API 3.0 server, followed by conceiving a workflow based on cookbook recipes created and vetted by the IIIF community for the generation of resources compatible with the IIIF Presentation API 3.0, one of the key components of our architecture. This workflow resulted in a monitoring exercise of this community-driven effort, principally to align the requirements of PIA and the IIIF Presentation API support of software clients.Comment: Corrected typos. 12 pages, 5 figures. This is the preprint version of a conference paper that was accepted at EuroMed2022, the International Conference on Digital Heritage, that took place in Limassol, Cyprus between the 7th November and the 11th November 2022. The conference proceedings are due to be published by Springer Nature Publisher in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) serie

Analysis of the Usability of Automatically Enriched Cultural Heritage Data

This chapter presents the potential of interoperability and standardised data publication for cultural heritage resources, with a focus on community-driven approaches and web standards for usability. The Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) design principles, which rely on JSON-LD as lingua franca, serve as the foundation. We begin by exploring the significant advances made by the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) in promoting interoperability for image-based resources. The principles and practices of IIIF have paved the way for Linked Art, which expands the use of linked data by demonstrating how it can easily facilitate the integration and sharing of semantic cultural heritage data across portals and institutions. To provide a practical demonstration of the concepts discussed, the chapter highlights the implementation of LUX, the Yale Collections Discovery platform. LUX serves as a compelling case study for the use of linked data at scale, demonstrating the real-world application of automated enrichment in the cultural heritage domain. Rooted in empirical study, the analysis presented in this chapter delves into the broader context of community practices and semantic interoperability. By examining the collaborative efforts and integration of diverse cultural heritage resources, the research sheds light on the potential benefits and challenges associated with LOUD.Comment: This is the preprint version of a chapter submitted to be included in the book "Decoding Cultural Heritage: a critical dissection and taxonomy of human creativity through digital tools", to be published by Springer Nature. The chapter is currently undergoing peer review for potential inclusion in the boo

Améliorer la valorisation des données du patrimoine culturel grâce au Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD)

Français La réutilisabilité, et a fortiori la valorisation, des données ouvertes liées (LOD - Linked Open Data ) dans les humanités numériques peut grandement être améliorée en appliquant les principes de conception du Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) et des standards qui en sont conformes que sont l'API Présentation 3.0 du « cadre international d'interopérabilité des images » (IIIF - International Image Interoperability Framework ), le W3C Web Annotation Data Model (WADM) ainsi que Linked Art, un profil RDF de CIDOC-CRM qui recourt à JSON-LD et aux vocabulaires Getty. Les diverses organisations qui ont mis à profit ces spécifications, autant des solutions techniques que sociales, ont largement contribué à la valorisation des données du patrimoine cutlurel et ont ouvert de nouvelles possibilités aux utilisateurs, en particulier en répondant aussi bien aux besoins de la communauté scientifique qu'à ceux des développeurs de logiciels. A titre d'exemple, le projet de recherche « Pratiques de connaissance participatives dans les archives d'images analogiques et numériques » (PIA) est présenté. Celui-ci souhaite tirer parti de IIIF, WADM et Linked Art au sein du modèle de données dans le cadre d'une initiative de science citoyenne axée sur trois collections des archives photographiques de la société suisse des traditions populaires (SSTP). Grâce à ce socle technologique mettant en pratique le LOUD, PIA permettra ainsi une utilisation participative des archives offrant des possibilités aux différents publics cibles de contextualiser, relier, contraster et annoter les images et leurs métadonnées associées. English The re-usability, and thus the valorisation, of Linked Open Data (LOD) in the Digital Humanities can be greatly improved by applying the Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) design principles and the adhering standards which are the Presentation API 3.0 of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), the W3C Web Annotation Data Model (WADM) and Linked Art, an RDF application profile based on CIDOC-CRM that uses JSON-LD and Getty vocabularies. The various organisations that have taken advantage of these specifications, both technical and social solutions, have greatly contributed to making the most of cultural heritage data and have opened up new possibilities for end users, in particular by meeting the needs of both the scientific community and software developers. As an example, the research project titled "Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archives" (PIA) is highlighted. This project aims to leverage IIIF, WADM and Linked Art as part of its data model in the context of a Citizen Science initiative focusing on three photographic collections of the Swiss Society for Folklore Studies (SSFS). Thanks to this technological foundation putting LOUD into practice, PIA will enable a more participatory use of the archive, offering possibilities for different target audiences to contextualise, link, contrast and annotate images and their associated metadata

Suggested measures for deploying IIIF in Swiss cultural heritage institutions

This white paper has been written as part of the Towards IIIF-Compliance Knowledge in Switzerland (TICKS) project, conducted at the Haute école de gestion de Genève (HEG-GE) between March 2018 and February 2019, which originated on the acknowledgements that the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) ecosystem was not enough known and deployed in the cultural heritage field in Switzerland. The white paper starts with the main principles of IIIF, notably indicating the different technical specifications, or application programming interfaces (APIs), produced by the IIIF community as well as the platforms of Swiss projects or institutions that have deployed IIIF. Going from general to specific, a generic IIIF step-by-step graph and six more precise use cases reflecting different needs of the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) sector giving implementation measures have been produced. Finally, the document contains recommendations for further action as well as some information on the possible reuse of this document for other regions of the world or for other scientific fields

Élaboration d'un processus pour les images 3D reposant sur IIIF

Dans le cadre de ce poster, nous soulevons des interrogations et présentons un certain nombre de défis et d'opportunités liés à la conception d'un processus permettant de gérer les images en trois dimensions (3D), de la préservation à long terme à leur dissémination, selon la perspective du DaSCH, une infrastructure nationale suisse pour les données de la recherche en sciences humaines. Pour établir ce processus, nous avons conçus des lignes directrices tenant particulièrement en compte le travail d'interopérabilité effectué par la communauté IIIF sur la 3D

Enabling Participatory Data Perspectives for Image Archives through a Linked Art Workflow

A collaboration between the Linked Art II project and Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archive s (PIA) has led to a reconfigurable Python-based workflow to transform cultural heritage data, initially photographic collections, into Linked Open Usable Data, as a foundation for varied participatory interfaces supporting scholarship and beyond