Tutorial 1: IIIF, Mirador, and Book History Content

Participants will come away with a better understanding of what IIIF content is, and how to maximize the research value of digitized collections with commonly used tools.

Section 1: What is IIIF?

For more information, see http://iiif.io

For John Unsworth's discussion of scholarly primitives, see http://people.virginia.edu/~jmu2m//Kings.5-00/primitives.html

Two APIs

  • Image API

  • Presentation API

Image API

Quick Exercise: go to https://www.learniiif.org/image-api/playground and manipulate the test image

For later: https://www.learniiif.org - developed by Jack Reed - is a wonderful tutorial that you can use for reference throughout these workshops.

Fun with cropping

From this tool, https://jbhoward-dublin.github.io/IIIF-imageManipulation/index.html?imageID=https://iiif.ucd.ie/loris/ivrla:10408, try cropping specific images.

Presentation API

To learn more, read an overview at https://www.learniiif.org/presentation-api/ or the full specification at https://iiif.io/api/presentation/2.1/

Example 1: Comparing copies of Sidereus nuncius from different repositories

Note: I'll demonstrate this live, and then we'll practice together in Section 2 below.

Step 1: Find desired content at multiple repository websites (some example below)

Step 2: Find IIIF icon for desired content (or manifest URL)

  • Some repositories will have the IIIF icon where you can either drag and drop the object into Mirador or copy the URL for the manifest. Others are a bit more difficult...

  • Tips & Tricks:

    • For materials at the Internet Archive, the IIIF manifest is constructed by:

      • finding the item ID

      • inserting it in the following URL structure: https://iiif.archivelab.org/iiif/{item ID}/manifest.json

      • for example:

        • https://archive.org/details/Sidereusnuncius00Gali/page/1/mode/2up becomes

        • https://iiif.archivelab.org/iiif/Sidereusnuncius00Gali/manifest.json

    • IIIF access for materials in CONTENTdm can be found at https://researchworks.oclc.org/iiif-explorer/

    • Material in Gallica, from the Bibliothèque national de France, is available via IIIF as well. To construct a manifest for these, use the following pattern:

      • https://gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/{ARK_Name}/manifest.json

        • so https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9907264.r=sidereus?rk=21459;2 becomes

        • https://gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/bpt6k9907264/manifest.json

Step 3: Bring together items for comparison in Mirador

  • I'll demonstrate this here, and we'll practice together in Section 2 below

Section 2: Finding Content

Finding interoperable material around the world

  1. OCLC IIIF Explorer (experimental): https://researchworks.oclc.org/iiif-explorer/

  2. Stanford Special Collections: https://bit.ly/stanford_iiif

  3. Biblissima (aggregates many European libraries): https://iiif.biblissima.fr/collections/

A browser plug-in for finding IIIF manifests: https://github.com/2SC1815J/open-in-iiif-viewer (h/t to Niqui O'Neill)

Quick Exercise: open http://projectmirador.org/demo/

  1. Find a book or manuscript that interests you from 1-7 above

  2. Find the IIIF badge, and drag it into Mirador, or the IIIF manifest URL and add it to the Mirador workspace

Section 3: The Basics of Mirador

More at http://projectmirador.org/

We'll do a brief tour together, and then explore on our own.

  1. Build a workspace view that compares two or more manuscripts

  2. If you want, take a screenshot or picture of your comparison and share on Twitter: #IIIF

Conclusion

IIIF is a community, with practitioners and experts worldwide, and aims to be very inclusive. Having difficulty getting started, looking for a little help with a specific task, or wanting to dive in much deeper? Please reach out:

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