The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Julien A. Raemy (Digital Humanities Lab, University of Basel; DaSCH)
ORCID Google Scholar GitHub Mastodon

2023 IIIF Annual Conference
University of Naples, Italy | 8 June 2023

What was being sold

  1. Identifying the sociotechnical requirements for the establishment of community-driven initiatives
  2. Exploring how the implementation of IIIF has progressed within cultural heritage institutions and the potential of the framework in relation to scientific movements and principles
Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

What you will get

  1. Identifying the sociotechnical requirements for the establishment of community-driven initiatives → Sociotechnical assemblages
  2. Exploring how the implementation of IIIF has progressed within cultural heritage institutions and the potential of the framework in relation to scientific movements and principles → Situating IIIF
Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Context

Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage

Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability

PhD Thesis - https://phd.julsraemy.ch - supervised by:

  • Peter Fornaro (University of Basel)
  • Walter Leimgruber (University of Basel)
  • Robert Sanderson (Yale University)
Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

PhD Methodology (some of it)

  • Situating Linked Open Usable Data
    • Systematic Literature Review
    • Interviews
  • The Social Fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art
    • Analysing "primary" data (GitHub issues, call minutes)
    • Observations
    • Survey → Characterising the IIIF and Linked Art communities
Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Actor-Network Theory (ANT)

Actor-Network Theory aims at describing the very nature of societies. But to do so it does not limit itself to human individual actors, but extent the word actor - or actant - to non-human, non-individual entities. Latour 1996

  1. Non-Humans Have Agency → more open stories to be told
  2. Assembling the Collective → intermediaries/mediators, dependencies/controversies
  3. Translation Process → naming the associations
Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Sociotechnical assemblages

Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF
Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Survey

⌛ 24 March to 7 May 2023
🎯 Individuals involved in IIIF and Linked Art, but also people that have heard of the communities/specifications
8️⃣ Sections
📣 Mailing lists, Slack workspaces, Mastodon
📝 https://hal.science/hal-04162572

Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Who participated?

👥 79 participants from 20 countries
🎓 66 individuals (83.5%) with at least a Master's degree
⚒️ 52 individuals (65.8%) involved in IIIF or in both communities
⚧️ 50 Males (63.3%), 26 Females (32.9%)
🏛️ 33 GLAM, 26 Academia

Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Practices

  • Asking the IIIF community or other participants often goes hand in hand with using the IIIF Slack for help and discussion.
  • Consulting the IIIF website and referring to documentation, GitHub or specific tools are common practices.
  • Collaborating with experts within their organisation is often mentioned alongside seeking help from developers.
Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Enablers

✅ Inclusive and collaborative nature
✅ Interoperable APIs and compatible implementations
✅ Openness and friendliness
✅ Commitment to providing resources and addressing needs

Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Inhibitors

⛔ Time constraints for participants
⛔ Technical complexity and learning curve
⛔ High costs of in-person meetings
⛔ Lack of employer support and recognition of community work

Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Situating IIIF

Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

IIIF and Linked Art

  • Both communities prioritise usable linked data (LOUD) by emphasising open API adoption.
  • Common individuals play important roles in both initiatives.
  • They collaborate on standards, development and meetings, fostering a culture of community-led work and shared knowledge.
  • IIIF has expanded into various domains, while Linked Art remains focused on art-related objects for a smaller audience.
Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Takeaways

Pinning down the social fabrics of the wider IIIF community in relation to the IIIF Strategic Planning

Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Advocacy & Leadership

  • The survey did not adequately address this particular issue, highlighting the need for further investigations.

Technical Development

  • The success of the IIIF Community relies heavily on the maintenance of essential IIIF-compliant viewers such as Mirador and UV. With an increasing number of individuals depending on these software tools, their continuous upkeep becomes absolutely vital.
Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Community Development

  • The IIIF community is growing and evolving with new members joining regularly, while some long-standing members remain involved. However, newer individuals who joined in the past four to five years are not actively participating, particularly in TSGs.

Membership & Value

  • An area that demands significant attention is the aspect of costs associated with in-person meetings, along with the inadequate employer support in engaging with the IIIF community.
Julien A. Raemy | The LOUD Social Fabrics of IIIF

Image Credits

  • [Blick auf das Spalentor]. Basel, 1938. Ernst Brunner. SGV_12N_00115
  • [Katze auf einer Mauer]. Ort und Datum unbekannt. Ernst Brunner. SGV_12N_19553
  • [Ringtanz während der Masüras auf der Alp Sura]. Guarda, 1939. SGV_12N_08589
  • ["Steffenbach-Brücke" der Furka-Bahn: Bau und Erneuern der Brücke]. Kanton Wallis, 1950. Ernst Brunner. SGV_12N_36937

These images are part of the photographic archives of the Swiss Society for Folklore Studies. Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0

I am doing my PhD in Digital Humanities on Linked Open Usable Data, with a focus on its (potential) use in the Humanities and the perspectives it could bring in terms of semantics and interoperability. My research is grounded as part of the Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archives (PIA) research project, which aims to develop a Citizen Science platform around three photographic collections of the Swiss Society for Folklore Studies (SSFS).

Some of the methods that I leverage for my PhD thesis... Linked Art is an RDF application of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model using JSON-LD and the Getty vocabularies to describe cultural heritage objects and it's also a dedicated community.

"Through and beyond an ANT lens" - ANT is the foundation of the theoretical framework of my PhD thesis. A three step-process: Recognising that non-Humans have agency: this principle allowed for more open stories to be told Assembling the Collective: the collective can be degined as an expansion of nature and society. To assemble this, we need to unfold the Differing Cosmos of Actors, for example by mapping what Latour called "dependencies" and finding out the "controversies" in a given network full of intermediaries and mediators. Mediators are those that generate traceable associations. Translation process: naming those associations. A Relation or association in ANT does not transport causality but induces two mediators into coexisting

"Summarising formal associations. Assemblages are relational. "

79 participants from 20 countries — 23 :us:, 12 :switzerland:, 9 :gb:, 7 :fr:, 6 :de:, 3 :belgium:/:ireland:, 2 :brazil:/:canada:/:mexico: Gender identification: 50 Males (63.3%), 26 Females (32.9%), 3 Prefer not to say (3.8%)

1) Belonging to a given commnity - before 2011 2) People that have been active prior to 2021 tend to be more active

Participants frequently uses a combination of tools, such as image viewers (Mirador, UV), validators, documentation resources, and community platforms (Slack, GitHub). The IIIF specifications website, IIIF Awesome, and various training materials were also mentioned as valuable resources. The range of tools and services mentioned reflects the diverse needs and interests of the IIIF community. Also it marks all the dependecies.

- The IIIF community's success stems from its inclusive and collaborative nature, the availability of interoperable APIs and compatible implementations, its openness and friendliness, and its commitment to providing resources and addressing specific needs. - participants praised the IIIF community for its welcoming and generous attitude, successful implementation of the standard, and effective management structure.

Time constraints emerged as the primary barrier, with some participants (11) expressing a lack of time to engage more actively. The technical nature of IIIF was also mentioned as a barrier, with some individuals finding it challenging to grasp the terminology and complexities quickly. Limited technical knowledge and the steep learning curve were cited as additional obstacles to entry (6). Some participants highlighted the importance of in-person meetings for community building and specification development but noted the high costs associated with organising and attending such events (2). Lack of support from employers beyond a certain point and the perception of community work as separate from job responsibilities were mentioned as barriers to deeper involvement (3). Suggestions for improvement included better communication, emphasis on accessibility, and simpler implementation methods. - Multiple dependencies

Based on the responses from 52 participants, it is evident that IIIF is recognised as a valuable tool in various contexts. A majority of participants (33) agree or strongly agree that IIIF is essential to Open Science, helps with Citizen Science initiatives (39), and contributes to the findability (45), accessibility (37), and reusability (47) aspects of the FAIR principles. While the number of participants is significant, further exploration is needed to fully understand the extent of IIIF’s alignment with the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance

- Both communities prioritise usability and the creation of usable linked data (or Linked Open Usable Data), with a shared emphasis on the adoption of APIs - There is recognition of the common involvement of individuals who play a significant role in both initiatives. - They share a collaborative approach to standards, development, and meetings, fostering a culture of community-led work and shared knowledge. - IIIF has expanded beyond cultural heritage, branching out into other areas due to its generic and applicable technology. In contrast, Linked Art remains primarily focused on art-related objects, catering to a smaller audience.

Advocacy and Leadership: The interviews conducted within the launch of the LUX platform have yielded valuable insights that could potentially serve as a model or framework for similar contexts, despite not being directly related to IIIF.