2 The object of Inquiry
The Broad and Narrow Way
2.1 Learning Objective
- Annotate a IIIF Resource in order to understand that they can comprise of images and text.
- Evaluate the concept of interoperability in order to understand what IIIF is.
IIIF Manifest, Annotation
2.2 Summary
It’s tricky to understand IIIF is until you have a go. This step will allow you to develop and reflect on what IIIF might mean.
2.3 What Does IIIF Stand For?
First thing’s first. IIIF is pronounced “tripple-eye-eff”.
The next thing you need to know is what the IIIF ‘icon’/logo looks like:
IIIF is an acronym for the International Image Interoperability Framework, but that’s probably the least important thing to know.
To emphasise this, I often write it ‘IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework)’ rather than ‘International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)’.
Let’s chat about what really IIIF is:
- Community - one of the foremost things. IIIF is a huge global community of people and institutions working openly together.
- High quality digital objects of inquiry. One of the biggest benefits of digitisation is that it unlocks cultural heritage from museums and libraries.
- API’s (Application Programming Interfaces) … Oh no, not another acronym! Dont panic, just think of these as ‘standards’ - ways for computers to talk to each other.
- Tools and methods that enable inquiry. IIIF is a completely different way to experience the digital landscape that begins to embody it.
2.4 The Broad and Narrow IIIF Way
IIIF isn’t very tangible is it?
No. But everyone perceives things differently because we all see and experience different small parts of it. (Popple, 2009, Encyclopaedia of Perception) So something complex like IIIF might be best understood through collective reflection on what we experience.
‘The Broad and the Narrow Way’ is a Victorian poster that accompanied a lecture that taught a somewhat crude world view that human nature tended to be bad, and as a result the path to Heaven in the picture is so difficult and narrow that there are few people are travelling it.
2.5 Exercise
We’re going to use a real-time collaborative viewing tool called Liiive.
Try accessing this Liiive room: - The Broad and Narrow Way
Spend a few minutes just having a really good look at what’s in the image and thinking about the various things its comprised of.
Can you find?: - A place on the path to damnation that isn’t necisarily a bad place? - The names of one of the people who had a role in creating it? - A steam train? - A lion? - A route through which you might change paths?
What else can you see?
In the top-right, you’ll see different shapes of annotation tools: - Try adding different types of annotation to the things you’ve spotted - a “rectangle”/“polygon”, an “eliptical”, or a “path”, and include a comment with what you’ve noticed. - You might see someone else has beaten you too it - have a go at replying to an annotation that someone else has added.
In the top left you will find an option to export annotations. You can save them as an Annotation List or as a whole new ‘Manifest’. If you want, you can download these and save them in your Workbench. Or you can create a visual record of one of your annotations by taking a sscreenshot and uploading that image to your Workbench.
What are you looking at, is it image/text/data/code? - If you want, you could add this resource to your journal using the following URL: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk//iiif/PR-BROADSIDES-AA-00008-00023.json
How do you feel about code?