Digital Tools for Manuscript Study

Facilitating knowledge creationPresented by: Rachel Di Cresce, Project Librarian, University of Toronto Libraries

Four Aspects of our Project1. Users

a. Centre for Medieval Studies scholarsb. Broader community

2. Contenta. Digital images

3. Scholarly outputa. Codicology b. Pedagogyc. Palaeography

4. Technical Stacka. Data formatb. Tools

Users (UX-driven process)

Who

● Medievalists (obviously) ● Rely heavily on digital images for research and teaching● Have varying specialities● Varying levels of technical competency

Needs assessment

● Interviews with scholars● User stories● Contextual design

ResultsNeed for the following:

● Robust image viewing● Annotation capabilities● Collation tools● Data portability● Cross-institutional resource sharing and accessibility● Standardized, easy to use tools ● Pedagogical tools and materials

Four Part SolutionData portability / institutional resource sharing

● International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)

Robust image viewing and annotations

● Mirador (Web Annotation specification)

Easy to use tools / pedagogical

● Omeka

Collation tool

● Viscoll

International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)

“Interoperable technology and community framework for image delivery”

http://iiif.io

Mirador

Omeka

Current stage

1) Create a mirador plugin within Mirador2) Ensure non IIIF-compliant content can make use of Mirador3) IIIF import function - manifest, nested collections, reference URL4) Allow annotation creation in Mirador to create Omeka item

Next phase: Viscoll

https://github.com/leoba/VisColl

● Collation tool● Two part system at moment

○ Collation ○ Visualization

● Make a standalone robust app● Integration with IIIF?

Next phase: UTL integrationUTL collections

● Provide IIIF endpoints for digital collections● Fisher Rare Book Library

Persistence layer

● Image and annotation store● API which pushes and pulls data into repository and IIIF ecosystem

ReferencesUniversity of Toronto Libraries (2016). Digital Tools for Manuscript Study https://digitaltoolsmss.library.utoronto.ca

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media,George Mason University (2016). Omeka https://omeka.org

Project Mirador 2.1 (2016). http://projectmirador.org

International Image Interoperability Framework. http://iiif.io

Dot Porter. Viscoll https://github.com/leoba/VisColl

Questions?