Parker Keio 2011: Interoperable Manuscript Framework

An Interoperable Framework for Digital MSS Parker Library, 9th of September 2011, Cambridge, England

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An Interoperable Framework for Medieval Manuscript Presentation

Robert Sanderson [email protected] Los Alamos National Laboratory

Benjamin Albritton [email protected] Stanford University

http://lib.stanford.edu/dmm http://www.shared-canvas.org/

This research is funded, in part, by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation


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Overview

•  Background

•  Silo to Interoperable Repository

•  Motivation

•  SharedCanvas: •  Model by Example •  Implementation and Demos


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Digital Manuscript Interoperability for Tools and Repositories

Overview:

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded numerous manuscript digitization projects over several decades

All had in common: •  Inability to share data across silos to satisfy scholarly use •  Inability to leverage existing infrastructure •  No sustainability model for data or access

Goal: •  Interoperability between repositories and tools


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Current State: A World of Silos

Roman de la Rose Parker on the Web e-codices And so on…


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Silos: What You Can Do

Parker on the Web

•  Access data from a single repository

•  Use the tools that repository supports

•  See images in the way that repository allows

•  See curated descriptions of the material

•  See approved additional material

•  Search within a single repository

•  Browse within a single repository


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Silos: What You Can’t Do

Parker on the Web

•  Access data from any other repositories|

•  Use any other tools

•  See images any other way

•  Contribute or correct descriptions

•  Add additional material or comments

•  Search across repositories


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Current State: Silo Applications

User

Parker on

the Web Roman de la Rose

E-codices

Online Froissart

DIAMM

Christine de

Pisan


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Defining Interoperability

•  Break down silos •  Separate data from applications •  Share data models and

programming interfaces •  Enable interactions at the tool and

repository level


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Designing Modular Repositories and Tools

Image Data (Canonical)

Image Viewer

Discovery

Annotation

Metadata (Canonical)

Transcription

Image Viewer

Image Analysis Discovery Tool X?

Repository

Repository User

Interface

3rd-Party Tools


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Image Viewer

Discovery

Annotation


Transcription

Image Viewer


Repository

Repository User

Interface

3rd-Party Tools


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Image Viewer

Discovery

Annotation


Transcription

Image Viewer



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Infrastructure: Library and Application Interoperability

•  Digital “stacks” •  Repository manifest •  Application programming interface •  Linked-data technologies (SharedCanvas data model)


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Motivating Questions

Many implicit assumptions: •  What is a Manuscript? •  What is its relation to a facsimile? •  What is the relation of a transcription

of a facsimile to the original object?

What does this mean for digital tools?

•  How do we rethink digital facsimiles in a shared, distributed, global space?

•  How do we enable collaboration and encourage engagement?

Ms MurF: 10.5076/e-codices-kba-0003


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Vision

Digital surrogates enable remote research •  Improve preservation of original,

and digital preservation of surrogate •  Promotes collaboration via shared

annotations and descriptions

A collaborative future: •  Rich landscape of interconnected

repositories, with seamless user interfaces

•  Improve efficiency and usability through open, shared development

BNF f.fr 113, folio 1 recto


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Naïve Approach: Transcribe Images Directly

But how to align multiple images, pages without images, fragments… ?!


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Naïve Approach: Multiple Representations

CCC 26 f. iiiR


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CCC 26 f. iiiR Fold A Open



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CCC 26 f. iiiR Fold A Open Fold A and B Open



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CCC 26 f. iiiR Fold A Open Fold A and B Open f. iiiV



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Canvas Paradigm

•  A Canvas is an empty space in which to build up a display •  A SharedCanvas's top left and bottom right corners correspond to the equivalent corners of a folio


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Technology: Open Annotation

•  http://www.openannotation.org/

•  Focus on interoperable sharing of annotations •  Web-centric and open, not locked down silos

•  Annotation used for: •  Scholarly commentary about the manuscript •  Painting resources on the SharedCanvas

•  Hardest part: Define what an Annotation is! •  "Aboutness" is key to distinguish from general metadata

A document that describes how one resource is about one or more other resources, or part thereof.


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Open Annotation Model

•  Annotation (a document) •  Body (the ‘comment’ of the annotation) •  Target (the resource the Body is ‘about’)


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OAC Annotations to Paint Images


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OAC Annotations to Paint Text


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Transcription: Morgan 804


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Transcription: Morgan 804


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Fragments: Cod Sang 1394


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Musical Manuscripts: Parker CCC 008


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Missing Pages: Parker CCC 286


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Rebinding: BNF f.fr. 113-116


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SharedCanvas: Data Model


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Implementations

Demos!

•  Morgan 804 •  http://www.shared-canvas.org/impl/demo1/

•  Worlde's Blisce •  http://www.shared-canvas.org/impl/demo2/

•  Selected Walters Museum Manuscripts •  http://www.shared-canvas.org/impl/demo4/

•  T-PEN: Transcription in an interoperable environment •  http://t-pen.org/TPEN


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Summary

Model: Canvas paradigm provides a coherent solution to modeling the layout of medieval manuscripts

•  Annotations, and Collaboration, at the heart of the model

Implementation: •  Distribution across repositories for images, text, commentary •  Consistent methods to access content from many repositories •  Encourages tool development by experts in the field

The SharedCanvas model implemented by distributed repositories brings the humanist's primary research objects to their desktop in a powerful, extensible and interoperable fashion


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Thank You

Robert Sanderson [email protected] [email protected] @azaroth42

Benjamin Albritton [email protected] @bla222

Web: http://lib.stanford.edu/dmm http://www.shared-canvas.org/ Paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.2925 Slides: http://slidesha.re/

Acknowledgements DMSTech Group: http://dmstech.group.stanford.edu/ Open Annotation Collaboration: http://www.openannotation.org/


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Repeated Zones: Frauenfeld Y 112


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List/Aggregations for Ordering