1. An Interoperable Framework for
Medieval Manuscript Presentation
Robert Sanderson
rsanderson@lanl.gov
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Benjamin Albritton
blalbrit@stanford.edu
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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2. Overview
• Background
• Silo to Interoperable Repository
• Motivation
• SharedCanvas:
• Model by Example
• Implementation and Demos
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3. 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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4. Current State: A World of Silos
Roman de la Rose Parker on the Web e-codices And so on…
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5. Silos: What You Can Do
• 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
Parker on the Web
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6. Silos: What You Can’t Do
• 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
Parker on the Web
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7. Current State: Silo Applications
Parker
on
the Web
Christine Roman
de de la
Pisan Rose
User
E-
DIAMM
codices
Online
Froissart
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8. 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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9. Designing Modular Repositories and Tools
3rd-Party Annotation
Image Image
Discovery Tool X?
Transcription
Tools Analysis Viewer
Repository
User Image Viewer Discovery
Interface
Metadata (Canonical)
Repository
Image Data (Canonical)
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10. Designing Modular Repositories and Tools
3rd-Party Annotation
Image Image
Discovery Tool X?
Transcription
Tools Analysis Viewer
Repository
User Image Viewer Discovery
Interface
Metadata (Canonical)
Repository
Image Data (Canonical)
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Parker Library, 9th of September 2011, Cambridge, England

11. Designing Modular Repositories and Tools
Image Image
Transcription Annotation Discovery Tool X?
Analysis Viewer
Image Viewer Discovery
Metadata (Canonical)
Image Data (Canonical)
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12. Infrastructure: Library and Application Interoperability
• Digital stacks
• Repository manifest
• Application programming interface
• Linked-data technologies (SharedCanvas data model)
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13. 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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14. 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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15. Naïve Approach: Transcribe Images Directly
But how to align multiple images, pages without images, fragments… ?!
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16. Naïve Approach: Multiple Representations
CCC 26 f. iiiR
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17. Naïve Approach: Multiple Representations
CCC 26 f. iiiR Fold A Open
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18. Naïve Approach: Multiple Representations
CCC 26 f. iiiR Fold A Open Fold A and B Open
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19. Naïve Approach: Multiple Representations
CCC 26 f. iiiR Fold A Open Fold A and B Open f. iiiV
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20. 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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21. 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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22. Open Annotation Model
• Annotation (a document)
• Body (the ‘comment’ of the annotation)
• Target (the resource the Body is ‘about’)
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23. OAC Annotations to Paint Images
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24. OAC Annotations to Paint Text
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25. Transcription: Morgan 804
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26. Transcription: Morgan 804
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27. Fragments: Cod Sang 1394
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28. Musical Manuscripts: Parker CCC 008
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29. Missing Pages: Parker CCC 286
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30. Rebinding: BNF f.fr. 113-116
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31. SharedCanvas: Data Model
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32. 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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33. 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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34. Thank You
Robert Sanderson
rsanderson@lanl.gov
azaroth42@gmail.com
@azaroth42
Benjamin Albritton
blalbrit@stanford.edu
@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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35. Repeated Zones: Frauenfeld Y 112
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36. List/Aggregations for Ordering
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