sharedcanvas: dealing with uncertainty in digital facsimiles

SharedCanvas: Dealing with Uncertainty April 18 2013, The Hague, Netherlands

1

SharedCanvas: Dealing with Uncertainty in Digital Facsimiles

Robert Sanderson [email protected] Los Alamos National Laboratory @azaroth42 Benjamin Albritton [email protected] Stanford University @bla222

http://www.shared-canvas.org/

This research was primarily funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation


2

Overview

•  Rethinking Digital Facsimiles •  SharedCanvas Model •  Issues:

•  Multiplicity of Resources, Authors and States •  Uncertainty

•  Implementation (if time) •  Or ask me for a demo :)


3

Digital Facsimiles

Medieval manuscripts are increasingly being digitized:

•  Preservation •  Mitigate against physical disaster •  Reduce need to handle original

•  Ease of Access •  No need to travel to the manuscript •  Digital Exhibitions for the public

•  Good Will •  Open licenses for reuse

BNF f.fr 113, folio 1 recto


4

Digital Facsimiles

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded many such projects. Lots of aspects in common:

•  Held digitized images of medieval manuscripts •  Inability to share data between systems •  Inability to leverage existing infrastructure •  No sustainability model •  All reinvented the page-turning wheel

•  Only for their images •  Only with their features •  Consume only, no interaction •  Expensive to maintain


5

Project Status

First 2 years of Mellon funding:

•  Enlist partners •  Gather requirements •  Design data model •  Build proof of concept implementation (rendering) •  Engage with scholars and further communities

Current funding: •  More partners •  Slick front end (UI, UX) [July] •  Annotation management [November] •  Validation with scholars [ongoing]


6

Interoperability Partners

Universities: •  Stanford * •  Cambridge •  Oxford * •  Harvard •  Yale * •  Johns Hopkins * •  St Louis * •  Drew * •  Ghent •  Prince Edward Island *

* actively building tools

Libraries and Archives: •  British Library * •  BNF * •  National Library of Norway •  UK National Archives •  e-codices * •  Walters Art Museum

Other: •  Los Alamos National Lab * •  Meertens Institute * •  ArtStor


7

Rethinking Digital Facsimiles

Walters Ms. W.188, Book of Hours in Dutch f16r

•  Distributed

•  Linked Data and Resources •  Single Global Space

•  Interactive

•  Consumer as Producer

•  Interoperable •  Seamlessly Interconnected •  Open Source, Open Content


8

Rethinking Digital Facsimiles

Walters Ms. W.188, Book of Hours in Dutch f16r

•  Distributed

•  Linked Data and Resources •  Single Global Space

•  Interactive

•  Consumer as Producer

•  Interoperable •  Seamlessly Interconnected •  Open Source, Open Content

•  … 100% Buzzword Compliant


9

Baseline Requirements

Basic requirement assumptions:

•  Transcribe a Text •  … From an Image •  Display Image+Text •  … In the correct order •  Allow commentary

Use Cases revealed two issues:

•  Multiplicity •  Uncertainty

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


10

Model: Canvas Paradigm

•  A Canvas is an empty space in which to build up a display


11

Model: 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 [rectangular bounding box around a] page


12

Model: Annotations to Paint Canvas

•  The Canvas represents the empty page •  Annotation links Image with Canvas


13


•  Annotation links Text with Canvas


14



15

Naïve Assumption: Only One Image

Alignment of multiple

images of same object

•  Multi-spectral imaging

•  Multiple resolutions

•  Image tiling

•  Microfilm vs photograph

•  Multiple digitizations

Bonus naïvete:

•  Page has 1 orientation

•  Page has 1 text

Archimedes Palimpsest Multi-Spectral Images http://www.archimedespalimpsest.org/


16

Multiplicity Use Case: Multiple Images

A choice of Image to display


17

Uncertainty Use Case: Multiple Images

A choice of Image to display … with a default option allowed


18

Naïve Assumption: Image Exists

The page may not be digitized

•  Not "interesting" enough

•  Digitization destructive

•  Page no longer exists

•  Page only hypothetical

•  Lack of money, time, …

This page intentionally, but unfortunately,

left blank

Countless manuscripts, all around the world!


19

Uncertainty Use Case: Missing Pages


20

Naïve Assumption: Image Equals Page

Only part of page may be digitized

•  Only illuminations digitized

•  Fragments of pages

•  Multiple fragments per image

•  Information about non-digitized parts of page may still exist

Cod. Sang. 1394: 10.5076/e-codices-csg-1394


21

Multiplicity Use Case: Image Segments


22

Uncertainty Use Case: Fragments


23

Uncertainty Use Case: Texts


24

Naïve Assumption: Only Images of Text

Transcription of: •  Text •  Music

•  Musical Notation •  Performance

•  Diagrams •  Drama •  …

Parker CCC 008, f1r


25

Multiplicity Use Case: Text + Audio + …


26

Assumption: Only One Repository

Both Physical and Digital resources

held in different institutions, different repositories

•  Manuscript disbound and distributed

•  Digital and Physical repository often different

•  Metadata, Texts and Images can be held at different repositories

Cod Sang 730: 10.5706/e-codices-csg-0730a


27

Multiplicity Use Case: Multiple Repositories


28

Assumption: Only One Order

Pages in rebound manuscripts can change order, intentionally or unintentionally

New pages can be added, such as

flyleaves or new texts Uncertainty of ordering for disbound

leaves and fragments

Cod Sang 730: 10.5706/e-codices-csg-0730a


29

Multiplicity Use Case: Ordering


30

Multiplicity Use Case: Ordering


31

Uncertainty/Multiplicity Use Case: Rebinding


32

Bonus Naïve Assumption: Page is Rectangular

Images are rectangular, pages

are not

•  Fashionable heart shaped manuscripts

•  Fragments

•  Pages with foldouts

Remember: [rectangular bounding box around the page]

Facsimile of BNF Rothschild 2973 http://www.omifacsimiles.com/brochures/montchen.html


33

Commentary


34

Implementation: Canvas

Empty space is not hard to implement!


35

Implementation: Images


36



37

Implementation: Texts


38



39

Implementation: Audio


40

Implementation: Ordering


41

Implementation: Commentary


42

Summary

Model: •  Canvas paradigm provides a coherent solution to modeling the layout of medieval manuscripts •  Using primarily Open Annotation constructions

Solves Two Primary Challenges: •  Multiplicity of Resources, Authors and States •  Uncertainty of Reconstruction and Text

SharedCanvas brings digitized works to the desktop in a powerful, extensible and interoperable fashion


43

Thank You

Robert Sanderson [email protected] [email protected] @azaroth42 Web: http://www.shared-canvas.org/ Paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.2925 http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.3687 Slides: http://slidesha.re/Y26sFJ

This research was funded primarily by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

sharedcanvas: dealing with uncertainty in digital facsimiles

Education

canvas paradigma canvas

image display image

image existsthe page

page annotation links

canvas annotation links

orientation page

open content

digitization destructive