British Library Seminar: Shared Canvas (September 2011)

Introduction to SharedCanvas:
Linked Data for Facsimile Display and Annotation

Robert Sanderson
rsanderson@lanl.gov
Los Alamos National Laboratory

Benjamin Albritton
blalbrit@stanford.edu
Stanford University

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

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

Introduction to SharedCanvas 1
British Library, 7th of September 2011, London, England

Overview

•  Quick Motivation
•  Technology Background:
•  RDF and Linked Data
•  Object Reuse and Exchange (OAI-ORE)
•  Open Annotation (OAC)

•  SharedCanvas:
•  Requirements
•  Model by Example
•  Making it Real:
•  DMS Tech Group
•  Implementations and Demos


Motivation

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


Requirements

To Realize this Future:
•  Need a standardized input format to digital facsimile
presentation systems, to allow interoperability between and
across repositories

Architectural Requirements:
•  Ability to model primarily textual items, where the individual
physical instance is an important cultural object
•  Alignment of multiple Images, Texts, Commentary and other
Content resources per folio
•  The Content, and Services that act upon it, are distributed
between institutions, and around the web


Naïve Approach: Transcribe Images Directly

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


Canvas Paradigm

A Canvas is an empty space in which to build up a display
•  HTML5, SVG, PDF, … even Powerpoint!
•  Can "paint" many different resources, including text, images and
audio, on to a Canvas

We can use a Canvas to represent a folio of a manuscript.

Distributed nature is fundamental in the requirements
•  Painting resources, commentary and collaboration
•  Idea: Use Annotations to do all of those
•  Annotations can target the Canvas instead of individual Images


Annotations to Paint Text/Image to Canvas


Technology: RDF and Linked Data

Current technology of choice: XML
•  XML files can't be built in a distributed, collaborative way.
•  XML's tree structure insufficient

RDF (Resource Description Framework) is a Graph model
•  W3C Standard: http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-primer/
•  A single, global graph of interconnected resources
•  More Powerful … like the web
•  More Complex … like the web

Linked Data is RDF with some constraints
•  More web friendly
•  Much support from Industry, Academia and Government sectors
•  "Semantic Web" done right!



Primitives:
•  Resource Something of Interest
•  Predicate Typed, directed Relationship
•  Literal Data (string, integer, etc)
•  Triple ( Resource, Predicate, Literal/Resource )

Resource:
•  Can be digital, physical or conceptual
•  eg: An image file, an elephant, or "redness"

Predicate:
•  Can be Resource to Resource (relationship)
•  X isPartOf Y
•  Or Resource to Literal (property)
•  X title "Froissart's Chronicles"


Technology: RDF Skittles

Circle = Resource, Arrow = Predicate, Oval = Literal, Rectangle = Class



Namespaces:
•  Interoperability comes from reusing Ontologies (namespaces) of
predicates and resources
•  eg Dublin Core, Open Annotation, SharedCanvas…

Can define (multiple) Classes for resources
•  Person, Image, Annotation, Canvas, …
•  Class is just another resource referenced with rdf:type predicate
•  X rdf:type Class

All Resources and Predicates are identified by URIs
•  Linked Data recommends resolvable HTTP URIs

All statements are globally true, not just within the current document



Serializations:
•  XML ugly (though recommended as default)
•  Turtle much easier to read, but needs special parser
•  JSON many competing formats, no standard yet

XML:
<dms:TranscriptionAnnotation rdf:about="urn:uuid:e7db526a…">!
<oac:hasBody rdf:resource="http://anno.lanl.gov/m804/Line-f1r-37"/>!
<oac:hasTarget !
rdf:resource="http://anno.lanl.gov/m804/View-f1r#xywh=696,1319,565,44"/>!
</dms:TranscriptionAnnotation>!

Turtle:
<urn:uuid:e7db526a…> a dms:TranscriptionAnnotation;!
! oac:hasBody ex:Line-f1r-37;!
! oac:hasTarget ex:View-f1r#xywh=696,1319,565,44 .!


ORE: Aggregations of Web Resources

http://www.openarchives.org/ore/

Aggregation: An abstract collection of resources, with an identity
Resource Map: A document that describes the Aggregation in RDF

AR-1 and AR-2 can be any web resource


ORE: Aggregations
Aggregations may aggregate other Aggregations,
but each must have its own Resource Map


ORE: Aggregations
Aggregations do not have a default order for the Aggregated Resources
Order can be imposed by RDF Lists


List/Aggregations

•  How do those 'next' links
actually work using an
rdf:List?

•  Verbose in full, but
serializations have shortcuts
to make this less ugly!


Technology: Open Annotation

•  http://www.openannotation.org/

•  Focus on interoperable sharing of annotations
•  Web-centric and open, not locked down silos
•  Create, consume and interact in different environments
•  Build from a simple model for simple cases,
to more detailed for complex scholarly annotation requirements

•  Status: Beta, with 9 ongoing funded experiments to inform 1.0

•  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.


Basic Model

The basic model has three resources:
•  Annotation (an RDF document)
•  Default: RDF/XML but others via Content Negotiation
•  Body (the ‘comment’ of the annotation)
•  Target (the resource the Body is ‘about’)


Basic Model Example


Additional Relationships and Properties

Any of the resources can have additional information attached,
such as creator, date of creation, title, etc.


Additional Properties Example


Annotation Types

There can be further types of Annotation, such as a Reply.
Example: Replies are Annotations on Annotations.


Annotation Types Example


Inline Information

It is important to be able to have content contained within the
Annotation document for Client Autonomy:

•  Clients may be unable to mint new URIs for every resource
•  Clients may wish to transmit only a single document
•  Third parties can generate new URIs if the client does not

The W3C has a Content in RDF specification:
•  http://www.w3.org/TR/Content-in-RDF10/


Inline Information: Body

•  We introduce a resource identified by a non resolvable URI, such
as a UUID URN, as the Body.
•  We then embed the data within the Annotation document using
the 'chars' property from the Content in RDF ontology.


Inline Body Example


Multiple Targets

There are many use cases for multiple targets for an Annotation:
•  Comparison of two or more resources
•  Making a statement that applies to all of the resources
•  Making a statement about multiple parts of a resource

The OAC Data Model allows for multiple targets by simply having
more than one hasTarget relationship.


Multiple Targets Example


Segments of Resources

Most annotations are about part of a resource

Different segments for different media types:

•  Text: paragraph, arbitrary span of words
•  Image: rectangular or arbitrary shaped area
•  Audio: start and end time points, track name/number
•  Video: area and time points
•  Other: slice of a data set, volume in a 3d object, …


Segments of Resources

Web Architecture Segmentation:

•  A URI with a Fragment identifies part of the resource
•  Media-specific fragment identifiers; eg XPointer for XML
•  W3C Media Fragments URI specification for simple
segments of media: http://www.w3.org/TR/media-frags/

We introduce a method of constraining resources:

•  Introduce an approach for arbitrarily complex segments that
cannot be expressed using Fragments
•  Can be applied to Body or Target resource


Segments of Resources: Fragment URIs

URI Fragments are a syntax for creating subsidiary URIs that
identify part of the main resource

The syntax is defined per media type
•  X/HTML: The named anchor or identified element
•  http://www.example.net/foo.html#namedSection

•  XML: An XPointer to the element(s)
•  http://www.example.net/foo.xml#xpointer(/a/b/c)

•  PDF: Many options, most relevant two operations:
•  http://www.example.net/foo.pdf#page=2&viewrect=20,80,50,60

•  Plain Text: Either by character position or line position:
•  http://www.example.net/foo.txt#char=0,10
•  http://www.example.net/foo.txt#line=1,5


• :

Segments of Resources: Media Fragments

Media Fragments allow anyone to create URIs that identify part of
an image, audio or video resource.

The most common case is for rectangular areas of images:
•  http://www.example.org/image.jpg#xywh=50,100,640,480

Link to the full resource as well, for all Fragment URIs


Media Fragments Example


Complex Constraints
Fragment URIs are not always possible
•  Introduce a Constraint that describes the segment of interest
•  And a ConstrainedTarget that identifies the segment of interest
•  Constraints are entire resources, so can be more expressive
•  Constraints may also describe 'contextual' information


Constraint Example


RDF Constraints

Instead of having the information in an external document, it could be
within the RDF of the Annotation document.

•  We can attach information
to the Constraint node

•  Or use the Content in RDF
specification to include what
would have been in the
external document


RDF Constraint Example


Constrained Body

The Body may also be constrained in the same way as Targets


Annotation Protocols

Unlike previous systems, Open
Annotation does not mandate a
protocol.

No reliance on a client/server
combination gives the client
autonomy.

Instead we promote a publish/
subscribe methodology, where
annotations may be stored and
consumed from anywhere.

Protocol: publish, subscribe, consume linked


3

Publish/Subscribe Method

publish subscribe consume


4




4

Other Open Annotation Topics

Some other aspects of Open Annotation:

•  Dealing with resources that change over time
•  http://arxiv.org/abs/1003.2643
•  http://www.slideshare.net/azaroth42/
making-web-annotations-persistent-over-time

•  Precedence when using multiple Constraints:
•  http://www.openannotation.org/spec/beta/precedence.html

•  Machine Annotations, when the body is structured data intended
for machine consumption
•  In the beta spec directly:
http://www.openannotation.org/spec/beta/#DM_Structured


BREAK

(Funny?) (Medieval) Picture of a Cat from the Web!
http://romantoes.blogspot.com/2009/05/medievalist-cat-came-back.html


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


Motivation

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


Baseline Requirements

To Realize this Future:
•  Need a standardized input format to digital facsimile
presentation systems, to allow interoperability between and
across repositories

Architectural Requirements:
•  Ability to model primarily textual items, where the individual
physical instance is an important cultural object
•  Alignment of multiple Images, Texts, Commentary and other
Content resources per folio
•  The Content, and Services that act upon it, are distributed
between institutions, and around the web


Domain Requirements

Working at physical item level
provides unique challenges!

1. Only parts of pages may be
digitized

•  Only illuminations digitized
•  Fragments of pages
•  Multiple fragments per
image

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


Domain Requirements

2. Page may not be digitized at
all

•  Not "interesting" enough This page intentionally,
•  Digitization destructive but unfortunately,
left blank
•  Page no longer exists
•  Page only hypothetical


Domain Requirements

3. Non-rectangular pages

•  Fashionable heart shaped
manuscripts
•  Fragments
•  Pages with foldouts

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


Domain Requirements

4. Alignment of multiple
images of same object

•  Multi-spectral imaging
•  Multiple resolutions
•  Image tiling
•  Microfilm vs photograph
•  Multiple digitizations

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


Domain Requirements

5. Multiple page orders over time
•  Rebinding
•  Scholarly disagreement on
reconstruction

6. Different pages of the manuscript
held by different institutions

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


Domain Requirements

7. Transcription of:
•  Text
•  Music
•  Musical Notation
•  Performance
•  Diagrams
Reusing existing resources, such
as TEI, where possible

8. Transcriptions both created and
stored in a distributed way, with
competing versions

Parker CCC 008, f1r


Naïve Approach: Transcribe Images Directly

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


Canvas Paradigm

A Canvas is an empty space in which to build up a display
•  HTML5, SVG, PDF, … even Powerpoint!
•  Can "paint" many different resources, including text, images and
audio, on to a Canvas

We can use a Canvas to represent a folio of a manuscript.

Distributed nature is fundamental in the requirements
•  Painting resources, commentary and collaboration
•  Idea: Use Annotations to do all of those
•  Annotations can target the Canvas instead of individual Images


Canvas to Page Relationship

The Canvas's top left and bottom right corners correspond to the
corners of a rectangular box around the folio


OAC Annotations to Paint Images

We can paint the canvas by annotating it with resources.


OAC Annotations to Paint Text


Transcription: Morgan 804


Fragments: Cod Sang 1394


Musical Manuscripts: Parker CCC 008


Missing Pages: Parker CCC 286


Repeated Zones: Frauenfeld Y 112


List/Aggregations for Ordering


Rebinding: BNF f.fr. 113-116


Discovery: Aggregations

Those Annotations could be anywhere on the web!
•  Need to be able to discover them!

Introduce a discovery layer of sets of Annotations.
•  Currently by type of Annotation, and then by Folio
eg: All ImageAnnotations, All text annotations for f1r
•  Other divisions possible, just for discovery!

Need a meta discovery layer to find the lists!
•  Introduce a "Manifest" resource:
•  List of all of the resources known for the facsimile


SharedCanvas: Data Model


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


Defining Interoperability

•  Break down silos
•  Separate data from
applications
•  Share data models and
programming interfaces
•  Enable interactions at the
tool and repository level


Designing Modular Repositories and Tools

3rd-Party Image Image
Transcription Annotation Discovery Tool X?
Analysis Viewer
Tools

Repository
User Image Viewer Discovery
Interface

Metadata (Canonical)
Repository

Image Data (Canonical)



3rd-Party Annotation
Image Image
Discovery Tool X?
Transcription
Tools Analysis Viewer

Repository
User Image Viewer Discovery
Interface

Repository




Image
Transcr Image
Annotation Analysi Discovery Tool X?
iption Viewer
s

Image Viewer Discovery




Service-based Discovery and Delivery Interactions

•  Four primitives currently supported:
o  Discovery

-  New Name?
-  http://dms-dev.stanford.edu/
o  Image Viewing

-  Independent zpr viewer
o  Annotation

-  Digital Mappaemundi
o  Transcription

-  T-PEN


Rendering Implementation

Rendering:

•  Design considerations:
•  Easy to reuse and extend, no* server side code
•  Consume model directly from RDF
•  Use existing, well-understood, documented libraries

•  Pure Javascript (Rob)
•  JQuery
•  RDF extension for JQuery
•  Audio Player extension
•  iOS Touch support extension
•  RaphaelJS for SVG (JQuery SVG not as easy, common)

* Except one minimal reflection script to avoid XSS/CORS issues



Process:

•  Fetch Manifest, Sequence, plus Lists of Annotations, via AJAX
•  Populate menus from Manifest and Sequence
•  Fetch any further resources needed, (TEI and SVG)
•  Generate one or more canvases based on browser size
•  Turn Annotation RDF/XML or n3 into JSON object for ease
•  Process XPointer, Media Fragments into local structures
•  Render annotations using HTML, or SVG if required, once all
needed resources have been obtained
•  Retrieve commentary annotations, both public (pastebin) and
personal (blogger), and render



Demos!

•  Morgan 804 (transcription as string, detail images)
•  http://www.shared-canvas.org/impl/demo1/

•  Worlde's Blisce (audio, TEI transcription)

•  Selected Walters Museum Manuscripts (ranges, pan/zoom)

•  Archimedes Palimpsest (multi images, rotation, TEI transcription)


Future Work

•  Refine model based on community feedback, please!

•  Improve implementations:
•  Ease of creation for new canvases and sequences
•  Improve User Interfaces (integrate zoom/pan, persistence)
•  High end technical aspects (zones)
•  Annotation filtering (spam will be an issue)

•  Increase the community and adoption!

•  Non Manuscript Use Cases:
•  Scientific Papers, Theses/Dissertations
•  http://www.shared-canvas.org/impl/demo3/ & …/demo3b/
•  Digitized Newspapers
•  …


Summary

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

•  Annotation, and Collaboration, at the heart of the model
•  Distribution across repositories for images, text, commentary
•  Granular accuracy, from full resource to non-rectangular segment
•  Multiple page orders and Discovery via Aggregations

SharedCanvas brings the humanist's primary research objects
to their desktop in a powerful, extensible and interoperable fashion


Thank You

Robert Sanderson
rsanderson@lanl.gov
azaroth42@gmail.com
@azaroth42

Ben Albritton
blalbrit@stanford.edu

Web: http://www.shared-canvas.org/
Paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.2925

Slides: http://slidesha.re/XXXXX

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


British Library Seminar: Shared Canvas (September 2011)

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