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       "id": "https://phd.julsraemy.ch/thesis.html",
       "url": "https://phd.julsraemy.ch/thesis.html",
       "title": "Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage: Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability",
-      "content_html": "Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage: Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability PhD Thesis in Digital Humanities, completed as part of the Graduate School of Social Sciences’ (G3S) doctoral programme. It was successfully defended on 18 November 2024 (slides). This page will host a lightweight HTML version of my thesis, optimised for easy access and readability. The PDF version (e-dissertation) is available on the University of Basel’s repository: https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep96807. Page in construction (please be patient ⌛) Author Dr. Julien A. Raemy (University of Basel) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4711-5759 Supervisors Prof. Dr. Peter Fornaro (University of Basel) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1485-4923 Prof. Dr. Walter Leimgruber (University of Basel) Dr. Robert Sanderson (Yale University) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4441-6852 Abstract Digital technologies have fundamentally transformed how Cultural Heritage (CH) collections are accessed and engaged with. Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) specifications, including the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) Presentation API 3.0, Linked Art, and the W3C Web Annotation Data Model, have emerged as web standards to facilitate the description and dissemination of these valuable resources. Despite the widespread adoption of IIIF, implementing LOUD specifications, particularly in combination, remains challenging. This is especially evident in the development and assessment of infrastructures, or sites of assemblage, that support these standards. This research is guided by two perspectives: community practices and semantic interoperability. The first perspective assesses how organizations, individuals, and apparatuses engage with and contribute to the consensus-making processes surrounding LOUD. By examining these practices, the social fabrics of the LOUD ecosystem can be better understood. The second perspective focuses on making data meaningful to machines in a standardized, interoperable manner that promotes the exchange of well-formed information. This research is grounded in the SNSF-funded project, Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archives (PIA) (2021–2025), which aims to develop a citizen science platform for three photographic collections from the Cultural Anthropology Switzerland (CAS) archives. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) forms the theoretical foundation, aiming to describe the collaborative structures of the LOUD ecosystem and emphasize the role of non-human actors. Beyond its implementation within the PIA project, this research includes an analysis of the social dynamics within the IIIF and Linked Art communities and an investigation of Yale’s Collections Discovery platform, LUX. The research identifies socio-technical requirements for developing specifications aligned with LOUD principles. It also examines how the implementation of LOUD standards in PIA highlights their potential benefits and limitations in facilitating data reuse and broader participation. Additionally, it explores Yale University’s large-scale deployment of LOUD standards, emphasizing the importance of ensuring consistency between Linked Art and IIIF resources within the LUX platform for the CH domain. The core methodology of this thesis is an actor- and practice-centered inquiry, focusing on a detailed examination of specific cosmologies within LOUD-driven communities, PIA, and LUX. This micro-perspective approach provides rich empirical evidence to unravel the intricate web of cultural processes and constellations in these contexts. Key empirical findings indicate that LOUD enhances the discoverability and integration of data in CH, requiring community-driven consensus on model interoperability. However, significant challenges include engaging marginalized groups, sustaining long-term participation, and balancing technological and social factors. Strategic use of technology and the capture of digital materiality are critical, but LOUD also poses challenges related to resource investment, data consistency, and the broader implementation of complex patterns. LOUD should lead efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of CH data. The community-driven methodologies of IIIF and Linked Art inherently foster collaboration and transparency, making these standards essential tools in evolving data management practices. Even for institutions and projects that do not adopt these specifications, the socio-technical practices of LOUD offer vital insights into effective digital stewardship and strategies for community engagement. Keywords: Actor-Network Theory; Community of Practice; Cultural Anthropology Switzerland; Cultural Heritage; Digital Infrastructure; International Image Interoperability Framework; Knowledge Practices; Linked Art; Linked Data; LUX; Participatory Archives; Photographic Archives; Semantic Interoperability; Web Annotation Data Model Table of Contents Introduction Context Interlinking Cultural Heritage Data Exploring Relationships through an Actor-Network Theory Lens Research Scope and Methodology The Social Fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art PIA as a Laboratory Yale’s LUX and LOUD Consistency Discussion Conclusion 1. Introduction Since its inception in 2011, the IIIF has revolutionised[1] the accessibility of image-based resources. Initially driven by the needs of manuscript scholars, IIIF focused on two-dimensional images, but has since expanded to encompass a wide range of image-based resources, including audiovisual materials and, in the near future, 3D images. Similarly, Linked Art, formally established in 2017, initially concentrated on art museum objects but has since broadened its scope to model a variety of CH entities, leveraging CIDOC-CRM, a renowned ontology in the museum and DH space. Both initiatives aim to break down silos: IIIF focuses on improving the presentation of digital objects, while both initiatives enhance their dissemination. Together, they make CH data more accessible through IIIF and more meaningful through Linked Art for machines. These efforts have primarily benefited the CH domain. A key commonality is that the main APIs these communities create align with the LOUD design principles, either intentionally or empirically demonstrated through use cases. These principles enable software developers to develop compliant tools and services without needing to fully understand RDF, a syntax for representing information on the web. Additionally, they may not need to grasp all LOD principles, which promote the interlinking of data from diverse datasets using tools like KOS such as thesauri. WADM, a W3C standard, is also recognised as a LOUD specification. It provides a framework for creating interoperable annotations on web resources, facilitating the linking and sharing of data across different platforms and applications. These LOUD design principles include the right abstraction for the audience, few barriers to entry, comprehensibility by introspection, documentation with working examples, and the use of many consistent patterns rather than few exceptions. Additionally, both IIIF and Linked Art are driven by vibrant communities, mainly comprising GLAM and higher education institutions. While the standards and principles discussed have broad applications, it is important to clarify the scope of this dissertation. This work does not focus on KGs by assessing triplestores – databases specifically designed to store and retrieve triples, which are the fundamental data structures in RDF. Similarly, it does not deal with evaluating SPARQL engines, which are specifically designed to query KGs. Additionally, this dissertation does not address the intersection of ML and IIIF, or the ontological reasoning of Linked Art. Instead, this dissertation concentrates on LOUD, the consistency of its standards, design principles and the vibrant communities behind it. It examines JSON-LD serialisation efforts and the crucial intersection required to establish robust semantic interoperability baselines between presentation and semantic layers. It also presents real-world use case implementations, both on a small scale in a laboratory and flexible space within the PIA research project, and on a large scale at Yale, exemplified by the LUX platform that provides access to (meta)data from YUL, YCBA, YUAG, and YPM. The focus is therefore on digital infrastructures capable of delivering JSON-LD files from the above specifications, which are primarily, though not exclusively, CH resources. It is more about the different actors – both human and non-human – that create and maintain these interconnected systems and the dynamic interactions that sustain them. The deployment of various LOUD specifications addresses the need for semantic interoperability between CH resources and disparate datasets by establishing a standardised approach to representing and linking data, ensuring that information can be seamlessly shared and understood across different platforms and contexts. This dissertation seeks to carve out a distinct niche by addressing an often-overlooked aspect of IIIF and Linked Art. IIIF is sometimes perceived and studied merely as a service or an appendix, with the content it delivers taking precedence. However, this PhD thesis positions IIIF as a first-class citizen worthy of in-depth study. Similarly, Linked Art, despite its potential and its relatively recent establishment, has been the subject of very few scholarly papers. This gap underscores the significance of LOUD in this context. Furthermore, this thesis elevates Linked Art to a position of primary importance, recognising its significance and advocating for its thorough examination. To thoroughly study LOUD and its adherence to design principles, it is essential to immerse ourselves actively in both communities – an approach I have embraced for years. The thesis also emphasises the importance of participatory efforts and collaboration between research projects, which typically have shorter lifespans, and memory institutions, which need to implement technical standards as a lingua franca. In doing so, it reveals the mediating role of LOUD in advancing the heritage sphere. To truly understand IIIF, Linked Art, and to a lesser extent WADM, it is crucial to examine the social fabrics and consensus decision-making of each community. Among these considerations are how the specifications can be implemented pragmatically, and how the standards can support the implementation and maintenance of more extensive semantic interoperability efforts. The significance of this research lies in highlighting the commitment and diligence of the individuals and organisations that make up both the IIIF and Linked Art communities. It aims to demonstrate that community-driven practices, such as those exemplified by IIIF and Linked Art, have a potential that goes beyond the mere sharing of digital objects and their associated metadata. The more people who embrace these approaches and implement the associated specifications, the more society as a whole will benefit. Furthermore, this research illustrates that IIIF is no longer limited to two-dimensional images, that Linked Art is not restricted to artworks, and that WADM is a simple, content-agnostic standard that can be easily integrated into a range of systems. This adaptability is a strength of LOUD standards, which are designed to be simple yet effective. LOUD can serve a variety of purposes, primarily rooted in CH, but with the potential to extend its benefits to other sectors. The true beauty of LOUD lies in its ability to foster networking opportunities and transparent socio-technical practices, demonstrating its value beyond mere technical implementation. By emphasising these aspects, this dissertation highlights the wider impact of LOUD in promoting semantic interoperability and enhancing collaborative efforts within the heritage field and beyond. In addition, the implementation of standards through PIA underlines the potential for similar participatory or citizen science projects, while the LUX initiative serves as an illustrative example of robust infrastructure and cross-unit engagement. These examples demonstrate the practical applications and far-reaching implications of adopting LOUD standards in different contexts. This dissertation is structured across ten chapters, each building upon the previous ones up to Chapter 5 to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research. These initial chapters lay the foundation of the study, establishing the context, theoretical framework, and methodological approaches. After this foundational section, Chapters 6, 7, and 8 present empirical studies that, while interconnected, can be read independently if desired. These chapters offer detailed insights into specific aspects of the research and can be appreciated on their own or as part of the broader narrative. The thesis continues with Chapter 2, which extends this introduction by providing more information about the research setting, specifically PIA. Chapter 3 follows with an extensive literature review, offering a comprehensive overview of methods to interlink CH data. Next, Chapter 4 presents the theoretical framework, conceptualised as a toolbox and firmly rooted in ANT, guiding the analysis and discussion throughout the dissertation. Following this, Chapter 5 details the research scope and methodology, explaining the approaches and methods employed in the study. Moving on to the empirical work, Chapter 6 sheds light on the social fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art, exploring the communities and practices that underpin these initiatives.Chapter 7 then examines the implementation of LOUD standards within PIA, highlighting the practical aspects and challenges encountered. This is followed by Chapter 8, which focuses on the LUX initiative at Yale, examining the underlying governance and interdepartmental ownership of the Yale Collections Discovery platform. The discussion of findings is presented in Chapter 9, where the results from the empirical chapters are synthesised and analysed in relation to the theoretical framework. Finally, Chapter 10 concludes the thesis, summarising the key insights and contributions of the research while outlining potential directions for future study. 2. Context In this chapter, I will set the stage for my PhD thesis by providing important background information. First, in Section 2.1, I will explain why I chose the title for my thesis. This will give you an understanding of the main focus and the direction of my research. Next, in , I will describe the PIA research project, which is central to my work. This section will cover the project’s goals, significance, and overall framework. In , I will detail my specific contributions to the PIA project. I will emphasise how my work fits into the larger project and its importance to my thesis. Finally, in , I will talk about my active participation in the IIIF and Linked Art communities. This section will highlight how my involvement in these communities has influenced my research and its broader implications. 2.1 PhD Title I chose the title ‘Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage: Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability’ as it encapsulates the essence of my research focus but I could have indeed chosen other ones. During the initial stages of my research, multiple working titles were explored to capture the diverse facets of my interests and objectives. If I was quite sure about having in the title after the third iteration, I was quite unsure of what should follow and if a subtitle was actually needed at all. Amidst this dynamic progression, the underlying theme of my research remained steadfast – to delve into the transformative potential of LOUD for CH. I also opted to maintain in the title of my thesis subsection. While holds its appeal, my choice reflects a broader narrative that acknowledges the crucial role of CHIs and spotlighting the multifaceted nature of heritage preservation, encapsulating both its digital facets and the essential contribution of individuals and institutions in curating, interpreting, and making heritage accessible. As for the subtitle, while I do explore CoP as defined by @lave_situated_1991 and @wenger_communities_2011 through investigating the social fabrics of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, my main interest lies in the broader application of LOUD for describing and interlinking CH resources. Thus, I decided to opt for the more generic as the first axis or perspective. For the second perspective, I wanted to see how semantic interoperability can be achieved through standards adhering to the LOUD design principles, as they seem to be key enablers for seamless collaboration and knowledge exchange among practitioners. There was a time in my research when I envisaged decoupling and , perceiving them as two distinct dimensions. However, what really captivates me is the unification of these factors to facilitate collective reasoning for both humans and machines. In summary, this title reflects my enthusiasm for using web-based and community-driven technologies to transform the way we understand, share and value CH. 2.2 The PIA Research Project I undertook my doctoral studies within the scope of the PIA research project financed by the SNSF under their Sinergia funding scheme from February 2021 to January 2025[2]. The project aimed to analyse the interplay of participants, epistemological orders and the graphical representation of information and knowledge in relation to three photographic collections from CAS. It sought to bring together the world of data and things in an interdisciplinary manner, exploring the phases of the analogue and digital archive from a cultural anthropological, technical and design research perspective [@felsing_community_2023 p. 42]. As part of this endeavour, interfaces were developed to enable the collaborative indexing and use of photographic archival records [@chiquet_participatory_2023 p. 110]. I discuss in more detail the interdisciplinary components and briefly introduce the people involved in the project in Subsection 2.2.1, then talk about the photographic collections that were the overarching narrative of the research in Subsection 2.2.2, and lastly in Subsection 2.2.3, the vision that we had put together. The project, divided in three interdisciplinary teams, was led by the University of Basel through the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology[3] (Team A) and the DHLab[4] in collaboration with the DBIS group (Team B) as well as by the HKB[5], an art school and department of the Bern University of Applied Sciences (Team C) [@felsing_community_2023 p. 43]. Table 2.1 lists the people who contributed to the project, broken down by the three teams and their particular perspectives. Table 2.1: PIA Team Core Members Perspective People A) Anthropological Prof. Dr. Walter Leimgruber, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Dr. Nicole Peduzzi, Photographic Restoration and Digitisation Supervisor Regula Anklin, Conservation and Restoration Specialist (project partner at Anklin & Assen) Murielle Cornut, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology Birgit Huber, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology Fabienne Lüthi, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology B) Technical Prof. Dr. Peter Fornaro, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Prof. Dr. Heiko Schuldt, Dissertation Supervisor (project partner at the University of Basel) Dr. Vera Chiquet, Postdoctoral Researcher Adrian Demleitner, Software Developer (2021-2023) Fabian Frei, Software Developer (2023-2025) Christoph Rohrer, Software Developer (2023-2025) Julien A. Raemy, PhD Candidate in Digital Humanities Florian Spiess, PhD Candidate in Computer Science C) Communicative Dr. Ulrike Felsing, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Prof. Dr. Tobias Hodel, Dissertation Supervisor (project partner at the University of Bern) Daniel Schoeneck, Research Fellow Lukas Zimmer, Designer (project partner at A/Z&T) Max Frischknecht, PhD Candidate in Digital Humanities 2.2.2 Photographic Collections/Archives as Anchors CAS has historically been engaged in active collaborations that bridge the academic research and the public sphere, primarily through traditional analogue methods. The PIA project was created with the intention of exploring the complexities inherent in both analogue and digital approaches, and to encourage and investigate these collaborative endeavours between academia and the wider public. As such, PIA represents a paradigm shift within the scope of projects associated with or supported by CAS, facilitating the seamless integration of digital tools to explore multiple facets of participation and engagement. This transformative endeavour embodies a profound exploration of new intersections where scholarly endeavours intertwine with the active involvement of citizens. PIA drew on three collections: one focusing on scientific cartography and titled (Atlas der Schweizerischen Volkskunde), a second from the estate of the photojournalist Ernst Brunner (1901–1979), and a third collection consisting of vernacular photography which was owned by the Kreis Family (1860–1970). SGV_05 ASV consists of 292 maps and 1000 pages of commentary published from 1950 to 1995 — an example of such a map is shown in Figure 2.1. This collection was commissioned by the CAS to do an extensive survey of the Swiss population in the 1930s and 1940s on many issues pertaining, for instance, to everyday life, local laws, superstitions, celebrations or labour [@weiss_atlas_1940]. The contents were compiled by researchers and by people who were described as [6]. Questions were asked about everyday habits, community rights, work, trade, superstitions, and many other topics [@schmoll_richard_2009; @schmoll_vermessung_2009]. This collection offers a snapshot of everyday life in Switzerland right before the beginning of a modernisation process that fundamentally changed lifestyles in all areas during the postwar period. A digitised version of the ASV would not only allow the results of that time to be enriched with further findings [@schranz_critical_2021], but would also make transparent how knowledge was generated in cartographic form through a complex process along different types of media and actors. The restoration, digitisation, cataloguing and indexing efforts took all part throughout PIA under the supervision of Birgit Huber, who extensively based her doctoral research on this particular collection [see @huber_entdeckung_2023]. Figure 2.1: Map from the SGV_05 Collection Relating to Question 93 Showing Walks and Excursions at Pentecost. ASV. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 SGV_10 Kreis Family comprises approximately 20,000 loose photographic objects, where a quarter of them are organised and kept in 93 photo albums — as illustrated by Figure 2.2, from a wealthy Basel-based family and spanning from the 1850s to the 1980s. This private collection was acquired by CAS in 1991. The collection, which originally arrived in banana cases and was enigmatic due to the lack of clear organisation or accompanying information from the family, posed significant challenges. Despite these initial hurdles, CAS undertook meticulous efforts to catalogue and preserve its contents [@felsing_re-imagining_2024 p. 42]. The pictures were taken by studio photographers as well as by family members themselves. The Kreis Family collection represents a typical example of urban bourgeois culture and gives a comprehensive insight into the development of private photography over the course of a century [@pagenstecher_private_2009]. The photographic materials and formats are very diverse, ranging from prints to negatives, small, medium or large format photographs, black and white or colour. The collection also encompasses many photographic techniques, from the one-off daguerreotypes and ferrotypes, to the glass-based negatives that could be reproduced en masse, to the modern paper prints. While some of the albums and loose images were restored and digitised during the 2014 project, much of this work was completed during PIA and overseen by Murielle Cornut, whose doctoral investigation was centred on the study of photo albums [see @cornut_open_2023]. Figure 2.2: A photo Album Page from the SGV_10 Collection, Bearing the Following Inscription: Botanische Excursion ins Wallis, Pfingster 1928. SGV_10A_00031_015. Kreis Family. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 SGV_12 Ernst Brunner is a donation of about 48,000 negatives and 20,000 prints to the CAS archives from Ernst Brunner, a self-taught photojournalist, who lived from 1901 to 1979 and who documented mainly in the 1930s and 1940s a wide range of folkloristic themes — as shown by Figure 2.3. He is one of the most important photographers of the era and one of the most outstanding visual chroniclers of Swiss society [@pfrunder_ernst_1995]. His photographs show rural lifestyles, but also urban motifs. In his late work, he led the documentation and research on farmhouses in a specific Swiss district, a project initiated by CAS. Before Ernst Brunner became an independent photojournalist in the mid-1930s, he worked as a carpenter, influenced by the ideas of the Bauhaus and Neues Bauen movements. This can also be seen in the aesthetics and formal language of his photography. If all the black and white negatives were digitised and recorded between 2014 and 2018, the digitisation of prints, which is a selection done by Ernst Brunner, was conducted at the end of the PIA research project. The latter was supervised by Fabienne Lüthi, whose PhD was about organisational systems and knowledge practices in the Ernst Brunner Collection. Figure 2.3: Picture from the SGV_12 Collection Showing Walkers Looking at the Timetable Train. [Wanderer studieren den Fahrplan in der Bahnhofhalle]. Lucerne, 1938. Ernst Brunner. SGV_12N_00716. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 Whereas for each of the PhD Candidates in Cultural Anthropology, a particular collection was assigned to them and its content was to varying degrees part of their subject of study, this was not exactly the same for the PhD Candidates in DH, including myself, and in Computer Science. Put differently, we had relative leeway in terms of what interested us in each or all of these three photographic collections. In my case, I briefly explain my contribution to the project more in and then in as part of the empirical portion of my thesis focusing on the deployment of LOUD specifications using the three CAS photographic collections. Florian Spiess focused on the use of VR through vitrivr, a multimedia retrieval system developed by the DBIS research group at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science [@spiess_multimodal_2022; @spiess_forschung_2023; @spiess_exploring_2024]. His work included experiments with PIA-related collections, such as the creation of virtual galleries clustered according to content-based similarity [see @peterhans_automatic_2022]. In the case of Max Frischknecht, his doctoral research centred on generative design[7], a methodology to visualise dynamic cultural archives. He mostly worked on the ASV collection and on a mapping tool which is a cartographic visualisation designed to explore the CAS photographic archives [see @frischknecht_generating_2022; @eggmann_digitalisierung_2024]. It should also be mentioned that not only did we use the three collections of the CAS photographic archives within the project, but that both formal and informal meetings took place most commonly within the photographic archives at the Spalenvorstadt premises in the old Gewerbemuseum and later either at the on Allschwilerstrasse, though less frequently, or at Rheinsprung where the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology is located. This meant that there was a strong and sometimes blurred entanglement between those involved in the archives and the PIA core team members. 2.2.3 Project Vision Between December 2021 and March 2022, we worked together to develop and finalise a vision for the project[8]. It includes seven key priorities, or pillars, which were meant to strengthen the interdisciplinary perspectives of PIA. Although ambitious, these elements were of paramount importance to us and served as a guiding blueprint for all PIA activities. Hereafter is a modified version of the vision[9] taken from @cornut_annotations_2023 [p. 4]. Accessibility by developing open interfaces and offering the possibility of expanding the archive and turning it into an instrument of current research that collects and evaluates knowledge with the participation of other users (Citizen Science). Heterogeneity by making visible where, why and under what circumstances the objects were created, how they were handled and what path they have taken to get to and in the archive. We work on visualisations that take into account the heterogeneous character of archival materials and make their respective biographies visible. Materiality by conveying the material properties of the objects: they have front and back sides, inscriptions, traces, development errors, they are transparent, multi-layered or fabric-covered. They tell of their origin, use, and peculiarities. We want to make this knowledge accessible and understandable in digital form. To this end, we also consider the necessary infrastructure involved in the creation as part of their narrative: the restoration, the relocation, the indexing, the storage devices, the research tools, the display medium, as well as the process of repro-photography. Interoperability as a crucial component and which will be done by supporting digital means that allow different stakeholders to freely access and interact with the project’s data. Both humans and machines can use, contribute to, correct and annotate the existing data in an open and interoperable manner, thus encouraging exchange and the creation of new knowledge. To do this, we use web-based standards that are widely adopted in the cultural heritage field. Affinities by leveraging data models and pattern recognition which can uncover semantic relationships between entities that were previously incomplete or difficult for users to access. Using specific interfaces and visualisations, we make it possible to explore digital assets and discover forms of relationships and similarities between images. AI that facilitates automated searches for simple image attributes such as colour, shapes, and localisation of image components. It should also become possible to recognise texts and object types for extracting metadata. Bias Management by taking into account that associated metadata was human-made[10] and thus is never objective. Collections and their metadata reflect biases or focus narrowly on selected areas and perceptions. Machines working on the basis of such data automatically reproduce the implicit biases in decision-making due to so-called biased algorithms. Therefore, understanding the data used for training and the algorithms applied for decision making is crucial to ensure the integrity of the application of these technologies in archives. We take ethical issues into account when using AI and visualisations, because the higher the awareness of a possible bias, the faster it can be detected or brought up for consideration with users. As my thesis is notably concerned with semantic interoperability, Interoperability and Affinities are of particular importance to my PhD thesis, although I recognise the importance of all pillars. Each of these resonated with me and my fellow PhD Candidates. As we immersed ourselves in the vision of the PIA research project, it became a unifying thread that brought us together in our research ambitions. We found that all these priorities within the project spoke to us at different points and provided a strong point of communication and practice in the development of processes, prototypes or interfaces. 2.3 Contribution to PIA and its Relevance to the Thesis To develop a participatory platform, an open and sustainable technological foundation for facilitating the reuse of CH resources was needed [@raemy_applying_2021]. Throughout the PIA project, I was mainly involved in the extension of the data infrastructure, the uptake of IIIF as well as designing the data model, leveraging Linked Art and WADM [@raemy_interlinking_2024]. As a member of Team B, I undertook this PhD as a bridge between the different teams, mostly participating in discussions with the three doctoral candidates from Team A to further develop and agree on the CAS data model and with the software developers from my team to discuss the impact of the data model on our evolving — yet transitory — infrastructure as well as helping in implementing the APIs adhering to the LOUD design principles. It was necessary to redesign the data model within the context of a database migration, from Salsah to the DSP, that happened between November 2021 and March 2024. This updated version, based on the Knora Base Ontology[11], corresponded to the needs of the CAS archives and to some extent to those of PIA, in particular to enable the PhD Candidates in Cultural Anthropology to make more precise assertions, whether in terms of descriptive metadata, or in the ability to link one object to another or to provide comments on these objects in several narrative forms. Moreover, an assessment of the appropriate technical standards for improved usability of the objects by both humans and machines was carried out, as a basis for extending the capabilities provided by DaSCH, such as helping the software developers to implement SIPI[12], a C++ image server compatible with the IIIF Image API and build services that create IIIF Presentation API 3.0 resources. While the theoretical framework of the thesis extends across the scope of PIA, the empirical part focuses on a specific set of findings derived from the research project outlined in , under the title . In this chapter, I discuss the data model and its refinement as well as the generation of custom IIIF Manifests during the specific digitisation, cataloguing and indexing efforts that took place throughout the project for the three CAS collections (SGV_05, SGV_10 and SGV_12) under investigation, the implementation of LOUD standards, and the overall design of the technological underpinnings. 2.4 Involvement within the IIIF and Linked Art communities I must acknowledge the invaluable role that my involvement within the IIIF and Linked Art communities has played in shaping my journey as a trained information specialist and an aspiring DH practitioner. Being an active participant in both communities has not only broadened my understanding of the latest developments in the field but has also profoundly influenced the trajectory of this dissertation. I have been involved within the IIIF community since October 2016 and the Working Groups Meeting that happened in The Hague[13]. This significant journey was, in fact, initiated by a recommendation from my first supervisor, Peter Fornaro, during my time as an undergraduate doing an internship at the DHLab. Little did I know that this recommendation would lead me to be carrying out a PhD and looking at IIIF not only as community-driven standards but as an object of study. Engaging with the IIIF community exposed me to cutting-edge advances in image interoperability and standards, and fostered a deeper appreciation for the importance of digital representations of cultural heritage. Through collaborative discussions with experts from diverse backgrounds, I gained new perspectives on the potential of technology to advance humanities research and preserve our collective cultural memory. Similarly, my involvement in the Linked Art community introduced me to the opportunities offered by LOUD and its transformative impact on research discourse. Exposure to Linked Data methodologies and the CIDOC-CRM has significantly influenced the way I have structured and interpreted the data in this dissertation, thereby enriching its scholarly breadth and rigour. I started to be actively involved in Linked Art at the beginning of my PhD in 2021, but I was already a by 2020, driven by the efforts of Rob Sanderson, my third supervisor. By mid-2023, I had become a member of the Editorial Board. The individuals I have met and the knowledge shared in these vibrant communities have deeply informed my approach as a scholar. The invaluable connections and collaborations I have made have expanded my network of fellow researchers, educators, and experts, leading to fruitful discussions that have significantly shaped the research questions addressed in this thesis. The events and workshops organised by these communities have also provided immersive learning experiences, giving me first-hand insights into the tools, technologies and methodologies used in the context of describing and disseminating CH data. The dynamic ecosystem of these communities has served as an inspiring backdrop, fostering innovative thinking and encouraging a more holistic approach to my research. 3. Interlinking Cultural Heritage Data (…) Data processing offers great potential for humanities research as @owens_defining_2011 argues: ‘In the end, the kinds of questions humanists ask about texts and artifacts are just as relevant to ask of data. While the new and exciting prospects of processing data offer humanists a range of exciting possibilities for research, humanistic approaches to the textual and artifactual qualities of data also have a considerable amount to offer to the interpretation of data’. 4. Exploring Relationships through an Actor-Network Theory Lens (…) 5. Research Scope and Methodology This chapter delineates the Research Scope and Methodology, laying the groundwork for the empirical exploration within this thesis. (…) 6. The Social Fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art (…) 7. PIA as a Laboratory (…) 8. Yale’s LUX and LOUD Consistency (…) 9. Discussion [Il] faut renoncer à l’idée d’une interopérabilité syntaxique ou structurelle par l’utilisation d’un modèle unique, qu’il s’agisse de la production, de stockage ou de l’exploitation au sein même d’un [système d’information]. [@poupeau_reflexions_2018] [14] This chapter presents a comprehensive discussion where I interpret, analyse and critically examine my findings in relation to the thesis and the wider application of LOUD. Through an in-depth analysis of the design principles of LOUD and their implications for CH, this discussion aims to demonstrate the many challenges and opportunities inherent in this framework. The focus is on achieving community-driven consensus, rather than simply pursuing technological breakthrough. The following sections are organised to provide a comprehensive review of the empirical findings, an evaluation abstracting LOUD, and a retrospective analysis of the research journey. Firstly, in Section 9.1, I will present a summary of the empirical findings from my research. This will include key themes and insights, structured to reflect the different areas of study and practice within LOUD. Secondly, in Section 9.2 I will provide an evaluation of LOUD by means of using the LoA approach. This evaluation will focus on the impact of LOUD on the perception of Linked Data within the CH domain and the wider DH field. This will include the key themes and insights that have emerged, structured in a way that reflects four levels of abstraction. I will also explore the dual nature of LOUD implementation, involving both simplicity and complexity, and discuss the various factors that influence such dynamics. Finally, in Section 9.3, I will offer a retrospective analysis of the research journey. This section will interpret the findings to situate LOUD as fully-fledged actors. It will reflect on the challenges, achievements, and lessons learned throughout the research process, providing a holistic view of the project’s trajectory and its implications for the future of LOUD. 9.1 Empirical Findings This section summarises the empirical findings of my research and already offers some suggestions. The structure does not follow the exact order of the three empirical chapters but is organised around overarching topics that emerged throughout the study. The seven topics include Community Practices and Standards, Inclusion and Marginalised Groups, Maintenance and Community Engagement, Interoperability and Usability, Future Directions and Sustainability, Digital Materiality and Representation, as well as Challenges of Scaling and Implementation. Community Practices and Standards GitHub serves as a vital hub for community involvement, with a core group of active contributors often attending meetings regularly. This platform simplifies decision-making within the community, although it also reflects biases similar to those in FLOSS communities. Behind visible activities like meetings, there is substantial preparatory work managed by co-chairs, editorial boards, or driven by community-generated use cases. This foundational work often determines the direction and outcomes of formal gatherings. The LUX project at Yale, as seen in , has successfully fostered collaboration across various units, bringing together libraries and museums on a unified platform. The technological foundation of LUX, based on open standards, facilitates data integration and cross-collections discovery. Not only does the deployment of FLOSS tools contribute to these achievements, but it also emphasises the social advantages of working collaboratively. The concept of the Tragedy of the Commons, as described by @hardin_tragedy_1968, highlights the potential for individual self-interest to deplete shared resources. However, @ostrom_governing_1990 offers a counterpoint by demonstrating how communities can successfully manage common resources through collective action and shared norms. In this context, initiatives like the CHAOSS initiative[15] play a significant role by providing metrics that help evaluate the health and sustainability of open source communities. These metrics include contributions, issue resolution times, and community growth, offering valuable insights into how collaborative efforts can be maintained and improved. Reaching consensus is another critical aspect of community practices and standards. While the minutes of meetings are valuable artefacts, they often reflect an Anglo-Saxon approach to decision-making characterised by few substantive points and critical turning points. The formal aspects of conversations captured in minutes do not fully encompass the decision-making process, which frequently involves informal conversations, consensus-building through open dialogue, and subtle cues that influence outcomes. These elements are integral to the English and American approach and hold valuable lessons for an international community. IIIF and Linked Art are international communities, but decisions are made in English and the majority of participants are based in North America and the UK, significantly imprinting this approach. Understanding these nuances can help us improve our collaborative efforts within the IIIF and Linked Art communities. By recognising and appreciating these different facets of decision-making, we can learn from each other and enhance our collective ability to make effective and inclusive decisions. Some of the challenges associated with these practices include the major demand on resources for community building, the slowness inherent in distributed development, and the difficulty in achieving consensus. Additionally, the concept of social sustainability can be seen as an imaginary construct that papers over differences, as discussed by @fitzpatrick_generous_2019. Addressing these challenges is crucial for the long-term success and effectiveness of the IIIF and Linked Art communities. Inclusion and Marginalised Groups The demographic homogeneity in these communities can perpetuate biases and neglect issues relevant to underrepresented or marginalised groups, as seen in . Participation in these standardisation processes is itself a privilege. The assumption that internet access and digital devices are universally available is critically examined, revealing key actors in the digital landscape. This mirrors issues within the IIIF community, where generating IIIF resources presupposes means that may not be accessible to all. We need clear terms of inclusion, as highlighted by @hoffmann_terms_2021. She argues that effective inclusion requires a critical examination of the frameworks and conditions under which inclusion is offered. The framework should ensure that inclusion initiatives do not merely add diversity to existing power structures but work to transform these structures fundamentally. This involves questioning who defines the terms of inclusion, who benefits from them, and who may be inadvertently excluded. @hoffmann_terms_2021 suggests a participatory approach, where marginalised communities are actively involved in shaping inclusion policies and practices, thus making inclusion an ongoing, reflective process rather than a static goal. The inclusion of marginalised groups is a necessary step, but it is not sufficient. To truly make a difference, there must be a strategic and concentrated effort to appropriate technologies, as emphasised by [@morales_apropiacion_2009; @morales_imaginacion_2017; @morales_apropiacion_2018] and further articulated by [@martinez_demarco_empowering_2019; @martinez_demarco_digital_2023]. This strategic approach highlights the political significance of challenging dominant neoliberal and consumerist perspectives on technology and individual engagement. @martinez_demarco_digital_2023 underscores the critical importance of focusing on practices that go beyond mere inclusion. Instead, it requires a deep understanding and critical assessment of how technology is intertwined with social, economic, and ideological contexts. It implies a reflective and deliberate process of technology adoption in which individuals creatively tailor technology to their specific needs, beliefs, and interests. Moreover, a key aspect highlighted by @martinez_demarco_digital_2023 is the implicit and explicit critique of a universalist approach to inclusion, which often lends itself to all too easy instrumentalisation. Understanding and studying resistance to inclusion in an oppressive digital transformation context is paramount, particularly given the highly unequal conditions that prevail. In this light, a comprehensive study of socio-material and symbolic processes, practices, and involved in embedding technologies into individuals’ lives is needed. This approach also recognises technology as a catalyst for change. It envisions the use of technology to drive meaningful change at multiple dimensions and realities—national, societal, or personal. By focusing on these practices, empowering individuals to navigate and use technology thoughtfully and purposefully becomes a reality, bridging the gap between technological advances and societal progress [@martinez_demarco_empowering_2019]. Maintenance and Community Engagement The tension between creating advanced specifications and their practical implementation by platforms is evident in the IIIF Cookbook recipes and Linked Art patterns, as discussed in Chapter 6. This ongoing development shows that the community is still finding the best ways to achieve broad adoption and interoperability. The deployment of the Change Discovery API, as illustrated in Chapter 7, demonstrates that establishing such a protocol on top of the IIIF Presentation API is feasible and straightforward. High-level support from leadership, particularly Susan Gibbons as Vice Provost, has been crucial in building trust and ensuring the project’s success as a valuable discovery layer at Yale. This integration of diverse collections through a unified platform, based on open standards, highlights the potential for transforming teaching, learning, and research by leveraging collaborative efforts. The topic modelling exercise in LUX reveals the intricate actor-networks composed of organisations, individuals, and non-human actors. This analysis underscores the importance of ongoing processes and relationships in maintaining and evolving infrastructure, akin to the concept of ‘infrastructuring’. As detailed in Chapter 8, following best practices and guidelines such as the SHARED Principles is essential for better involvement, but it is also crucial to uphold these commitments consistently over the long term to ensure meaningful participation. Between the PIA team members, there were sometimes ‘disconnects between different communities who undertake collaborative research’ [@vienni-baptista_foundations_2023]. This was something we had to navigate and learn from, which was manageable within the context of a laboratory setting. However, for any follow-up projects or whatever forms the digital infrastructure we built may take, it is imperative that these disconnects are addressed and solidified to ensure cohesive and sustained community engagement. Interoperability and Usability Within PIA, different APIs have been progressively deployed to meet various requirements while allowing parallel exploration of data modelling. Each API offers unique advantages, but their collective integration promotes semantic interoperability. For example, the IIIF Image API has been instrumental in rationalising image distribution across prototypes, providing efficient access to high-quality digital surrogates and the ability to resize them for different uses. Adherence to LOUD standards and schemas within LUX has generally been positive, although transitioning between versions of a specification can present challenges, highlighting the need to improve the consistency of compliant resources. Linked Art, for instance, has the capacity to generate various insights and sources of truth around different entities. However, additional or entirely new vocabularies from sources like the Getty may need to be used – such as Homosaurus. Complementary to Linked Art, using WADM allows for assertions that go beyond purely descriptive narratives, though it may sacrifice some semantic richness. This complexity in managing vocabularies and maintaining semantic richness directly ties into broader usability considerations within the community. Addressing these usability concerns, Robert Sanderson has suggested focusing on the use of full URIs in Linked Art to ensure computational usability, in contrast to IIIF‘s approach of minimising URIs to enhance readability. This difference highlights a fundamental question in usability: balancing readability and computational usability. Understanding developers’ perspectives on these approaches is critical. I would suggest as a way forward for the IIIF and Linked Art communities to focus on further improving usability of the specifications. This includes conducting comprehensive usability assessments of APIs to evaluate the experiences of new developers versus existing ones, understanding the steepness of the learning curve associated with each API, and guiding improvements in documentation, on-boarding processes, and overall developer support. Efforts should be made to lower the barriers to entry for new developers by developing more intuitive and user-friendly tutorials, providing example projects, and creating a robust support community. Ensuring that developers can quickly and effectively leverage APIs will foster greater adoption. Addressing the challenges of transitioning between different versions of specifications is critical, and developing tools and guidelines that help maintain consistency across versions will reduce friction and ensure smoother updates. Future Directions and Sustainability Survey findings, as discussed in , underscore the need for ongoing efforts to develop LOUD standards that foster an inclusive, dynamic digital ecosystem. Future strategies should include creating educational resources and frameworks that support interdisciplinary collaboration and reduce barriers to participation. While the Manifest serves as the fundamental unit within IIIF, the Linked Art protocol can play a similar central role as semantic gateways in broader contexts, allowing round-tripping across the APIs. The topic modelling exercise in LUX, detailed in , reveals complex actor-networks of organisations, individuals, and non-human actors, providing insights into the relationships sustaining the LUX initiative. The next steps for Linked Art might involve forming a new consortium independent of a CIDOC Working Group, which could provide the necessary support to sustain the initiative. Alternatively, integrating Linked Art into IIIF as a new TSG and specification could address the discovery challenges within IIIF, as discussed during the birds of a feather session led by Robert Sanderson [see @raemy_notes_2024] at the 2024 IIIF Conference in Los Angeles[16]. Design principles that act as bridges across different disciplines, as proposed by @roke_pragmatic_2022, are crucial. IIIF has demonstrated that this collaborative approach is feasible, and Linked Art could follow in its footsteps. However, achieving this requires increased dedication from passive members and broader adoption of the model and the API ecosystem in the near future. Digital Materiality and Representation As explored in Chapter 7, the detailed digital representation of photographic albums, such as the Kreis Family Collection, demonstrates the need to comprehensively capture the materiality of digital objects. This includes the structure and context of images, which are crucial for maintaining their historical and social significance. The implementation of the IIIF Presentation API in creating a detailed digital replica of the Getty’s Bayard Album shows how digital materiality can be enhanced through thoughtful use of technology, but also highlights the scalability challenges for such detailed representations. Creating these detailed digital representations can be seen as a ‘boutique’ approach, which, while labour-intensive and resource-demanding, is necessary for preserving the integrity and contextual significance of cultural heritage objects. The challenge lies in developing the appropriate means and methodologies to achieve this level of detail consistently. Future endeavours, whether through research projects or collaborative efforts between GLAM institutions and DH practitioners, should aim to address these challenges and create sustainable practices for digital materiality and representation. As Edwards aptly notes: ‘Presentational forms equally reflect specific intent in the use and value of the photographs they embed, to the extent that the objects that embed photographs are in many cases meaningless without their photographs; for instance, empty frames or albums. These objects are only invigorated when they are again in conjunction with the images with which they have a symbiotic relationship, for display functions not only make the thing itself visible but make it more visible in certain ways‘. [@edwards_photographs_2004 p. 11] Challenges of Scaling and Implementation As seen in Chapter 6, the IIIF Cookbook recipes and Linked Art patterns reflect the tension between creating advanced specifications and their practical implementation. This gap between ideation and real-world application underscores the challenges faced by the community in achieving broad adoption and interoperability. In Chapter 7, the exploration of APIs like the IIIF Change Discovery API illustrates the practical challenges and potential of scaling these technologies for wider adoption. The successful implementation in PIA demonstrates viability, but also points to the need for continued development and community engagement to fully realise the benefits. Furthermore, assessing the scalability of IIIF image servers, as discussed by [@duin_webassembly_2022] and exemplified by the firm Q42 with their Edge-based service Micrio[17], highlights the importance of optimising data performance. Erwin Verbruggen aptly noted that ‘optimising data performance in my opinion mens sending as little data over as needed’[18], emphasising the need for efficient data handling to enhance scalability. This insight reinforces the necessity of continual refinement in scaling digital infrastructure to support broader use and integration. Reflecting on these findings, I would like to assert that continuous participation, particularly for institutions that can afford to be part of initiatives like IIIF-C, is essential. Active members should not only focus on their own use cases but also consider the needs and perspectives of other, perhaps marginalised, groups. Achieving the dual goals of making progress within one community, whether it be IIIF or Linked Art, while also engaging in effective outreach and creating a solid baseline, will benefit everyone in the CH sector and beyond. Addressing where LOUD fits in, how people perceive this new concept or paradigm, and understanding how LOUD differs from Linked Data in general are essential. These questions help to clarify the stages at which themes related to one of the LOUD design principles emerge, crystallise, and potentially disappear. My thesis does not fully resolve these queries but offers insights and hints for further exploration. In conclusion, the empirical findings reveal the richness of the implementation and maintenance of LOUD standards in the CH domain. From the critical role of community practices and standards to the challenges of achieving interoperability and inclusivity, each theme underlines the complex interplay of social, technical and organisational factors. will look at the evaluation of LOUD and explore its overall impact, delving into the delta of what to do with it, particularly in terms of Linked Data versus LOUD, where my thesis provides pointers but does not provide definitive answers. 9.2 Evaluation: Abstracting LOUD (…) 9.3 Retrospective: Truding like an Ant (…) 10. Conclusion For a better understanding of the past, Our images have to be enhanced, A new dialogue in three dimensions, Must have openness at its heart, For somewhere within the archive Of our aggregated minds Are a multitude of questions And a multitude of answers, Simply awaiting to be found. [@mr_gee_day_2023] This chapter brings to a close the journey undertaken since February 2021, aiming to clearly articulate the answers to the research questions, discuss how the research aligns with the objectives, elucidate the significance of the work, outline its shortcomings, and suggest avenues for future research. I had the privilege of hearing the above poem at EuropeanaTech in The Hague in October 2023. What struck me most, and what I have tried to convey in this thesis, was the powerful dialogue and collective spirit striving to harness the potential of our (digital) heritage. With a sense of conviction after this conference, I approached the next one in Geneva in February 2024 with confidence, believing that I had made a compelling case for the concept of LOUD. When a participant asked how LOUD differed from Linked Data, however, I found myself explaining the socio-technical ethos of IIIF and Linked Art, the richness of the individuals who make them up, the ability to combine these different standards, and the common use cases that emerge from these collaborations. Whether my answer was convincing remains uncertain, but I knew it was too brief. Perhaps it is here, in this conclusion, that my thoughts can find their full expression. I believe that LOUD should be at the forefront of efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of CH data, an endeavour that is increasingly relevant in a web-centric environment. This paradigm has gained considerable traction, particularly with the advent of Linked Art and the recognition that the IIIF Presentation API has been an inspiration for the LOUD design principles. The development and maintenance of LOUD standards by dedicated communities are characterised by collaboration, consensus building, and transparency. In the interstices of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, frameworks for interoperability are not only exposed, but revealed as profound testaments to the power of transparent collaboration across institutional boundaries. Both communities, it is true, are still very much Anglo-Saxon efforts, where the specifications have mainly been implemented in GLAM and/or DH research projects, or at least when we have been aware of them. It has clear guidelines on how to propose use cases, mostly using GitHub, and hides the sometimes unnecessary RDF complexity behind a set of JSON-LD @ context. IIIF is at the presentation layer and can really play its role as a mediator, with the Manifest as its central unit connecting other specifications, including semantic metadata, and preferably with simpatico specifications such as Linked Art. An important hypothesis arises from the observation that adherence to the LOUD design principles makes specifications more likely to be adopted. The primary benefit of adopting LOUD standards lies in their grassroots nature. This grassroots approach not only aligns with the core values of openness and collaboration within the DH community but also serves as a common denominator between DH practitioners and CHIs. This unique alignment fosters a sense of shared purpose and common ground. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that while LOUD and its associated standards, including IIIF, hold immense promise, their limited recognition in the wider socio-technical ecosystem may currently hinder their full potential impact beyond the CH domain. Consideration of socio-technical requirements and the promotion of digital equity are essential to the development of specifications in line with the LOUD design principles. In the context of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, this means both recognising current challenges and building on existing practices. This includes forming alliances that support diverse forms of inclusion at both project and individual levels. For example, organisations should be encouraged to send representatives from diverse professional and personal backgrounds, such as underrepresented groups or non-technical fields. This can be facilitated by initiatives that lower the barriers to participation, such as financial support for travel and participation, flexible participation formats, and targeted outreach efforts. Furthermore, as these standards often align with open government data initiatives, they present opportunities for broader public engagement and institutional transparency. In the broader context of DH, understanding LOUD involves tracing the historical development of the field and its evolving relationship with technology. The interdisciplinary nature of DH has always integrated diverse scholarly and technical practices. In recent years, DH has seen a notable increase in interest in the use of Linked Data and semantic technologies to improve the discoverability and accessibility of CH collections. LOUD's emphasis on user-centred design and usability aligns well with these goals. Consequently, the principles of LOUD hold great promise for advancing the integration and use of community-driven APIs and/or Linked Data within DH. This can be seen within PIA, where the benefits of implementing IIIF helped us to streamline machine-generated annotations, integrate different thumbnails into GUI prototypes, model photo albums with different layers from the Kreis Family collection, and enable project members and students to engage in digital storytelling, an important participatory facet that can be seamlessly explored by DH efforts and CHIs with the help of the IIIF Image and Presentation APIs. Data reuse is definitely a key LOUD driver, which could have been done more extensively with a productive instance of Linked Art. As for widening participation, this is definitely a strategic and political decision, rather than a technical one. That said, LOUD specifications can definitely be embedded through strategic citizen science initiatives. A recent example that highlights the comprehensive value of Linked Data was presented by @newbury_linked_2024 at the CNI Spring 2024 Meeting. He delineated its significance as extending well beyond single entities, such as the Getty Research Institute, to enrich a vast ecosystem. Specifically, he identified three principal areas of value: Firstly, within the ecosystem itself, where the utility of information is amplified through its application in diverse contexts. Secondly, for the audience, by directly addressing user needs and facilitating various conceptual frameworks. And finally, within the community, by enabling wider use and adaptation of data and code. This approach to Linked Data, as articulated by Newbury, not only enhances its utility across these dimensions, but also aligns seamlessly with the LOUD proposition, underscoring a shared vision for a digital space where the interconnectedness and accessibility of (meta)data serve as foundational principles for progress and community engagement. LUX, as a catalyst for LOUD, exemplifies a practical approach to implementing Linked Data that has garnered significant local engagement and support at Yale. This initiative demonstrates how sound socio-technical practices can be effectively applied within a supportive institutional environment. The consistency of the data within LUX aligns well with IIIF and Linked Art standards, with only a few minor adjustments required for full compliance. These quick fixes are manageable and do not detract from the overall robustness of the initiative. While it may be too early to fully assess the wider impact of using LOUD specifications on the LUX platform within the CH domain, the initiative has already attracted considerable interest in recent months. This growing attention suggests that the LUX approach is resonating with other organisations, suggesting the potential for wider adoption and impact. The enthusiastic local engagement at Yale provides a strong foundation for LUX and highlights its potential to serve as a model for similar projects aimed at enriching digital heritage through effective collaboration and agreed-upon standards. In carrying out this thesis, I have adhered to the five main objectives set out at the beginning of the PhD. These objectives have been accomplished to a high degree, reflecting a substantial and well-executed project. Furthermore, most of the outputs – such as data models and scripts – from this work are available on GitHub, providing open access to the wider community. In addition, I have published several papers, both individually and collaboratively, further disseminating the findings and contributions of this research. Additionally, this thesis is relevant because it sheds light on communities and implementations that can be celebrated not only for their standards but also for their operating ethos; IIIF and Linked Art present models ripe for emulation beyond their immediate digital confines. Here, agency and authority are most typically granted to the collective over the isolated, with each actor - be it an individual, an institution or an interface – intricately interconnected. Yale’s LUX initiative also embodies this ethos, demonstrating how collaborative efforts can lead to innovative solutions and wider impact. It is to be hoped, then, that these practices of openness and multiple partnerships will not be seen as limited to their origins in digital representation. At the very least, I hope that these socio-technical approaches can serve as exemplars or sources of inspiration in broader arenas, where the principles of mutual visibility and concerted action can point the way towards cohesive and adaptive collaborative architectures. Despite its contribution, this thesis is far from perfect and certainly contains several shortcomings. I will name here three significant ones. First, the visualisations included and the use of FOL are primarily designed to support my own self-reflection and may be more beneficial to me than to the broader academic community. While they provide insights into my research process and findings, their applicability and usefulness to others might be limited. Second, the theoretical framework I employed, while instrumental to my research, may not serve as a universally applicable toolbox. Nevertheless, I urge readers to pay close attention to STS methodologies and practices. The works of Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, and Susan Leigh Star have been invaluable companions throughout this dissertation. Additionally, for those involved in conceptualising semantic information, I recommend exploring Floridi’s PI, which offers profound insights into the nature and dynamics of information. These readings have greatly influenced my approach and understanding, and I believe they can offer valuable perspectives to others as well. Third, while the thesis aims to address both community practices and semantic interoperability, it leans more heavily towards the former. This emphasis on community practices may overshadow the broader discussion of semantic interoperability, potentially limiting the appeal of the thesis to those primarily interested in the technical aspects. Other shortcomings include the broad scope of the thesis, with three empirical chapters exploring different avenues. While this comprehensive approach provides a broad understanding of the research topic, it has also resulted in a rather lengthy thesis. This may be a challenge for the reader, as a topic of interest in one chapter may not be as compelling in another. The diversity of empirical focus, while enriching the research, may dilute the coherence for some readers, making it more difficult to maintain a consistent engagement throughout the dissertation. Despite these limitations, I hope that the different perspectives and findings contribute to a richer, more nuanced understanding of LOUD for CH. Avenues for future research are numerous and promising. One interesting area to explore is the comparative benefits experienced by early adopters of IIIF and Linked Art specifications versus those who implemented these standards later. Early adopters have the advantage of having their use cases discussed and resolved within the community, and it would be insightful to analyse the long-term impacts on their projects. Such a study is already feasible for early adopters of IIIF and will become possible to compare further implementations of Linked Art within a few years. Furthermore, future exploration could focus on the full implementation of Linked Art within PIA or similar efforts, as well as more performance-oriented testing with the deployed LOUD APIs. These efforts should further validate the robustness and scalability of these specifications. Another important area for future investigation is the participation of institutions and individuals from the Global South in both the IIIF and Linked Art communities. It is crucial to explore how we can better support their uptake of these specifications and encourage their active involvement in these initiatives to ensure a more inclusive and globally representative environment. As I reflect on the journey of this thesis, I am reminded of the powerful dialogue and collective effort that has been at its heart. Mr Gee’s poem resonates deeply with my own aspirations for this work: to enhance our understanding of the past through openness and collaboration, as can be seen in IIIF and Linked Art. As I bring this dissertation to a close, I am filled with a sense of accomplishment and a renewed commitment to promoting sound socio-technical practices. It is my hope that the insights and methodologies presented here will inspire others to engage in this ongoing dialogue, continually asking and answering the many questions that arise as we collectively explore our cultural heritage landscapes. Throughout this dissertation, British English spelling conventions are predominantly observed. However, there are instances of American English spelling where direct quotations from sources are used as well as referring to names of institutions, standards, or concepts. ↩︎ SNSF Data Portal - Grant number 193788: https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/193788 ↩︎ Seminar für Kulturwissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie: https://kulturwissenschaft.philhist.unibas.ch/ ↩︎ DHLab: https://dhlab.philhist.unibas.ch/ ↩︎ HKB: https://www.hkb.bfh.ch/ ↩︎ The considerable size of the ASV collection, which includes over 90,000 analogue objects, reflects not just the work of the main authors but also the contributions from numerous explorers and additional material beyond the maps and primary publications. ↩︎ Max Frischknecht’s PhD: https://phd.maxfrischknecht.ch/ ↩︎ PIA project website: https://about.participatory-archives.ch/ ↩︎ The vision of the PIA project was first written in German and then translated into English and French. ↩︎ In our joint paper, we wrote , corrected here, which makes me think of the transition within the CIDOC-CRM for the Entity E22 Human-Made Object from version 6.2.7 onward. ↩︎ Knora Base Ontology: https://docs.dasch.swiss/2023.07.01/DSP-API/02-dsp-ontologies/knora-base/ ↩︎ SIPI documentation: https://sipi.io/ ↩︎ IIIF Working Groups Meeting, The Hague, 2016: https://iiif.io/event/2016/thehague/ ↩︎ Author’s translation: ‘We need to give up on the idea of syntactic or structural interoperability through the use of a single model, whether for producing, storing or managing data within an information system’. ↩︎ CHAOSS: https://chaoss.community/ ↩︎ IIIF Annual Conference and Showcase - Los Angeles, CA, USA - June 4-7, 2024: https://iiif.io/event/2024/los-angeles/ ↩︎ Micrio: https://micr.io/ ↩︎ Message written on the IIIF Slack Workspace on 28 October 2022. ↩︎",
+      "content_html": "Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage: Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability PhD Thesis in Digital Humanities, completed as part of the Graduate School of Social Sciences’ (G3S) doctoral programme. It was successfully defended on 18 November 2024 (slides). This page will host a lightweight HTML version of my thesis, optimised for easy access and readability. The PDF version (e-dissertation) is available on the University of Basel’s repository: https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep96807. Page in construction (please be patient ⌛) Author Dr. Julien A. Raemy (University of Basel) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4711-5759 Supervisors Prof. Dr. Peter Fornaro (University of Basel) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1485-4923 Prof. Dr. Walter Leimgruber (University of Basel) Dr. Robert Sanderson (Yale University) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4441-6852 Abstract Digital technologies have fundamentally transformed how Cultural Heritage (CH) collections are accessed and engaged with. Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) specifications, including the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) Presentation API 3.0, Linked Art, and the W3C Web Annotation Data Model, have emerged as web standards to facilitate the description and dissemination of these valuable resources. Despite the widespread adoption of IIIF, implementing LOUD specifications, particularly in combination, remains challenging. This is especially evident in the development and assessment of infrastructures, or sites of assemblage, that support these standards. This research is guided by two perspectives: community practices and semantic interoperability. The first perspective assesses how organizations, individuals, and apparatuses engage with and contribute to the consensus-making processes surrounding LOUD. By examining these practices, the social fabrics of the LOUD ecosystem can be better understood. The second perspective focuses on making data meaningful to machines in a standardized, interoperable manner that promotes the exchange of well-formed information. This research is grounded in the SNSF-funded project, Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archives (PIA) (2021–2025), which aims to develop a citizen science platform for three photographic collections from the Cultural Anthropology Switzerland (CAS) archives. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) forms the theoretical foundation, aiming to describe the collaborative structures of the LOUD ecosystem and emphasize the role of non-human actors. Beyond its implementation within the PIA project, this research includes an analysis of the social dynamics within the IIIF and Linked Art communities and an investigation of Yale’s Collections Discovery platform, LUX. The research identifies socio-technical requirements for developing specifications aligned with LOUD principles. It also examines how the implementation of LOUD standards in PIA highlights their potential benefits and limitations in facilitating data reuse and broader participation. Additionally, it explores Yale University’s large-scale deployment of LOUD standards, emphasizing the importance of ensuring consistency between Linked Art and IIIF resources within the LUX platform for the CH domain. The core methodology of this thesis is an actor- and practice-centered inquiry, focusing on a detailed examination of specific cosmologies within LOUD-driven communities, PIA, and LUX. This micro-perspective approach provides rich empirical evidence to unravel the intricate web of cultural processes and constellations in these contexts. Key empirical findings indicate that LOUD enhances the discoverability and integration of data in CH, requiring community-driven consensus on model interoperability. However, significant challenges include engaging marginalized groups, sustaining long-term participation, and balancing technological and social factors. Strategic use of technology and the capture of digital materiality are critical, but LOUD also poses challenges related to resource investment, data consistency, and the broader implementation of complex patterns. LOUD should lead efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of CH data. The community-driven methodologies of IIIF and Linked Art inherently foster collaboration and transparency, making these standards essential tools in evolving data management practices. Even for institutions and projects that do not adopt these specifications, the socio-technical practices of LOUD offer vital insights into effective digital stewardship and strategies for community engagement. Keywords: Actor-Network Theory; Community of Practice; Cultural Anthropology Switzerland; Cultural Heritage; Digital Infrastructure; International Image Interoperability Framework; Knowledge Practices; Linked Art; Linked Data; LUX; Participatory Archives; Photographic Archives; Semantic Interoperability; Web Annotation Data Model Table of Contents Introduction Context Interlinking Cultural Heritage Data Exploring Relationships through an Actor-Network Theory Lens Research Scope and Methodology The Social Fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art PIA as a Laboratory Yale’s LUX and LOUD Consistency Discussion Conclusion 1. Introduction Since its inception in 2011, the IIIF has revolutionised[1] the accessibility of image-based resources. Initially driven by the needs of manuscript scholars, IIIF focused on two-dimensional images, but has since expanded to encompass a wide range of image-based resources, including audiovisual materials and, in the near future, 3D images. Similarly, Linked Art, formally established in 2017, initially concentrated on art museum objects but has since broadened its scope to model a variety of CH entities, leveraging CIDOC-CRM, a renowned ontology in the museum and DH space. Both initiatives aim to break down silos: IIIF focuses on improving the presentation of digital objects, while both initiatives enhance their dissemination. Together, they make CH data more accessible through IIIF and more meaningful through Linked Art for machines. These efforts have primarily benefited the CH domain. A key commonality is that the main APIs these communities create align with the LOUD design principles, either intentionally or empirically demonstrated through use cases. These principles enable software developers to develop compliant tools and services without needing to fully understand RDF, a syntax for representing information on the web. Additionally, they may not need to grasp all LOD principles, which promote the interlinking of data from diverse datasets using tools like KOS such as thesauri. WADM, a W3C standard, is also recognised as a LOUD specification. It provides a framework for creating interoperable annotations on web resources, facilitating the linking and sharing of data across different platforms and applications. These LOUD design principles include the right abstraction for the audience, few barriers to entry, comprehensibility by introspection, documentation with working examples, and the use of many consistent patterns rather than few exceptions. Additionally, both IIIF and Linked Art are driven by vibrant communities, mainly comprising GLAM and higher education institutions. While the standards and principles discussed have broad applications, it is important to clarify the scope of this dissertation. This work does not focus on KGs by assessing triplestores – databases specifically designed to store and retrieve triples, which are the fundamental data structures in RDF. Similarly, it does not deal with evaluating SPARQL engines, which are specifically designed to query KGs. Additionally, this dissertation does not address the intersection of ML and IIIF, or the ontological reasoning of Linked Art. Instead, this dissertation concentrates on LOUD, the consistency of its standards, design principles and the vibrant communities behind it. It examines JSON-LD serialisation efforts and the crucial intersection required to establish robust semantic interoperability baselines between presentation and semantic layers. It also presents real-world use case implementations, both on a small scale in a laboratory and flexible space within the PIA research project, and on a large scale at Yale, exemplified by the LUX platform that provides access to (meta)data from YUL, YCBA, YUAG, and YPM. The focus is therefore on digital infrastructures capable of delivering JSON-LD files from the above specifications, which are primarily, though not exclusively, CH resources. It is more about the different actors – both human and non-human – that create and maintain these interconnected systems and the dynamic interactions that sustain them. The deployment of various LOUD specifications addresses the need for semantic interoperability between CH resources and disparate datasets by establishing a standardised approach to representing and linking data, ensuring that information can be seamlessly shared and understood across different platforms and contexts. This dissertation seeks to carve out a distinct niche by addressing an often-overlooked aspect of IIIF and Linked Art. IIIF is sometimes perceived and studied merely as a service or an appendix, with the content it delivers taking precedence. However, this PhD thesis positions IIIF as a first-class citizen worthy of in-depth study. Similarly, Linked Art, despite its potential and its relatively recent establishment, has been the subject of very few scholarly papers. This gap underscores the significance of LOUD in this context. Furthermore, this thesis elevates Linked Art to a position of primary importance, recognising its significance and advocating for its thorough examination. To thoroughly study LOUD and its adherence to design principles, it is essential to immerse ourselves actively in both communities – an approach I have embraced for years. The thesis also emphasises the importance of participatory efforts and collaboration between research projects, which typically have shorter lifespans, and memory institutions, which need to implement technical standards as a lingua franca. In doing so, it reveals the mediating role of LOUD in advancing the heritage sphere. To truly understand IIIF, Linked Art, and to a lesser extent WADM, it is crucial to examine the social fabrics and consensus decision-making of each community. Among these considerations are how the specifications can be implemented pragmatically, and how the standards can support the implementation and maintenance of more extensive semantic interoperability efforts. The significance of this research lies in highlighting the commitment and diligence of the individuals and organisations that make up both the IIIF and Linked Art communities. It aims to demonstrate that community-driven practices, such as those exemplified by IIIF and Linked Art, have a potential that goes beyond the mere sharing of digital objects and their associated metadata. The more people who embrace these approaches and implement the associated specifications, the more society as a whole will benefit. Furthermore, this research illustrates that IIIF is no longer limited to two-dimensional images, that Linked Art is not restricted to artworks, and that WADM is a simple, content-agnostic standard that can be easily integrated into a range of systems. This adaptability is a strength of LOUD standards, which are designed to be simple yet effective. LOUD can serve a variety of purposes, primarily rooted in CH, but with the potential to extend its benefits to other sectors. The true beauty of LOUD lies in its ability to foster networking opportunities and transparent socio-technical practices, demonstrating its value beyond mere technical implementation. By emphasising these aspects, this dissertation highlights the wider impact of LOUD in promoting semantic interoperability and enhancing collaborative efforts within the heritage field and beyond. In addition, the implementation of standards through PIA underlines the potential for similar participatory or citizen science projects, while the LUX initiative serves as an illustrative example of robust infrastructure and cross-unit engagement. These examples demonstrate the practical applications and far-reaching implications of adopting LOUD standards in different contexts. This dissertation is structured across ten chapters, each building upon the previous ones up to Chapter 5 to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research. These initial chapters lay the foundation of the study, establishing the context, theoretical framework, and methodological approaches. After this foundational section, Chapters 6, 7, and 8 present empirical studies that, while interconnected, can be read independently if desired. These chapters offer detailed insights into specific aspects of the research and can be appreciated on their own or as part of the broader narrative. The thesis continues with Chapter 2, which extends this introduction by providing more information about the research setting, specifically PIA. Chapter 3 follows with an extensive literature review, offering a comprehensive overview of methods to interlink CH data. Next, Chapter 4 presents the theoretical framework, conceptualised as a toolbox and firmly rooted in ANT, guiding the analysis and discussion throughout the dissertation. Following this, Chapter 5 details the research scope and methodology, explaining the approaches and methods employed in the study. Moving on to the empirical work, Chapter 6 sheds light on the social fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art, exploring the communities and practices that underpin these initiatives.Chapter 7 then examines the implementation of LOUD standards within PIA, highlighting the practical aspects and challenges encountered. This is followed by Chapter 8, which focuses on the LUX initiative at Yale, examining the underlying governance and interdepartmental ownership of the Yale Collections Discovery platform. The discussion of findings is presented in Chapter 9, where the results from the empirical chapters are synthesised and analysed in relation to the theoretical framework. Finally, Chapter 10 concludes the thesis, summarising the key insights and contributions of the research while outlining potential directions for future study. 2. Context In this chapter, I will set the stage for my PhD thesis by providing important background information. First, in Section 2.1, I will explain why I chose the title for my thesis. This will give you an understanding of the main focus and the direction of my research. Next, in , I will describe the PIA research project, which is central to my work. This section will cover the project’s goals, significance, and overall framework. In , I will detail my specific contributions to the PIA project. I will emphasise how my work fits into the larger project and its importance to my thesis. Finally, in , I will talk about my active participation in the IIIF and Linked Art communities. This section will highlight how my involvement in these communities has influenced my research and its broader implications. 2.1 PhD Title I chose the title ‘Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage: Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability’ as it encapsulates the essence of my research focus but I could have indeed chosen other ones. During the initial stages of my research, multiple working titles were explored to capture the diverse facets of my interests and objectives. If I was quite sure about having in the title after the third iteration, I was quite unsure of what should follow and if a subtitle was actually needed at all. Amidst this dynamic progression, the underlying theme of my research remained steadfast – to delve into the transformative potential of LOUD for CH. I also opted to maintain in the title of my thesis subsection. While holds its appeal, my choice reflects a broader narrative that acknowledges the crucial role of CHIs and spotlighting the multifaceted nature of heritage preservation, encapsulating both its digital facets and the essential contribution of individuals and institutions in curating, interpreting, and making heritage accessible. As for the subtitle, while I do explore CoP as defined by @lave_situated_1991 and @wenger_communities_2011 through investigating the social fabrics of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, my main interest lies in the broader application of LOUD for describing and interlinking CH resources. Thus, I decided to opt for the more generic as the first axis or perspective. For the second perspective, I wanted to see how semantic interoperability can be achieved through standards adhering to the LOUD design principles, as they seem to be key enablers for seamless collaboration and knowledge exchange among practitioners. There was a time in my research when I envisaged decoupling and , perceiving them as two distinct dimensions. However, what really captivates me is the unification of these factors to facilitate collective reasoning for both humans and machines. In summary, this title reflects my enthusiasm for using web-based and community-driven technologies to transform the way we understand, share and value CH. 2.2 The PIA Research Project I undertook my doctoral studies within the scope of the PIA research project financed by the SNSF under their Sinergia funding scheme from February 2021 to January 2025[2]. The project aimed to analyse the interplay of participants, epistemological orders and the graphical representation of information and knowledge in relation to three photographic collections from CAS. It sought to bring together the world of data and things in an interdisciplinary manner, exploring the phases of the analogue and digital archive from a cultural anthropological, technical and design research perspective [@felsing_community_2023 p. 42]. As part of this endeavour, interfaces were developed to enable the collaborative indexing and use of photographic archival records [@chiquet_participatory_2023 p. 110]. I discuss in more detail the interdisciplinary components and briefly introduce the people involved in the project in Subsection 2.2.1, then talk about the photographic collections that were the overarching narrative of the research in Subsection 2.2.2, and lastly in Subsection 2.2.3, the vision that we had put together. The project, divided in three interdisciplinary teams, was led by the University of Basel through the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology[3] (Team A) and the DHLab[4] in collaboration with the DBIS group (Team B) as well as by the HKB[5], an art school and department of the Bern University of Applied Sciences (Team C) [@felsing_community_2023 p. 43]. Table 2.1 lists the people who contributed to the project, broken down by the three teams and their particular perspectives. Table 2.1: PIA Team Core Members Perspective People A) Anthropological Prof. Dr. Walter Leimgruber, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Dr. Nicole Peduzzi, Photographic Restoration and Digitisation Supervisor Regula Anklin, Conservation and Restoration Specialist (project partner at Anklin & Assen) Murielle Cornut, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology Birgit Huber, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology Fabienne Lüthi, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology B) Technical Prof. Dr. Peter Fornaro, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Prof. Dr. Heiko Schuldt, Dissertation Supervisor (project partner at the University of Basel) Dr. Vera Chiquet, Postdoctoral Researcher Adrian Demleitner, Software Developer (2021-2023) Fabian Frei, Software Developer (2023-2025) Christoph Rohrer, Software Developer (2023-2025) Julien A. Raemy, PhD Candidate in Digital Humanities Florian Spiess, PhD Candidate in Computer Science C) Communicative Dr. Ulrike Felsing, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Prof. Dr. Tobias Hodel, Dissertation Supervisor (project partner at the University of Bern) Daniel Schoeneck, Research Fellow Lukas Zimmer, Designer (project partner at A/Z&T) Max Frischknecht, PhD Candidate in Digital Humanities 2.2.2 Photographic Collections/Archives as Anchors CAS has historically been engaged in active collaborations that bridge the academic research and the public sphere, primarily through traditional analogue methods. The PIA project was created with the intention of exploring the complexities inherent in both analogue and digital approaches, and to encourage and investigate these collaborative endeavours between academia and the wider public. As such, PIA represents a paradigm shift within the scope of projects associated with or supported by CAS, facilitating the seamless integration of digital tools to explore multiple facets of participation and engagement. This transformative endeavour embodies a profound exploration of new intersections where scholarly endeavours intertwine with the active involvement of citizens. PIA drew on three collections: one focusing on scientific cartography and titled (Atlas der Schweizerischen Volkskunde), a second from the estate of the photojournalist Ernst Brunner (1901–1979), and a third collection consisting of vernacular photography which was owned by the Kreis Family (1860–1970). SGV_05 ASV consists of 292 maps and 1000 pages of commentary published from 1950 to 1995 — an example of such a map is shown in Figure 2.1. This collection was commissioned by the CAS to do an extensive survey of the Swiss population in the 1930s and 1940s on many issues pertaining, for instance, to everyday life, local laws, superstitions, celebrations or labour [@weiss_atlas_1940]. The contents were compiled by researchers and by people who were described as [6]. Questions were asked about everyday habits, community rights, work, trade, superstitions, and many other topics [@schmoll_richard_2009; @schmoll_vermessung_2009]. This collection offers a snapshot of everyday life in Switzerland right before the beginning of a modernisation process that fundamentally changed lifestyles in all areas during the postwar period. A digitised version of the ASV would not only allow the results of that time to be enriched with further findings [@schranz_critical_2021], but would also make transparent how knowledge was generated in cartographic form through a complex process along different types of media and actors. The restoration, digitisation, cataloguing and indexing efforts took all part throughout PIA under the supervision of Birgit Huber, who extensively based her doctoral research on this particular collection [see @huber_entdeckung_2023]. Figure 2.1: Map from the SGV_05 Collection Relating to Question 93 Showing Walks and Excursions at Pentecost. ASV. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 SGV_10 Kreis Family comprises approximately 20,000 loose photographic objects, where a quarter of them are organised and kept in 93 photo albums — as illustrated by Figure 2.2, from a wealthy Basel-based family and spanning from the 1850s to the 1980s. This private collection was acquired by CAS in 1991. The collection, which originally arrived in banana cases and was enigmatic due to the lack of clear organisation or accompanying information from the family, posed significant challenges. Despite these initial hurdles, CAS undertook meticulous efforts to catalogue and preserve its contents [@felsing_re-imagining_2024 p. 42]. The pictures were taken by studio photographers as well as by family members themselves. The Kreis Family collection represents a typical example of urban bourgeois culture and gives a comprehensive insight into the development of private photography over the course of a century [@pagenstecher_private_2009]. The photographic materials and formats are very diverse, ranging from prints to negatives, small, medium or large format photographs, black and white or colour. The collection also encompasses many photographic techniques, from the one-off daguerreotypes and ferrotypes, to the glass-based negatives that could be reproduced en masse, to the modern paper prints. While some of the albums and loose images were restored and digitised during the 2014 project, much of this work was completed during PIA and overseen by Murielle Cornut, whose doctoral investigation was centred on the study of photo albums [see @cornut_open_2023]. Figure 2.2: A photo Album Page from the SGV_10 Collection, Bearing the Following Inscription: Botanische Excursion ins Wallis, Pfingster 1928. SGV_10A_00031_015. Kreis Family. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 SGV_12 Ernst Brunner is a donation of about 48,000 negatives and 20,000 prints to the CAS archives from Ernst Brunner, a self-taught photojournalist, who lived from 1901 to 1979 and who documented mainly in the 1930s and 1940s a wide range of folkloristic themes — as shown by Figure 2.3. He is one of the most important photographers of the era and one of the most outstanding visual chroniclers of Swiss society [@pfrunder_ernst_1995]. His photographs show rural lifestyles, but also urban motifs. In his late work, he led the documentation and research on farmhouses in a specific Swiss district, a project initiated by CAS. Before Ernst Brunner became an independent photojournalist in the mid-1930s, he worked as a carpenter, influenced by the ideas of the Bauhaus and Neues Bauen movements. This can also be seen in the aesthetics and formal language of his photography. If all the black and white negatives were digitised and recorded between 2014 and 2018, the digitisation of prints, which is a selection done by Ernst Brunner, was conducted at the end of the PIA research project. The latter was supervised by Fabienne Lüthi, whose PhD was about organisational systems and knowledge practices in the Ernst Brunner Collection. Figure 2.3: Picture from the SGV_12 Collection Showing Walkers Looking at the Timetable Train. [Wanderer studieren den Fahrplan in der Bahnhofhalle]. Lucerne, 1938. Ernst Brunner. SGV_12N_00716. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 Whereas for each of the PhD Candidates in Cultural Anthropology, a particular collection was assigned to them and its content was to varying degrees part of their subject of study, this was not exactly the same for the PhD Candidates in DH, including myself, and in Computer Science. Put differently, we had relative leeway in terms of what interested us in each or all of these three photographic collections. In my case, I briefly explain my contribution to the project more in and then in as part of the empirical portion of my thesis focusing on the deployment of LOUD specifications using the three CAS photographic collections. Florian Spiess focused on the use of VR through vitrivr, a multimedia retrieval system developed by the DBIS research group at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science [@spiess_multimodal_2022; @spiess_forschung_2023; @spiess_exploring_2024]. His work included experiments with PIA-related collections, such as the creation of virtual galleries clustered according to content-based similarity [see @peterhans_automatic_2022]. In the case of Max Frischknecht, his doctoral research centred on generative design[7], a methodology to visualise dynamic cultural archives. He mostly worked on the ASV collection and on a mapping tool which is a cartographic visualisation designed to explore the CAS photographic archives [see @frischknecht_generating_2022; @eggmann_digitalisierung_2024]. It should also be mentioned that not only did we use the three collections of the CAS photographic archives within the project, but that both formal and informal meetings took place most commonly within the photographic archives at the Spalenvorstadt premises in the old Gewerbemuseum and later either at the on Allschwilerstrasse, though less frequently, or at Rheinsprung where the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology is located. This meant that there was a strong and sometimes blurred entanglement between those involved in the archives and the PIA core team members. 2.2.3 Project Vision Between December 2021 and March 2022, we worked together to develop and finalise a vision for the project[8]. It includes seven key priorities, or pillars, which were meant to strengthen the interdisciplinary perspectives of PIA. Although ambitious, these elements were of paramount importance to us and served as a guiding blueprint for all PIA activities. Hereafter is a modified version of the vision[9] taken from @cornut_annotations_2023 [p. 4]. Accessibility by developing open interfaces and offering the possibility of expanding the archive and turning it into an instrument of current research that collects and evaluates knowledge with the participation of other users (Citizen Science). Heterogeneity by making visible where, why and under what circumstances the objects were created, how they were handled and what path they have taken to get to and in the archive. We work on visualisations that take into account the heterogeneous character of archival materials and make their respective biographies visible. Materiality by conveying the material properties of the objects: they have front and back sides, inscriptions, traces, development errors, they are transparent, multi-layered or fabric-covered. They tell of their origin, use, and peculiarities. We want to make this knowledge accessible and understandable in digital form. To this end, we also consider the necessary infrastructure involved in the creation as part of their narrative: the restoration, the relocation, the indexing, the storage devices, the research tools, the display medium, as well as the process of repro-photography. Interoperability as a crucial component and which will be done by supporting digital means that allow different stakeholders to freely access and interact with the project’s data. Both humans and machines can use, contribute to, correct and annotate the existing data in an open and interoperable manner, thus encouraging exchange and the creation of new knowledge. To do this, we use web-based standards that are widely adopted in the cultural heritage field. Affinities by leveraging data models and pattern recognition which can uncover semantic relationships between entities that were previously incomplete or difficult for users to access. Using specific interfaces and visualisations, we make it possible to explore digital assets and discover forms of relationships and similarities between images. AI that facilitates automated searches for simple image attributes such as colour, shapes, and localisation of image components. It should also become possible to recognise texts and object types for extracting metadata. Bias Management by taking into account that associated metadata was human-made[10] and thus is never objective. Collections and their metadata reflect biases or focus narrowly on selected areas and perceptions. Machines working on the basis of such data automatically reproduce the implicit biases in decision-making due to so-called biased algorithms. Therefore, understanding the data used for training and the algorithms applied for decision making is crucial to ensure the integrity of the application of these technologies in archives. We take ethical issues into account when using AI and visualisations, because the higher the awareness of a possible bias, the faster it can be detected or brought up for consideration with users. As my thesis is notably concerned with semantic interoperability, Interoperability and Affinities are of particular importance to my PhD thesis, although I recognise the importance of all pillars. Each of these resonated with me and my fellow PhD Candidates. As we immersed ourselves in the vision of the PIA research project, it became a unifying thread that brought us together in our research ambitions. We found that all these priorities within the project spoke to us at different points and provided a strong point of communication and practice in the development of processes, prototypes or interfaces. 2.3 Contribution to PIA and its Relevance to the Thesis To develop a participatory platform, an open and sustainable technological foundation for facilitating the reuse of CH resources was needed [@raemy_applying_2021]. Throughout the PIA project, I was mainly involved in the extension of the data infrastructure, the uptake of IIIF as well as designing the data model, leveraging Linked Art and WADM [@raemy_interlinking_2024]. As a member of Team B, I undertook this PhD as a bridge between the different teams, mostly participating in discussions with the three doctoral candidates from Team A to further develop and agree on the CAS data model and with the software developers from my team to discuss the impact of the data model on our evolving — yet transitory — infrastructure as well as helping in implementing the APIs adhering to the LOUD design principles. It was necessary to redesign the data model within the context of a database migration, from Salsah to the DSP, that happened between November 2021 and March 2024. This updated version, based on the Knora Base Ontology[11], corresponded to the needs of the CAS archives and to some extent to those of PIA, in particular to enable the PhD Candidates in Cultural Anthropology to make more precise assertions, whether in terms of descriptive metadata, or in the ability to link one object to another or to provide comments on these objects in several narrative forms. Moreover, an assessment of the appropriate technical standards for improved usability of the objects by both humans and machines was carried out, as a basis for extending the capabilities provided by DaSCH, such as helping the software developers to implement SIPI[12], a C++ image server compatible with the IIIF Image API and build services that create IIIF Presentation API 3.0 resources. While the theoretical framework of the thesis extends across the scope of PIA, the empirical part focuses on a specific set of findings derived from the research project outlined in , under the title . In this chapter, I discuss the data model and its refinement as well as the generation of custom IIIF Manifests during the specific digitisation, cataloguing and indexing efforts that took place throughout the project for the three CAS collections (SGV_05, SGV_10 and SGV_12) under investigation, the implementation of LOUD standards, and the overall design of the technological underpinnings. 2.4 Involvement within the IIIF and Linked Art communities I must acknowledge the invaluable role that my involvement within the IIIF and Linked Art communities has played in shaping my journey as a trained information specialist and an aspiring DH practitioner. Being an active participant in both communities has not only broadened my understanding of the latest developments in the field but has also profoundly influenced the trajectory of this dissertation. I have been involved within the IIIF community since October 2016 and the Working Groups Meeting that happened in The Hague[13]. This significant journey was, in fact, initiated by a recommendation from my first supervisor, Peter Fornaro, during my time as an undergraduate doing an internship at the DHLab. Little did I know that this recommendation would lead me to be carrying out a PhD and looking at IIIF not only as community-driven standards but as an object of study. Engaging with the IIIF community exposed me to cutting-edge advances in image interoperability and standards, and fostered a deeper appreciation for the importance of digital representations of cultural heritage. Through collaborative discussions with experts from diverse backgrounds, I gained new perspectives on the potential of technology to advance humanities research and preserve our collective cultural memory. Similarly, my involvement in the Linked Art community introduced me to the opportunities offered by LOUD and its transformative impact on research discourse. Exposure to Linked Data methodologies and the CIDOC-CRM has significantly influenced the way I have structured and interpreted the data in this dissertation, thereby enriching its scholarly breadth and rigour. I started to be actively involved in Linked Art at the beginning of my PhD in 2021, but I was already a by 2020, driven by the efforts of Rob Sanderson, my third supervisor. By mid-2023, I had become a member of the Editorial Board. The individuals I have met and the knowledge shared in these vibrant communities have deeply informed my approach as a scholar. The invaluable connections and collaborations I have made have expanded my network of fellow researchers, educators, and experts, leading to fruitful discussions that have significantly shaped the research questions addressed in this thesis. The events and workshops organised by these communities have also provided immersive learning experiences, giving me first-hand insights into the tools, technologies and methodologies used in the context of describing and disseminating CH data. The dynamic ecosystem of these communities has served as an inspiring backdrop, fostering innovative thinking and encouraging a more holistic approach to my research. 3. Interlinking Cultural Heritage Data Interlinking CH data is an important aspect of publishing heritage collections over the web, in particular by using LOD technologies to make assertions more easily readable and meaningful to machines [@marcondes_integrated_2021]. Due to the complexity of CH data and their intrinsic inter-relationships, it is necessary to define its nature and introduce controlled vocabularies and ontologies that can be integrated with existing web standards and interoperable with relevant platforms [@bruseker_cultural_2017; @hyvonen_using_2020]. Efforts to interlink CH data have brought about significant advancements, but challenges remain. One such challenge is finding a balance between completeness and precision of expression to ensure that the that CH data remain accessible and usable to a wider audience. Addressing this challenge, the LOUD design principles and the specifications that adhere to those, such as the IIIF Presentation API 3.0 and Linked Art, offer a promising approach [@raemy_enabling_2023]. By focusing on usability aspects from the perspective of software developers and data scientists involved in designing visualisation tools and data aggregation approaches, LOUD strives to enhance the overall user experience [@sanderson_keynote_2019]. Finding this equilibrium becomes crucial as CH data continues to grow in complexity and size, necessitating the seamless integration of native web technologies. The LOUD concept cultivates an environment that encourages the formation of vibrant CoP and the seamless integration of native web technologies, wherein an essential principle is the availability of comprehensive documentation supplemented with practical examples [@raemy_ameliorer_2022]. Moreover, the emphasis on leveraging widely adopted technologies enhances the interoperability of data and promotes its wider dissemination. With LOUD principles guiding the linking of CH data, the resulting web of knowledge becomes more than just a machine-readable resource; it transforms into a user-centric ecosystem where both accessibility of Linked Data and usability intersect to enable scholars and a wider audience to engage in the exploration and appreciation of CH [@newbury_loud_2018]. Finally, by fostering a collaborative, knowledge-sharing mindset, LOUD empowers software developers to implement data in a robust way, drawing insights from shared experiences [see @page_linked_2020]. In this chapter, which serves as the literature review of the PhD thesis, I attempt to draw on this brief introduction by dividing the insights into seven sections in order to provide an overview of the key concepts related to interlinking data in the CH domain. The literature review primarily encompasses works published up until December 2023, providing a comprehensive snapshot of the field’s current state and its evolution. ??? discusses what makes CH data stand out and is about CH metadata standards, while ??? explores the technological trends, scientific movements and guiding principles that have shaped the field. ??? provides an overview of the web as an open platform, which are essential to understanding the current landscape of interlinking CH data. ??? focuses on LOUD, while ??? looks at characterising the community practices and semantic interoperability dimensions for CH. Finally, in ???, I summarise key elements from each section and within each of these I give some initial thoughts with respect to LOUD, and then conclude the chapter with some considerations on why we as a society need to care about CH data. 3.1 What Makes Cultural Heritage Data Stand Out? Here, I aim to establish the indirect territory of my study, as I am situated on a distinct plane that focuses on web technologies and standards — as well as software and services that enable them — as the subjects of investigation. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that LOUD specifications owe their existence to the available data that have served as case studies. Thus, their significance can be best understood through the lens of data and I recognise here the pivotal role played by CH practitioners — encompassing individuals from research and memory institutions — who have had a significant impact on specifying a series of web-based standards and who have helped to move forward the discovery of CH data and beyond, in particular those belonging to the public domain, in an open manner. (…) Data processing offers great potential for humanities research as @owens_defining_2011 argues: ‘In the end, the kinds of questions humanists ask about texts and artifacts are just as relevant to ask of data. While the new and exciting prospects of processing data offer humanists a range of exciting possibilities for research, humanistic approaches to the textual and artifactual qualities of data also have a considerable amount to offer to the interpretation of data’. 4. Exploring Relationships through an Actor-Network Theory Lens (…) 5. Research Scope and Methodology This chapter delineates the Research Scope and Methodology, laying the groundwork for the empirical exploration within this thesis. (…) 6. The Social Fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art (…) 7. PIA as a Laboratory (…) 8. Yale’s LUX and LOUD Consistency (…) 9. Discussion [Il] faut renoncer à l’idée d’une interopérabilité syntaxique ou structurelle par l’utilisation d’un modèle unique, qu’il s’agisse de la production, de stockage ou de l’exploitation au sein même d’un [système d’information]. [@poupeau_reflexions_2018] [14] This chapter presents a comprehensive discussion where I interpret, analyse and critically examine my findings in relation to the thesis and the wider application of LOUD. Through an in-depth analysis of the design principles of LOUD and their implications for CH, this discussion aims to demonstrate the many challenges and opportunities inherent in this framework. The focus is on achieving community-driven consensus, rather than simply pursuing technological breakthrough. The following sections are organised to provide a comprehensive review of the empirical findings, an evaluation abstracting LOUD, and a retrospective analysis of the research journey. Firstly, in Section 9.1, I will present a summary of the empirical findings from my research. This will include key themes and insights, structured to reflect the different areas of study and practice within LOUD. Secondly, in Section 9.2 I will provide an evaluation of LOUD by means of using the LoA approach. This evaluation will focus on the impact of LOUD on the perception of Linked Data within the CH domain and the wider DH field. This will include the key themes and insights that have emerged, structured in a way that reflects four levels of abstraction. I will also explore the dual nature of LOUD implementation, involving both simplicity and complexity, and discuss the various factors that influence such dynamics. Finally, in Section 9.3, I will offer a retrospective analysis of the research journey. This section will interpret the findings to situate LOUD as fully-fledged actors. It will reflect on the challenges, achievements, and lessons learned throughout the research process, providing a holistic view of the project’s trajectory and its implications for the future of LOUD. 9.1 Empirical Findings This section summarises the empirical findings of my research and already offers some suggestions. The structure does not follow the exact order of the three empirical chapters but is organised around overarching topics that emerged throughout the study. The seven topics include Community Practices and Standards, Inclusion and Marginalised Groups, Maintenance and Community Engagement, Interoperability and Usability, Future Directions and Sustainability, Digital Materiality and Representation, as well as Challenges of Scaling and Implementation. Community Practices and Standards GitHub serves as a vital hub for community involvement, with a core group of active contributors often attending meetings regularly. This platform simplifies decision-making within the community, although it also reflects biases similar to those in FLOSS communities. Behind visible activities like meetings, there is substantial preparatory work managed by co-chairs, editorial boards, or driven by community-generated use cases. This foundational work often determines the direction and outcomes of formal gatherings. The LUX project at Yale, as seen in , has successfully fostered collaboration across various units, bringing together libraries and museums on a unified platform. The technological foundation of LUX, based on open standards, facilitates data integration and cross-collections discovery. Not only does the deployment of FLOSS tools contribute to these achievements, but it also emphasises the social advantages of working collaboratively. The concept of the Tragedy of the Commons, as described by @hardin_tragedy_1968, highlights the potential for individual self-interest to deplete shared resources. However, @ostrom_governing_1990 offers a counterpoint by demonstrating how communities can successfully manage common resources through collective action and shared norms. In this context, initiatives like the CHAOSS initiative[15] play a significant role by providing metrics that help evaluate the health and sustainability of open source communities. These metrics include contributions, issue resolution times, and community growth, offering valuable insights into how collaborative efforts can be maintained and improved. Reaching consensus is another critical aspect of community practices and standards. While the minutes of meetings are valuable artefacts, they often reflect an Anglo-Saxon approach to decision-making characterised by few substantive points and critical turning points. The formal aspects of conversations captured in minutes do not fully encompass the decision-making process, which frequently involves informal conversations, consensus-building through open dialogue, and subtle cues that influence outcomes. These elements are integral to the English and American approach and hold valuable lessons for an international community. IIIF and Linked Art are international communities, but decisions are made in English and the majority of participants are based in North America and the UK, significantly imprinting this approach. Understanding these nuances can help us improve our collaborative efforts within the IIIF and Linked Art communities. By recognising and appreciating these different facets of decision-making, we can learn from each other and enhance our collective ability to make effective and inclusive decisions. Some of the challenges associated with these practices include the major demand on resources for community building, the slowness inherent in distributed development, and the difficulty in achieving consensus. Additionally, the concept of social sustainability can be seen as an imaginary construct that papers over differences, as discussed by @fitzpatrick_generous_2019. Addressing these challenges is crucial for the long-term success and effectiveness of the IIIF and Linked Art communities. Inclusion and Marginalised Groups The demographic homogeneity in these communities can perpetuate biases and neglect issues relevant to underrepresented or marginalised groups, as seen in . Participation in these standardisation processes is itself a privilege. The assumption that internet access and digital devices are universally available is critically examined, revealing key actors in the digital landscape. This mirrors issues within the IIIF community, where generating IIIF resources presupposes means that may not be accessible to all. We need clear terms of inclusion, as highlighted by @hoffmann_terms_2021. She argues that effective inclusion requires a critical examination of the frameworks and conditions under which inclusion is offered. The framework should ensure that inclusion initiatives do not merely add diversity to existing power structures but work to transform these structures fundamentally. This involves questioning who defines the terms of inclusion, who benefits from them, and who may be inadvertently excluded. @hoffmann_terms_2021 suggests a participatory approach, where marginalised communities are actively involved in shaping inclusion policies and practices, thus making inclusion an ongoing, reflective process rather than a static goal. The inclusion of marginalised groups is a necessary step, but it is not sufficient. To truly make a difference, there must be a strategic and concentrated effort to appropriate technologies, as emphasised by [@morales_apropiacion_2009; @morales_imaginacion_2017; @morales_apropiacion_2018] and further articulated by [@martinez_demarco_empowering_2019; @martinez_demarco_digital_2023]. This strategic approach highlights the political significance of challenging dominant neoliberal and consumerist perspectives on technology and individual engagement. @martinez_demarco_digital_2023 underscores the critical importance of focusing on practices that go beyond mere inclusion. Instead, it requires a deep understanding and critical assessment of how technology is intertwined with social, economic, and ideological contexts. It implies a reflective and deliberate process of technology adoption in which individuals creatively tailor technology to their specific needs, beliefs, and interests. Moreover, a key aspect highlighted by @martinez_demarco_digital_2023 is the implicit and explicit critique of a universalist approach to inclusion, which often lends itself to all too easy instrumentalisation. Understanding and studying resistance to inclusion in an oppressive digital transformation context is paramount, particularly given the highly unequal conditions that prevail. In this light, a comprehensive study of socio-material and symbolic processes, practices, and involved in embedding technologies into individuals’ lives is needed. This approach also recognises technology as a catalyst for change. It envisions the use of technology to drive meaningful change at multiple dimensions and realities—national, societal, or personal. By focusing on these practices, empowering individuals to navigate and use technology thoughtfully and purposefully becomes a reality, bridging the gap between technological advances and societal progress [@martinez_demarco_empowering_2019]. Maintenance and Community Engagement The tension between creating advanced specifications and their practical implementation by platforms is evident in the IIIF Cookbook recipes and Linked Art patterns, as discussed in Chapter 6. This ongoing development shows that the community is still finding the best ways to achieve broad adoption and interoperability. The deployment of the Change Discovery API, as illustrated in Chapter 7, demonstrates that establishing such a protocol on top of the IIIF Presentation API is feasible and straightforward. High-level support from leadership, particularly Susan Gibbons as Vice Provost, has been crucial in building trust and ensuring the project’s success as a valuable discovery layer at Yale. This integration of diverse collections through a unified platform, based on open standards, highlights the potential for transforming teaching, learning, and research by leveraging collaborative efforts. The topic modelling exercise in LUX reveals the intricate actor-networks composed of organisations, individuals, and non-human actors. This analysis underscores the importance of ongoing processes and relationships in maintaining and evolving infrastructure, akin to the concept of ‘infrastructuring’. As detailed in Chapter 8, following best practices and guidelines such as the SHARED Principles is essential for better involvement, but it is also crucial to uphold these commitments consistently over the long term to ensure meaningful participation. Between the PIA team members, there were sometimes ‘disconnects between different communities who undertake collaborative research’ [@vienni-baptista_foundations_2023]. This was something we had to navigate and learn from, which was manageable within the context of a laboratory setting. However, for any follow-up projects or whatever forms the digital infrastructure we built may take, it is imperative that these disconnects are addressed and solidified to ensure cohesive and sustained community engagement. Interoperability and Usability Within PIA, different APIs have been progressively deployed to meet various requirements while allowing parallel exploration of data modelling. Each API offers unique advantages, but their collective integration promotes semantic interoperability. For example, the IIIF Image API has been instrumental in rationalising image distribution across prototypes, providing efficient access to high-quality digital surrogates and the ability to resize them for different uses. Adherence to LOUD standards and schemas within LUX has generally been positive, although transitioning between versions of a specification can present challenges, highlighting the need to improve the consistency of compliant resources. Linked Art, for instance, has the capacity to generate various insights and sources of truth around different entities. However, additional or entirely new vocabularies from sources like the Getty may need to be used – such as Homosaurus. Complementary to Linked Art, using WADM allows for assertions that go beyond purely descriptive narratives, though it may sacrifice some semantic richness. This complexity in managing vocabularies and maintaining semantic richness directly ties into broader usability considerations within the community. Addressing these usability concerns, Robert Sanderson has suggested focusing on the use of full URIs in Linked Art to ensure computational usability, in contrast to IIIF‘s approach of minimising URIs to enhance readability. This difference highlights a fundamental question in usability: balancing readability and computational usability. Understanding developers’ perspectives on these approaches is critical. I would suggest as a way forward for the IIIF and Linked Art communities to focus on further improving usability of the specifications. This includes conducting comprehensive usability assessments of APIs to evaluate the experiences of new developers versus existing ones, understanding the steepness of the learning curve associated with each API, and guiding improvements in documentation, on-boarding processes, and overall developer support. Efforts should be made to lower the barriers to entry for new developers by developing more intuitive and user-friendly tutorials, providing example projects, and creating a robust support community. Ensuring that developers can quickly and effectively leverage APIs will foster greater adoption. Addressing the challenges of transitioning between different versions of specifications is critical, and developing tools and guidelines that help maintain consistency across versions will reduce friction and ensure smoother updates. Future Directions and Sustainability Survey findings, as discussed in , underscore the need for ongoing efforts to develop LOUD standards that foster an inclusive, dynamic digital ecosystem. Future strategies should include creating educational resources and frameworks that support interdisciplinary collaboration and reduce barriers to participation. While the Manifest serves as the fundamental unit within IIIF, the Linked Art protocol can play a similar central role as semantic gateways in broader contexts, allowing round-tripping across the APIs. The topic modelling exercise in LUX, detailed in , reveals complex actor-networks of organisations, individuals, and non-human actors, providing insights into the relationships sustaining the LUX initiative. The next steps for Linked Art might involve forming a new consortium independent of a CIDOC Working Group, which could provide the necessary support to sustain the initiative. Alternatively, integrating Linked Art into IIIF as a new TSG and specification could address the discovery challenges within IIIF, as discussed during the birds of a feather session led by Robert Sanderson [see @raemy_notes_2024] at the 2024 IIIF Conference in Los Angeles[16]. Design principles that act as bridges across different disciplines, as proposed by @roke_pragmatic_2022, are crucial. IIIF has demonstrated that this collaborative approach is feasible, and Linked Art could follow in its footsteps. However, achieving this requires increased dedication from passive members and broader adoption of the model and the API ecosystem in the near future. Digital Materiality and Representation As explored in Chapter 7, the detailed digital representation of photographic albums, such as the Kreis Family Collection, demonstrates the need to comprehensively capture the materiality of digital objects. This includes the structure and context of images, which are crucial for maintaining their historical and social significance. The implementation of the IIIF Presentation API in creating a detailed digital replica of the Getty’s Bayard Album shows how digital materiality can be enhanced through thoughtful use of technology, but also highlights the scalability challenges for such detailed representations. Creating these detailed digital representations can be seen as a ‘boutique’ approach, which, while labour-intensive and resource-demanding, is necessary for preserving the integrity and contextual significance of cultural heritage objects. The challenge lies in developing the appropriate means and methodologies to achieve this level of detail consistently. Future endeavours, whether through research projects or collaborative efforts between GLAM institutions and DH practitioners, should aim to address these challenges and create sustainable practices for digital materiality and representation. As Edwards aptly notes: ‘Presentational forms equally reflect specific intent in the use and value of the photographs they embed, to the extent that the objects that embed photographs are in many cases meaningless without their photographs; for instance, empty frames or albums. These objects are only invigorated when they are again in conjunction with the images with which they have a symbiotic relationship, for display functions not only make the thing itself visible but make it more visible in certain ways‘. [@edwards_photographs_2004 p. 11] Challenges of Scaling and Implementation As seen in Chapter 6, the IIIF Cookbook recipes and Linked Art patterns reflect the tension between creating advanced specifications and their practical implementation. This gap between ideation and real-world application underscores the challenges faced by the community in achieving broad adoption and interoperability. In Chapter 7, the exploration of APIs like the IIIF Change Discovery API illustrates the practical challenges and potential of scaling these technologies for wider adoption. The successful implementation in PIA demonstrates viability, but also points to the need for continued development and community engagement to fully realise the benefits. Furthermore, assessing the scalability of IIIF image servers, as discussed by [@duin_webassembly_2022] and exemplified by the firm Q42 with their Edge-based service Micrio[17], highlights the importance of optimising data performance. Erwin Verbruggen aptly noted that ‘optimising data performance in my opinion mens sending as little data over as needed’[18], emphasising the need for efficient data handling to enhance scalability. This insight reinforces the necessity of continual refinement in scaling digital infrastructure to support broader use and integration. Reflecting on these findings, I would like to assert that continuous participation, particularly for institutions that can afford to be part of initiatives like IIIF-C, is essential. Active members should not only focus on their own use cases but also consider the needs and perspectives of other, perhaps marginalised, groups. Achieving the dual goals of making progress within one community, whether it be IIIF or Linked Art, while also engaging in effective outreach and creating a solid baseline, will benefit everyone in the CH sector and beyond. Addressing where LOUD fits in, how people perceive this new concept or paradigm, and understanding how LOUD differs from Linked Data in general are essential. These questions help to clarify the stages at which themes related to one of the LOUD design principles emerge, crystallise, and potentially disappear. My thesis does not fully resolve these queries but offers insights and hints for further exploration. In conclusion, the empirical findings reveal the richness of the implementation and maintenance of LOUD standards in the CH domain. From the critical role of community practices and standards to the challenges of achieving interoperability and inclusivity, each theme underlines the complex interplay of social, technical and organisational factors. will look at the evaluation of LOUD and explore its overall impact, delving into the delta of what to do with it, particularly in terms of Linked Data versus LOUD, where my thesis provides pointers but does not provide definitive answers. 9.2 Evaluation: Abstracting LOUD (…) 9.3 Retrospective: Truding like an Ant (…) 10. Conclusion For a better understanding of the past, Our images have to be enhanced, A new dialogue in three dimensions, Must have openness at its heart, For somewhere within the archive Of our aggregated minds Are a multitude of questions And a multitude of answers, Simply awaiting to be found. [@mr_gee_day_2023] This chapter brings to a close the journey undertaken since February 2021, aiming to clearly articulate the answers to the research questions, discuss how the research aligns with the objectives, elucidate the significance of the work, outline its shortcomings, and suggest avenues for future research. I had the privilege of hearing the above poem at EuropeanaTech in The Hague in October 2023. What struck me most, and what I have tried to convey in this thesis, was the powerful dialogue and collective spirit striving to harness the potential of our (digital) heritage. With a sense of conviction after this conference, I approached the next one in Geneva in February 2024 with confidence, believing that I had made a compelling case for the concept of LOUD. When a participant asked how LOUD differed from Linked Data, however, I found myself explaining the socio-technical ethos of IIIF and Linked Art, the richness of the individuals who make them up, the ability to combine these different standards, and the common use cases that emerge from these collaborations. Whether my answer was convincing remains uncertain, but I knew it was too brief. Perhaps it is here, in this conclusion, that my thoughts can find their full expression. I believe that LOUD should be at the forefront of efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of CH data, an endeavour that is increasingly relevant in a web-centric environment. This paradigm has gained considerable traction, particularly with the advent of Linked Art and the recognition that the IIIF Presentation API has been an inspiration for the LOUD design principles. The development and maintenance of LOUD standards by dedicated communities are characterised by collaboration, consensus building, and transparency. In the interstices of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, frameworks for interoperability are not only exposed, but revealed as profound testaments to the power of transparent collaboration across institutional boundaries. Both communities, it is true, are still very much Anglo-Saxon efforts, where the specifications have mainly been implemented in GLAM and/or DH research projects, or at least when we have been aware of them. It has clear guidelines on how to propose use cases, mostly using GitHub, and hides the sometimes unnecessary RDF complexity behind a set of JSON-LD @ context. IIIF is at the presentation layer and can really play its role as a mediator, with the Manifest as its central unit connecting other specifications, including semantic metadata, and preferably with simpatico specifications such as Linked Art. An important hypothesis arises from the observation that adherence to the LOUD design principles makes specifications more likely to be adopted. The primary benefit of adopting LOUD standards lies in their grassroots nature. This grassroots approach not only aligns with the core values of openness and collaboration within the DH community but also serves as a common denominator between DH practitioners and CHIs. This unique alignment fosters a sense of shared purpose and common ground. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that while LOUD and its associated standards, including IIIF, hold immense promise, their limited recognition in the wider socio-technical ecosystem may currently hinder their full potential impact beyond the CH domain. Consideration of socio-technical requirements and the promotion of digital equity are essential to the development of specifications in line with the LOUD design principles. In the context of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, this means both recognising current challenges and building on existing practices. This includes forming alliances that support diverse forms of inclusion at both project and individual levels. For example, organisations should be encouraged to send representatives from diverse professional and personal backgrounds, such as underrepresented groups or non-technical fields. This can be facilitated by initiatives that lower the barriers to participation, such as financial support for travel and participation, flexible participation formats, and targeted outreach efforts. Furthermore, as these standards often align with open government data initiatives, they present opportunities for broader public engagement and institutional transparency. In the broader context of DH, understanding LOUD involves tracing the historical development of the field and its evolving relationship with technology. The interdisciplinary nature of DH has always integrated diverse scholarly and technical practices. In recent years, DH has seen a notable increase in interest in the use of Linked Data and semantic technologies to improve the discoverability and accessibility of CH collections. LOUD's emphasis on user-centred design and usability aligns well with these goals. Consequently, the principles of LOUD hold great promise for advancing the integration and use of community-driven APIs and/or Linked Data within DH. This can be seen within PIA, where the benefits of implementing IIIF helped us to streamline machine-generated annotations, integrate different thumbnails into GUI prototypes, model photo albums with different layers from the Kreis Family collection, and enable project members and students to engage in digital storytelling, an important participatory facet that can be seamlessly explored by DH efforts and CHIs with the help of the IIIF Image and Presentation APIs. Data reuse is definitely a key LOUD driver, which could have been done more extensively with a productive instance of Linked Art. As for widening participation, this is definitely a strategic and political decision, rather than a technical one. That said, LOUD specifications can definitely be embedded through strategic citizen science initiatives. A recent example that highlights the comprehensive value of Linked Data was presented by @newbury_linked_2024 at the CNI Spring 2024 Meeting. He delineated its significance as extending well beyond single entities, such as the Getty Research Institute, to enrich a vast ecosystem. Specifically, he identified three principal areas of value: Firstly, within the ecosystem itself, where the utility of information is amplified through its application in diverse contexts. Secondly, for the audience, by directly addressing user needs and facilitating various conceptual frameworks. And finally, within the community, by enabling wider use and adaptation of data and code. This approach to Linked Data, as articulated by Newbury, not only enhances its utility across these dimensions, but also aligns seamlessly with the LOUD proposition, underscoring a shared vision for a digital space where the interconnectedness and accessibility of (meta)data serve as foundational principles for progress and community engagement. LUX, as a catalyst for LOUD, exemplifies a practical approach to implementing Linked Data that has garnered significant local engagement and support at Yale. This initiative demonstrates how sound socio-technical practices can be effectively applied within a supportive institutional environment. The consistency of the data within LUX aligns well with IIIF and Linked Art standards, with only a few minor adjustments required for full compliance. These quick fixes are manageable and do not detract from the overall robustness of the initiative. While it may be too early to fully assess the wider impact of using LOUD specifications on the LUX platform within the CH domain, the initiative has already attracted considerable interest in recent months. This growing attention suggests that the LUX approach is resonating with other organisations, suggesting the potential for wider adoption and impact. The enthusiastic local engagement at Yale provides a strong foundation for LUX and highlights its potential to serve as a model for similar projects aimed at enriching digital heritage through effective collaboration and agreed-upon standards. In carrying out this thesis, I have adhered to the five main objectives set out at the beginning of the PhD. These objectives have been accomplished to a high degree, reflecting a substantial and well-executed project. Furthermore, most of the outputs – such as data models and scripts – from this work are available on GitHub, providing open access to the wider community. In addition, I have published several papers, both individually and collaboratively, further disseminating the findings and contributions of this research. Additionally, this thesis is relevant because it sheds light on communities and implementations that can be celebrated not only for their standards but also for their operating ethos; IIIF and Linked Art present models ripe for emulation beyond their immediate digital confines. Here, agency and authority are most typically granted to the collective over the isolated, with each actor - be it an individual, an institution or an interface – intricately interconnected. Yale’s LUX initiative also embodies this ethos, demonstrating how collaborative efforts can lead to innovative solutions and wider impact. It is to be hoped, then, that these practices of openness and multiple partnerships will not be seen as limited to their origins in digital representation. At the very least, I hope that these socio-technical approaches can serve as exemplars or sources of inspiration in broader arenas, where the principles of mutual visibility and concerted action can point the way towards cohesive and adaptive collaborative architectures. Despite its contribution, this thesis is far from perfect and certainly contains several shortcomings. I will name here three significant ones. First, the visualisations included and the use of FOL are primarily designed to support my own self-reflection and may be more beneficial to me than to the broader academic community. While they provide insights into my research process and findings, their applicability and usefulness to others might be limited. Second, the theoretical framework I employed, while instrumental to my research, may not serve as a universally applicable toolbox. Nevertheless, I urge readers to pay close attention to STS methodologies and practices. The works of Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, and Susan Leigh Star have been invaluable companions throughout this dissertation. Additionally, for those involved in conceptualising semantic information, I recommend exploring Floridi’s PI, which offers profound insights into the nature and dynamics of information. These readings have greatly influenced my approach and understanding, and I believe they can offer valuable perspectives to others as well. Third, while the thesis aims to address both community practices and semantic interoperability, it leans more heavily towards the former. This emphasis on community practices may overshadow the broader discussion of semantic interoperability, potentially limiting the appeal of the thesis to those primarily interested in the technical aspects. Other shortcomings include the broad scope of the thesis, with three empirical chapters exploring different avenues. While this comprehensive approach provides a broad understanding of the research topic, it has also resulted in a rather lengthy thesis. This may be a challenge for the reader, as a topic of interest in one chapter may not be as compelling in another. The diversity of empirical focus, while enriching the research, may dilute the coherence for some readers, making it more difficult to maintain a consistent engagement throughout the dissertation. Despite these limitations, I hope that the different perspectives and findings contribute to a richer, more nuanced understanding of LOUD for CH. Avenues for future research are numerous and promising. One interesting area to explore is the comparative benefits experienced by early adopters of IIIF and Linked Art specifications versus those who implemented these standards later. Early adopters have the advantage of having their use cases discussed and resolved within the community, and it would be insightful to analyse the long-term impacts on their projects. Such a study is already feasible for early adopters of IIIF and will become possible to compare further implementations of Linked Art within a few years. Furthermore, future exploration could focus on the full implementation of Linked Art within PIA or similar efforts, as well as more performance-oriented testing with the deployed LOUD APIs. These efforts should further validate the robustness and scalability of these specifications. Another important area for future investigation is the participation of institutions and individuals from the Global South in both the IIIF and Linked Art communities. It is crucial to explore how we can better support their uptake of these specifications and encourage their active involvement in these initiatives to ensure a more inclusive and globally representative environment. As I reflect on the journey of this thesis, I am reminded of the powerful dialogue and collective effort that has been at its heart. Mr Gee’s poem resonates deeply with my own aspirations for this work: to enhance our understanding of the past through openness and collaboration, as can be seen in IIIF and Linked Art. As I bring this dissertation to a close, I am filled with a sense of accomplishment and a renewed commitment to promoting sound socio-technical practices. It is my hope that the insights and methodologies presented here will inspire others to engage in this ongoing dialogue, continually asking and answering the many questions that arise as we collectively explore our cultural heritage landscapes. Throughout this dissertation, British English spelling conventions are predominantly observed. However, there are instances of American English spelling where direct quotations from sources are used as well as referring to names of institutions, standards, or concepts. ↩︎ SNSF Data Portal - Grant number 193788: https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/193788 ↩︎ Seminar für Kulturwissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie: https://kulturwissenschaft.philhist.unibas.ch/ ↩︎ DHLab: https://dhlab.philhist.unibas.ch/ ↩︎ HKB: https://www.hkb.bfh.ch/ ↩︎ The considerable size of the ASV collection, which includes over 90,000 analogue objects, reflects not just the work of the main authors but also the contributions from numerous explorers and additional material beyond the maps and primary publications. ↩︎ Max Frischknecht’s PhD: https://phd.maxfrischknecht.ch/ ↩︎ PIA project website: https://about.participatory-archives.ch/ ↩︎ The vision of the PIA project was first written in German and then translated into English and French. ↩︎ In our joint paper, we wrote , corrected here, which makes me think of the transition within the CIDOC-CRM for the Entity E22 Human-Made Object from version 6.2.7 onward. ↩︎ Knora Base Ontology: https://docs.dasch.swiss/2023.07.01/DSP-API/02-dsp-ontologies/knora-base/ ↩︎ SIPI documentation: https://sipi.io/ ↩︎ IIIF Working Groups Meeting, The Hague, 2016: https://iiif.io/event/2016/thehague/ ↩︎ Author’s translation: ‘We need to give up on the idea of syntactic or structural interoperability through the use of a single model, whether for producing, storing or managing data within an information system’. ↩︎ CHAOSS: https://chaoss.community/ ↩︎ IIIF Annual Conference and Showcase - Los Angeles, CA, USA - June 4-7, 2024: https://iiif.io/event/2024/los-angeles/ ↩︎ Micrio: https://micr.io/ ↩︎ Message written on the IIIF Slack Workspace on 28 October 2022. ↩︎",
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-        <description><![CDATA[Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage: Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability PhD Thesis in Digital Humanities, completed as part of the Graduate School of Social Sciences’ (G3S) doctoral programme. It was successfully defended on 18 November 2024 (slides). This page will host a lightweight HTML version of my thesis, optimised for easy access and readability. The PDF version (e-dissertation) is available on the University of Basel’s repository: https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep96807. Page in construction (please be patient ⌛) Author Dr. Julien A. Raemy (University of Basel) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4711-5759 Supervisors Prof. Dr. Peter Fornaro (University of Basel) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1485-4923 Prof. Dr. Walter Leimgruber (University of Basel) Dr. Robert Sanderson (Yale University) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4441-6852 Abstract Digital technologies have fundamentally transformed how Cultural Heritage (CH) collections are accessed and engaged with. Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) specifications, including the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) Presentation API 3.0, Linked Art, and the W3C Web Annotation Data Model, have emerged as web standards to facilitate the description and dissemination of these valuable resources. Despite the widespread adoption of IIIF, implementing LOUD specifications, particularly in combination, remains challenging. This is especially evident in the development and assessment of infrastructures, or sites of assemblage, that support these standards. This research is guided by two perspectives: community practices and semantic interoperability. The first perspective assesses how organizations, individuals, and apparatuses engage with and contribute to the consensus-making processes surrounding LOUD. By examining these practices, the social fabrics of the LOUD ecosystem can be better understood. The second perspective focuses on making data meaningful to machines in a standardized, interoperable manner that promotes the exchange of well-formed information. This research is grounded in the SNSF-funded project, Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archives (PIA) (2021–2025), which aims to develop a citizen science platform for three photographic collections from the Cultural Anthropology Switzerland (CAS) archives. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) forms the theoretical foundation, aiming to describe the collaborative structures of the LOUD ecosystem and emphasize the role of non-human actors. Beyond its implementation within the PIA project, this research includes an analysis of the social dynamics within the IIIF and Linked Art communities and an investigation of Yale’s Collections Discovery platform, LUX. The research identifies socio-technical requirements for developing specifications aligned with LOUD principles. It also examines how the implementation of LOUD standards in PIA highlights their potential benefits and limitations in facilitating data reuse and broader participation. Additionally, it explores Yale University’s large-scale deployment of LOUD standards, emphasizing the importance of ensuring consistency between Linked Art and IIIF resources within the LUX platform for the CH domain. The core methodology of this thesis is an actor- and practice-centered inquiry, focusing on a detailed examination of specific cosmologies within LOUD-driven communities, PIA, and LUX. This micro-perspective approach provides rich empirical evidence to unravel the intricate web of cultural processes and constellations in these contexts. Key empirical findings indicate that LOUD enhances the discoverability and integration of data in CH, requiring community-driven consensus on model interoperability. However, significant challenges include engaging marginalized groups, sustaining long-term participation, and balancing technological and social factors. Strategic use of technology and the capture of digital materiality are critical, but LOUD also poses challenges related to resource investment, data consistency, and the broader implementation of complex patterns. LOUD should lead efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of CH data. The community-driven methodologies of IIIF and Linked Art inherently foster collaboration and transparency, making these standards essential tools in evolving data management practices. Even for institutions and projects that do not adopt these specifications, the socio-technical practices of LOUD offer vital insights into effective digital stewardship and strategies for community engagement. Keywords: Actor-Network Theory; Community of Practice; Cultural Anthropology Switzerland; Cultural Heritage; Digital Infrastructure; International Image Interoperability Framework; Knowledge Practices; Linked Art; Linked Data; LUX; Participatory Archives; Photographic Archives; Semantic Interoperability; Web Annotation Data Model Table of Contents Introduction Context Interlinking Cultural Heritage Data Exploring Relationships through an Actor-Network Theory Lens Research Scope and Methodology The Social Fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art PIA as a Laboratory Yale’s LUX and LOUD Consistency Discussion Conclusion 1. Introduction Since its inception in 2011, the IIIF has revolutionised[1] the accessibility of image-based resources. Initially driven by the needs of manuscript scholars, IIIF focused on two-dimensional images, but has since expanded to encompass a wide range of image-based resources, including audiovisual materials and, in the near future, 3D images. Similarly, Linked Art, formally established in 2017, initially concentrated on art museum objects but has since broadened its scope to model a variety of CH entities, leveraging CIDOC-CRM, a renowned ontology in the museum and DH space. Both initiatives aim to break down silos: IIIF focuses on improving the presentation of digital objects, while both initiatives enhance their dissemination. Together, they make CH data more accessible through IIIF and more meaningful through Linked Art for machines. These efforts have primarily benefited the CH domain. A key commonality is that the main APIs these communities create align with the LOUD design principles, either intentionally or empirically demonstrated through use cases. These principles enable software developers to develop compliant tools and services without needing to fully understand RDF, a syntax for representing information on the web. Additionally, they may not need to grasp all LOD principles, which promote the interlinking of data from diverse datasets using tools like KOS such as thesauri. WADM, a W3C standard, is also recognised as a LOUD specification. It provides a framework for creating interoperable annotations on web resources, facilitating the linking and sharing of data across different platforms and applications. These LOUD design principles include the right abstraction for the audience, few barriers to entry, comprehensibility by introspection, documentation with working examples, and the use of many consistent patterns rather than few exceptions. Additionally, both IIIF and Linked Art are driven by vibrant communities, mainly comprising GLAM and higher education institutions. While the standards and principles discussed have broad applications, it is important to clarify the scope of this dissertation. This work does not focus on KGs by assessing triplestores – databases specifically designed to store and retrieve triples, which are the fundamental data structures in RDF. Similarly, it does not deal with evaluating SPARQL engines, which are specifically designed to query KGs. Additionally, this dissertation does not address the intersection of ML and IIIF, or the ontological reasoning of Linked Art. Instead, this dissertation concentrates on LOUD, the consistency of its standards, design principles and the vibrant communities behind it. It examines JSON-LD serialisation efforts and the crucial intersection required to establish robust semantic interoperability baselines between presentation and semantic layers. It also presents real-world use case implementations, both on a small scale in a laboratory and flexible space within the PIA research project, and on a large scale at Yale, exemplified by the LUX platform that provides access to (meta)data from YUL, YCBA, YUAG, and YPM. The focus is therefore on digital infrastructures capable of delivering JSON-LD files from the above specifications, which are primarily, though not exclusively, CH resources. It is more about the different actors – both human and non-human – that create and maintain these interconnected systems and the dynamic interactions that sustain them. The deployment of various LOUD specifications addresses the need for semantic interoperability between CH resources and disparate datasets by establishing a standardised approach to representing and linking data, ensuring that information can be seamlessly shared and understood across different platforms and contexts. This dissertation seeks to carve out a distinct niche by addressing an often-overlooked aspect of IIIF and Linked Art. IIIF is sometimes perceived and studied merely as a service or an appendix, with the content it delivers taking precedence. However, this PhD thesis positions IIIF as a first-class citizen worthy of in-depth study. Similarly, Linked Art, despite its potential and its relatively recent establishment, has been the subject of very few scholarly papers. This gap underscores the significance of LOUD in this context. Furthermore, this thesis elevates Linked Art to a position of primary importance, recognising its significance and advocating for its thorough examination. To thoroughly study LOUD and its adherence to design principles, it is essential to immerse ourselves actively in both communities – an approach I have embraced for years. The thesis also emphasises the importance of participatory efforts and collaboration between research projects, which typically have shorter lifespans, and memory institutions, which need to implement technical standards as a lingua franca. In doing so, it reveals the mediating role of LOUD in advancing the heritage sphere. To truly understand IIIF, Linked Art, and to a lesser extent WADM, it is crucial to examine the social fabrics and consensus decision-making of each community. Among these considerations are how the specifications can be implemented pragmatically, and how the standards can support the implementation and maintenance of more extensive semantic interoperability efforts. The significance of this research lies in highlighting the commitment and diligence of the individuals and organisations that make up both the IIIF and Linked Art communities. It aims to demonstrate that community-driven practices, such as those exemplified by IIIF and Linked Art, have a potential that goes beyond the mere sharing of digital objects and their associated metadata. The more people who embrace these approaches and implement the associated specifications, the more society as a whole will benefit. Furthermore, this research illustrates that IIIF is no longer limited to two-dimensional images, that Linked Art is not restricted to artworks, and that WADM is a simple, content-agnostic standard that can be easily integrated into a range of systems. This adaptability is a strength of LOUD standards, which are designed to be simple yet effective. LOUD can serve a variety of purposes, primarily rooted in CH, but with the potential to extend its benefits to other sectors. The true beauty of LOUD lies in its ability to foster networking opportunities and transparent socio-technical practices, demonstrating its value beyond mere technical implementation. By emphasising these aspects, this dissertation highlights the wider impact of LOUD in promoting semantic interoperability and enhancing collaborative efforts within the heritage field and beyond. In addition, the implementation of standards through PIA underlines the potential for similar participatory or citizen science projects, while the LUX initiative serves as an illustrative example of robust infrastructure and cross-unit engagement. These examples demonstrate the practical applications and far-reaching implications of adopting LOUD standards in different contexts. This dissertation is structured across ten chapters, each building upon the previous ones up to Chapter 5 to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research. These initial chapters lay the foundation of the study, establishing the context, theoretical framework, and methodological approaches. After this foundational section, Chapters 6, 7, and 8 present empirical studies that, while interconnected, can be read independently if desired. These chapters offer detailed insights into specific aspects of the research and can be appreciated on their own or as part of the broader narrative. The thesis continues with Chapter 2, which extends this introduction by providing more information about the research setting, specifically PIA. Chapter 3 follows with an extensive literature review, offering a comprehensive overview of methods to interlink CH data. Next, Chapter 4 presents the theoretical framework, conceptualised as a toolbox and firmly rooted in ANT, guiding the analysis and discussion throughout the dissertation. Following this, Chapter 5 details the research scope and methodology, explaining the approaches and methods employed in the study. Moving on to the empirical work, Chapter 6 sheds light on the social fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art, exploring the communities and practices that underpin these initiatives.Chapter 7 then examines the implementation of LOUD standards within PIA, highlighting the practical aspects and challenges encountered. This is followed by Chapter 8, which focuses on the LUX initiative at Yale, examining the underlying governance and interdepartmental ownership of the Yale Collections Discovery platform. The discussion of findings is presented in Chapter 9, where the results from the empirical chapters are synthesised and analysed in relation to the theoretical framework. Finally, Chapter 10 concludes the thesis, summarising the key insights and contributions of the research while outlining potential directions for future study. 2. Context In this chapter, I will set the stage for my PhD thesis by providing important background information. First, in Section 2.1, I will explain why I chose the title for my thesis. This will give you an understanding of the main focus and the direction of my research. Next, in , I will describe the PIA research project, which is central to my work. This section will cover the project’s goals, significance, and overall framework. In , I will detail my specific contributions to the PIA project. I will emphasise how my work fits into the larger project and its importance to my thesis. Finally, in , I will talk about my active participation in the IIIF and Linked Art communities. This section will highlight how my involvement in these communities has influenced my research and its broader implications. 2.1 PhD Title I chose the title ‘Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage: Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability’ as it encapsulates the essence of my research focus but I could have indeed chosen other ones. During the initial stages of my research, multiple working titles were explored to capture the diverse facets of my interests and objectives. If I was quite sure about having in the title after the third iteration, I was quite unsure of what should follow and if a subtitle was actually needed at all. Amidst this dynamic progression, the underlying theme of my research remained steadfast – to delve into the transformative potential of LOUD for CH. I also opted to maintain in the title of my thesis subsection. While holds its appeal, my choice reflects a broader narrative that acknowledges the crucial role of CHIs and spotlighting the multifaceted nature of heritage preservation, encapsulating both its digital facets and the essential contribution of individuals and institutions in curating, interpreting, and making heritage accessible. As for the subtitle, while I do explore CoP as defined by @lave_situated_1991 and @wenger_communities_2011 through investigating the social fabrics of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, my main interest lies in the broader application of LOUD for describing and interlinking CH resources. Thus, I decided to opt for the more generic as the first axis or perspective. For the second perspective, I wanted to see how semantic interoperability can be achieved through standards adhering to the LOUD design principles, as they seem to be key enablers for seamless collaboration and knowledge exchange among practitioners. There was a time in my research when I envisaged decoupling and , perceiving them as two distinct dimensions. However, what really captivates me is the unification of these factors to facilitate collective reasoning for both humans and machines. In summary, this title reflects my enthusiasm for using web-based and community-driven technologies to transform the way we understand, share and value CH. 2.2 The PIA Research Project I undertook my doctoral studies within the scope of the PIA research project financed by the SNSF under their Sinergia funding scheme from February 2021 to January 2025[2]. The project aimed to analyse the interplay of participants, epistemological orders and the graphical representation of information and knowledge in relation to three photographic collections from CAS. It sought to bring together the world of data and things in an interdisciplinary manner, exploring the phases of the analogue and digital archive from a cultural anthropological, technical and design research perspective [@felsing_community_2023 p. 42]. As part of this endeavour, interfaces were developed to enable the collaborative indexing and use of photographic archival records [@chiquet_participatory_2023 p. 110]. I discuss in more detail the interdisciplinary components and briefly introduce the people involved in the project in Subsection 2.2.1, then talk about the photographic collections that were the overarching narrative of the research in Subsection 2.2.2, and lastly in Subsection 2.2.3, the vision that we had put together. The project, divided in three interdisciplinary teams, was led by the University of Basel through the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology[3] (Team A) and the DHLab[4] in collaboration with the DBIS group (Team B) as well as by the HKB[5], an art school and department of the Bern University of Applied Sciences (Team C) [@felsing_community_2023 p. 43]. Table 2.1 lists the people who contributed to the project, broken down by the three teams and their particular perspectives. Table 2.1: PIA Team Core Members Perspective People A) Anthropological Prof. Dr. Walter Leimgruber, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Dr. Nicole Peduzzi, Photographic Restoration and Digitisation Supervisor Regula Anklin, Conservation and Restoration Specialist (project partner at Anklin &amp; Assen) Murielle Cornut, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology Birgit Huber, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology Fabienne Lüthi, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology B) Technical Prof. Dr. Peter Fornaro, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Prof. Dr. Heiko Schuldt, Dissertation Supervisor (project partner at the University of Basel) Dr. Vera Chiquet, Postdoctoral Researcher Adrian Demleitner, Software Developer (2021-2023) Fabian Frei, Software Developer (2023-2025) Christoph Rohrer, Software Developer (2023-2025) Julien A. Raemy, PhD Candidate in Digital Humanities Florian Spiess, PhD Candidate in Computer Science C) Communicative Dr. Ulrike Felsing, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Prof. Dr. Tobias Hodel, Dissertation Supervisor (project partner at the University of Bern) Daniel Schoeneck, Research Fellow Lukas Zimmer, Designer (project partner at A/Z&amp;T) Max Frischknecht, PhD Candidate in Digital Humanities 2.2.2 Photographic Collections/Archives as Anchors CAS has historically been engaged in active collaborations that bridge the academic research and the public sphere, primarily through traditional analogue methods. The PIA project was created with the intention of exploring the complexities inherent in both analogue and digital approaches, and to encourage and investigate these collaborative endeavours between academia and the wider public. As such, PIA represents a paradigm shift within the scope of projects associated with or supported by CAS, facilitating the seamless integration of digital tools to explore multiple facets of participation and engagement. This transformative endeavour embodies a profound exploration of new intersections where scholarly endeavours intertwine with the active involvement of citizens. PIA drew on three collections: one focusing on scientific cartography and titled (Atlas der Schweizerischen Volkskunde), a second from the estate of the photojournalist Ernst Brunner (1901–1979), and a third collection consisting of vernacular photography which was owned by the Kreis Family (1860–1970). SGV_05 ASV consists of 292 maps and 1000 pages of commentary published from 1950 to 1995 — an example of such a map is shown in Figure 2.1. This collection was commissioned by the CAS to do an extensive survey of the Swiss population in the 1930s and 1940s on many issues pertaining, for instance, to everyday life, local laws, superstitions, celebrations or labour [@weiss_atlas_1940]. The contents were compiled by researchers and by people who were described as [6]. Questions were asked about everyday habits, community rights, work, trade, superstitions, and many other topics [@schmoll_richard_2009; @schmoll_vermessung_2009]. This collection offers a snapshot of everyday life in Switzerland right before the beginning of a modernisation process that fundamentally changed lifestyles in all areas during the postwar period. A digitised version of the ASV would not only allow the results of that time to be enriched with further findings [@schranz_critical_2021], but would also make transparent how knowledge was generated in cartographic form through a complex process along different types of media and actors. The restoration, digitisation, cataloguing and indexing efforts took all part throughout PIA under the supervision of Birgit Huber, who extensively based her doctoral research on this particular collection [see @huber_entdeckung_2023]. Figure 2.1: Map from the SGV_05 Collection Relating to Question 93 Showing Walks and Excursions at Pentecost. ASV. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 SGV_10 Kreis Family comprises approximately 20,000 loose photographic objects, where a quarter of them are organised and kept in 93 photo albums — as illustrated by Figure 2.2, from a wealthy Basel-based family and spanning from the 1850s to the 1980s. This private collection was acquired by CAS in 1991. The collection, which originally arrived in banana cases and was enigmatic due to the lack of clear organisation or accompanying information from the family, posed significant challenges. Despite these initial hurdles, CAS undertook meticulous efforts to catalogue and preserve its contents [@felsing_re-imagining_2024 p. 42]. The pictures were taken by studio photographers as well as by family members themselves. The Kreis Family collection represents a typical example of urban bourgeois culture and gives a comprehensive insight into the development of private photography over the course of a century [@pagenstecher_private_2009]. The photographic materials and formats are very diverse, ranging from prints to negatives, small, medium or large format photographs, black and white or colour. The collection also encompasses many photographic techniques, from the one-off daguerreotypes and ferrotypes, to the glass-based negatives that could be reproduced en masse, to the modern paper prints. While some of the albums and loose images were restored and digitised during the 2014 project, much of this work was completed during PIA and overseen by Murielle Cornut, whose doctoral investigation was centred on the study of photo albums [see @cornut_open_2023]. Figure 2.2: A photo Album Page from the SGV_10 Collection, Bearing the Following Inscription: Botanische Excursion ins Wallis, Pfingster 1928. SGV_10A_00031_015. Kreis Family. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 SGV_12 Ernst Brunner is a donation of about 48,000 negatives and 20,000 prints to the CAS archives from Ernst Brunner, a self-taught photojournalist, who lived from 1901 to 1979 and who documented mainly in the 1930s and 1940s a wide range of folkloristic themes — as shown by Figure 2.3. He is one of the most important photographers of the era and one of the most outstanding visual chroniclers of Swiss society [@pfrunder_ernst_1995]. His photographs show rural lifestyles, but also urban motifs. In his late work, he led the documentation and research on farmhouses in a specific Swiss district, a project initiated by CAS. Before Ernst Brunner became an independent photojournalist in the mid-1930s, he worked as a carpenter, influenced by the ideas of the Bauhaus and Neues Bauen movements. This can also be seen in the aesthetics and formal language of his photography. If all the black and white negatives were digitised and recorded between 2014 and 2018, the digitisation of prints, which is a selection done by Ernst Brunner, was conducted at the end of the PIA research project. The latter was supervised by Fabienne Lüthi, whose PhD was about organisational systems and knowledge practices in the Ernst Brunner Collection. Figure 2.3: Picture from the SGV_12 Collection Showing Walkers Looking at the Timetable Train. [Wanderer studieren den Fahrplan in der Bahnhofhalle]. Lucerne, 1938. Ernst Brunner. SGV_12N_00716. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 Whereas for each of the PhD Candidates in Cultural Anthropology, a particular collection was assigned to them and its content was to varying degrees part of their subject of study, this was not exactly the same for the PhD Candidates in DH, including myself, and in Computer Science. Put differently, we had relative leeway in terms of what interested us in each or all of these three photographic collections. In my case, I briefly explain my contribution to the project more in and then in as part of the empirical portion of my thesis focusing on the deployment of LOUD specifications using the three CAS photographic collections. Florian Spiess focused on the use of VR through vitrivr, a multimedia retrieval system developed by the DBIS research group at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science [@spiess_multimodal_2022; @spiess_forschung_2023; @spiess_exploring_2024]. His work included experiments with PIA-related collections, such as the creation of virtual galleries clustered according to content-based similarity [see @peterhans_automatic_2022]. In the case of Max Frischknecht, his doctoral research centred on generative design[7], a methodology to visualise dynamic cultural archives. He mostly worked on the ASV collection and on a mapping tool which is a cartographic visualisation designed to explore the CAS photographic archives [see @frischknecht_generating_2022; @eggmann_digitalisierung_2024]. It should also be mentioned that not only did we use the three collections of the CAS photographic archives within the project, but that both formal and informal meetings took place most commonly within the photographic archives at the Spalenvorstadt premises in the old Gewerbemuseum and later either at the on Allschwilerstrasse, though less frequently, or at Rheinsprung where the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology is located. This meant that there was a strong and sometimes blurred entanglement between those involved in the archives and the PIA core team members. 2.2.3 Project Vision Between December 2021 and March 2022, we worked together to develop and finalise a vision for the project[8]. It includes seven key priorities, or pillars, which were meant to strengthen the interdisciplinary perspectives of PIA. Although ambitious, these elements were of paramount importance to us and served as a guiding blueprint for all PIA activities. Hereafter is a modified version of the vision[9] taken from @cornut_annotations_2023 [p. 4]. Accessibility by developing open interfaces and offering the possibility of expanding the archive and turning it into an instrument of current research that collects and evaluates knowledge with the participation of other users (Citizen Science). Heterogeneity by making visible where, why and under what circumstances the objects were created, how they were handled and what path they have taken to get to and in the archive. We work on visualisations that take into account the heterogeneous character of archival materials and make their respective biographies visible. Materiality by conveying the material properties of the objects: they have front and back sides, inscriptions, traces, development errors, they are transparent, multi-layered or fabric-covered. They tell of their origin, use, and peculiarities. We want to make this knowledge accessible and understandable in digital form. To this end, we also consider the necessary infrastructure involved in the creation as part of their narrative: the restoration, the relocation, the indexing, the storage devices, the research tools, the display medium, as well as the process of repro-photography. Interoperability as a crucial component and which will be done by supporting digital means that allow different stakeholders to freely access and interact with the project’s data. Both humans and machines can use, contribute to, correct and annotate the existing data in an open and interoperable manner, thus encouraging exchange and the creation of new knowledge. To do this, we use web-based standards that are widely adopted in the cultural heritage field. Affinities by leveraging data models and pattern recognition which can uncover semantic relationships between entities that were previously incomplete or difficult for users to access. Using specific interfaces and visualisations, we make it possible to explore digital assets and discover forms of relationships and similarities between images. AI that facilitates automated searches for simple image attributes such as colour, shapes, and localisation of image components. It should also become possible to recognise texts and object types for extracting metadata. Bias Management by taking into account that associated metadata was human-made[10] and thus is never objective. Collections and their metadata reflect biases or focus narrowly on selected areas and perceptions. Machines working on the basis of such data automatically reproduce the implicit biases in decision-making due to so-called biased algorithms. Therefore, understanding the data used for training and the algorithms applied for decision making is crucial to ensure the integrity of the application of these technologies in archives. We take ethical issues into account when using AI and visualisations, because the higher the awareness of a possible bias, the faster it can be detected or brought up for consideration with users. As my thesis is notably concerned with semantic interoperability, Interoperability and Affinities are of particular importance to my PhD thesis, although I recognise the importance of all pillars. Each of these resonated with me and my fellow PhD Candidates. As we immersed ourselves in the vision of the PIA research project, it became a unifying thread that brought us together in our research ambitions. We found that all these priorities within the project spoke to us at different points and provided a strong point of communication and practice in the development of processes, prototypes or interfaces. 2.3 Contribution to PIA and its Relevance to the Thesis To develop a participatory platform, an open and sustainable technological foundation for facilitating the reuse of CH resources was needed [@raemy_applying_2021]. Throughout the PIA project, I was mainly involved in the extension of the data infrastructure, the uptake of IIIF as well as designing the data model, leveraging Linked Art and WADM [@raemy_interlinking_2024]. As a member of Team B, I undertook this PhD as a bridge between the different teams, mostly participating in discussions with the three doctoral candidates from Team A to further develop and agree on the CAS data model and with the software developers from my team to discuss the impact of the data model on our evolving — yet transitory — infrastructure as well as helping in implementing the APIs adhering to the LOUD design principles. It was necessary to redesign the data model within the context of a database migration, from Salsah to the DSP, that happened between November 2021 and March 2024. This updated version, based on the Knora Base Ontology[11], corresponded to the needs of the CAS archives and to some extent to those of PIA, in particular to enable the PhD Candidates in Cultural Anthropology to make more precise assertions, whether in terms of descriptive metadata, or in the ability to link one object to another or to provide comments on these objects in several narrative forms. Moreover, an assessment of the appropriate technical standards for improved usability of the objects by both humans and machines was carried out, as a basis for extending the capabilities provided by DaSCH, such as helping the software developers to implement SIPI[12], a C++ image server compatible with the IIIF Image API and build services that create IIIF Presentation API 3.0 resources. While the theoretical framework of the thesis extends across the scope of PIA, the empirical part focuses on a specific set of findings derived from the research project outlined in , under the title . In this chapter, I discuss the data model and its refinement as well as the generation of custom IIIF Manifests during the specific digitisation, cataloguing and indexing efforts that took place throughout the project for the three CAS collections (SGV_05, SGV_10 and SGV_12) under investigation, the implementation of LOUD standards, and the overall design of the technological underpinnings. 2.4 Involvement within the IIIF and Linked Art communities I must acknowledge the invaluable role that my involvement within the IIIF and Linked Art communities has played in shaping my journey as a trained information specialist and an aspiring DH practitioner. Being an active participant in both communities has not only broadened my understanding of the latest developments in the field but has also profoundly influenced the trajectory of this dissertation. I have been involved within the IIIF community since October 2016 and the Working Groups Meeting that happened in The Hague[13]. This significant journey was, in fact, initiated by a recommendation from my first supervisor, Peter Fornaro, during my time as an undergraduate doing an internship at the DHLab. Little did I know that this recommendation would lead me to be carrying out a PhD and looking at IIIF not only as community-driven standards but as an object of study. Engaging with the IIIF community exposed me to cutting-edge advances in image interoperability and standards, and fostered a deeper appreciation for the importance of digital representations of cultural heritage. Through collaborative discussions with experts from diverse backgrounds, I gained new perspectives on the potential of technology to advance humanities research and preserve our collective cultural memory. Similarly, my involvement in the Linked Art community introduced me to the opportunities offered by LOUD and its transformative impact on research discourse. Exposure to Linked Data methodologies and the CIDOC-CRM has significantly influenced the way I have structured and interpreted the data in this dissertation, thereby enriching its scholarly breadth and rigour. I started to be actively involved in Linked Art at the beginning of my PhD in 2021, but I was already a by 2020, driven by the efforts of Rob Sanderson, my third supervisor. By mid-2023, I had become a member of the Editorial Board. The individuals I have met and the knowledge shared in these vibrant communities have deeply informed my approach as a scholar. The invaluable connections and collaborations I have made have expanded my network of fellow researchers, educators, and experts, leading to fruitful discussions that have significantly shaped the research questions addressed in this thesis. The events and workshops organised by these communities have also provided immersive learning experiences, giving me first-hand insights into the tools, technologies and methodologies used in the context of describing and disseminating CH data. The dynamic ecosystem of these communities has served as an inspiring backdrop, fostering innovative thinking and encouraging a more holistic approach to my research. 3. Interlinking Cultural Heritage Data (…) Data processing offers great potential for humanities research as @owens_defining_2011 argues: ‘In the end, the kinds of questions humanists ask about texts and artifacts are just as relevant to ask of data. While the new and exciting prospects of processing data offer humanists a range of exciting possibilities for research, humanistic approaches to the textual and artifactual qualities of data also have a considerable amount to offer to the interpretation of data’. 4. Exploring Relationships through an Actor-Network Theory Lens (…) 5. Research Scope and Methodology This chapter delineates the Research Scope and Methodology, laying the groundwork for the empirical exploration within this thesis. (…) 6. The Social Fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art (…) 7. PIA as a Laboratory (…) 8. Yale’s LUX and LOUD Consistency (…) 9. Discussion [Il] faut renoncer à l’idée d’une interopérabilité syntaxique ou structurelle par l’utilisation d’un modèle unique, qu’il s’agisse de la production, de stockage ou de l’exploitation au sein même d’un [système d’information]. [@poupeau_reflexions_2018] [14] This chapter presents a comprehensive discussion where I interpret, analyse and critically examine my findings in relation to the thesis and the wider application of LOUD. Through an in-depth analysis of the design principles of LOUD and their implications for CH, this discussion aims to demonstrate the many challenges and opportunities inherent in this framework. The focus is on achieving community-driven consensus, rather than simply pursuing technological breakthrough. The following sections are organised to provide a comprehensive review of the empirical findings, an evaluation abstracting LOUD, and a retrospective analysis of the research journey. Firstly, in Section 9.1, I will present a summary of the empirical findings from my research. This will include key themes and insights, structured to reflect the different areas of study and practice within LOUD. Secondly, in Section 9.2 I will provide an evaluation of LOUD by means of using the LoA approach. This evaluation will focus on the impact of LOUD on the perception of Linked Data within the CH domain and the wider DH field. This will include the key themes and insights that have emerged, structured in a way that reflects four levels of abstraction. I will also explore the dual nature of LOUD implementation, involving both simplicity and complexity, and discuss the various factors that influence such dynamics. Finally, in Section 9.3, I will offer a retrospective analysis of the research journey. This section will interpret the findings to situate LOUD as fully-fledged actors. It will reflect on the challenges, achievements, and lessons learned throughout the research process, providing a holistic view of the project’s trajectory and its implications for the future of LOUD. 9.1 Empirical Findings This section summarises the empirical findings of my research and already offers some suggestions. The structure does not follow the exact order of the three empirical chapters but is organised around overarching topics that emerged throughout the study. The seven topics include Community Practices and Standards, Inclusion and Marginalised Groups, Maintenance and Community Engagement, Interoperability and Usability, Future Directions and Sustainability, Digital Materiality and Representation, as well as Challenges of Scaling and Implementation. Community Practices and Standards GitHub serves as a vital hub for community involvement, with a core group of active contributors often attending meetings regularly. This platform simplifies decision-making within the community, although it also reflects biases similar to those in FLOSS communities. Behind visible activities like meetings, there is substantial preparatory work managed by co-chairs, editorial boards, or driven by community-generated use cases. This foundational work often determines the direction and outcomes of formal gatherings. The LUX project at Yale, as seen in , has successfully fostered collaboration across various units, bringing together libraries and museums on a unified platform. The technological foundation of LUX, based on open standards, facilitates data integration and cross-collections discovery. Not only does the deployment of FLOSS tools contribute to these achievements, but it also emphasises the social advantages of working collaboratively. The concept of the Tragedy of the Commons, as described by @hardin_tragedy_1968, highlights the potential for individual self-interest to deplete shared resources. However, @ostrom_governing_1990 offers a counterpoint by demonstrating how communities can successfully manage common resources through collective action and shared norms. In this context, initiatives like the CHAOSS initiative[15] play a significant role by providing metrics that help evaluate the health and sustainability of open source communities. These metrics include contributions, issue resolution times, and community growth, offering valuable insights into how collaborative efforts can be maintained and improved. Reaching consensus is another critical aspect of community practices and standards. While the minutes of meetings are valuable artefacts, they often reflect an Anglo-Saxon approach to decision-making characterised by few substantive points and critical turning points. The formal aspects of conversations captured in minutes do not fully encompass the decision-making process, which frequently involves informal conversations, consensus-building through open dialogue, and subtle cues that influence outcomes. These elements are integral to the English and American approach and hold valuable lessons for an international community. IIIF and Linked Art are international communities, but decisions are made in English and the majority of participants are based in North America and the UK, significantly imprinting this approach. Understanding these nuances can help us improve our collaborative efforts within the IIIF and Linked Art communities. By recognising and appreciating these different facets of decision-making, we can learn from each other and enhance our collective ability to make effective and inclusive decisions. Some of the challenges associated with these practices include the major demand on resources for community building, the slowness inherent in distributed development, and the difficulty in achieving consensus. Additionally, the concept of social sustainability can be seen as an imaginary construct that papers over differences, as discussed by @fitzpatrick_generous_2019. Addressing these challenges is crucial for the long-term success and effectiveness of the IIIF and Linked Art communities. Inclusion and Marginalised Groups The demographic homogeneity in these communities can perpetuate biases and neglect issues relevant to underrepresented or marginalised groups, as seen in . Participation in these standardisation processes is itself a privilege. The assumption that internet access and digital devices are universally available is critically examined, revealing key actors in the digital landscape. This mirrors issues within the IIIF community, where generating IIIF resources presupposes means that may not be accessible to all. We need clear terms of inclusion, as highlighted by @hoffmann_terms_2021. She argues that effective inclusion requires a critical examination of the frameworks and conditions under which inclusion is offered. The framework should ensure that inclusion initiatives do not merely add diversity to existing power structures but work to transform these structures fundamentally. This involves questioning who defines the terms of inclusion, who benefits from them, and who may be inadvertently excluded. @hoffmann_terms_2021 suggests a participatory approach, where marginalised communities are actively involved in shaping inclusion policies and practices, thus making inclusion an ongoing, reflective process rather than a static goal. The inclusion of marginalised groups is a necessary step, but it is not sufficient. To truly make a difference, there must be a strategic and concentrated effort to appropriate technologies, as emphasised by [@morales_apropiacion_2009; @morales_imaginacion_2017; @morales_apropiacion_2018] and further articulated by [@martinez_demarco_empowering_2019; @martinez_demarco_digital_2023]. This strategic approach highlights the political significance of challenging dominant neoliberal and consumerist perspectives on technology and individual engagement. @martinez_demarco_digital_2023 underscores the critical importance of focusing on practices that go beyond mere inclusion. Instead, it requires a deep understanding and critical assessment of how technology is intertwined with social, economic, and ideological contexts. It implies a reflective and deliberate process of technology adoption in which individuals creatively tailor technology to their specific needs, beliefs, and interests. Moreover, a key aspect highlighted by @martinez_demarco_digital_2023 is the implicit and explicit critique of a universalist approach to inclusion, which often lends itself to all too easy instrumentalisation. Understanding and studying resistance to inclusion in an oppressive digital transformation context is paramount, particularly given the highly unequal conditions that prevail. In this light, a comprehensive study of socio-material and symbolic processes, practices, and involved in embedding technologies into individuals’ lives is needed. This approach also recognises technology as a catalyst for change. It envisions the use of technology to drive meaningful change at multiple dimensions and realities—national, societal, or personal. By focusing on these practices, empowering individuals to navigate and use technology thoughtfully and purposefully becomes a reality, bridging the gap between technological advances and societal progress [@martinez_demarco_empowering_2019]. Maintenance and Community Engagement The tension between creating advanced specifications and their practical implementation by platforms is evident in the IIIF Cookbook recipes and Linked Art patterns, as discussed in Chapter 6. This ongoing development shows that the community is still finding the best ways to achieve broad adoption and interoperability. The deployment of the Change Discovery API, as illustrated in Chapter 7, demonstrates that establishing such a protocol on top of the IIIF Presentation API is feasible and straightforward. High-level support from leadership, particularly Susan Gibbons as Vice Provost, has been crucial in building trust and ensuring the project’s success as a valuable discovery layer at Yale. This integration of diverse collections through a unified platform, based on open standards, highlights the potential for transforming teaching, learning, and research by leveraging collaborative efforts. The topic modelling exercise in LUX reveals the intricate actor-networks composed of organisations, individuals, and non-human actors. This analysis underscores the importance of ongoing processes and relationships in maintaining and evolving infrastructure, akin to the concept of ‘infrastructuring’. As detailed in Chapter 8, following best practices and guidelines such as the SHARED Principles is essential for better involvement, but it is also crucial to uphold these commitments consistently over the long term to ensure meaningful participation. Between the PIA team members, there were sometimes ‘disconnects between different communities who undertake collaborative research’ [@vienni-baptista_foundations_2023]. This was something we had to navigate and learn from, which was manageable within the context of a laboratory setting. However, for any follow-up projects or whatever forms the digital infrastructure we built may take, it is imperative that these disconnects are addressed and solidified to ensure cohesive and sustained community engagement. Interoperability and Usability Within PIA, different APIs have been progressively deployed to meet various requirements while allowing parallel exploration of data modelling. Each API offers unique advantages, but their collective integration promotes semantic interoperability. For example, the IIIF Image API has been instrumental in rationalising image distribution across prototypes, providing efficient access to high-quality digital surrogates and the ability to resize them for different uses. Adherence to LOUD standards and schemas within LUX has generally been positive, although transitioning between versions of a specification can present challenges, highlighting the need to improve the consistency of compliant resources. Linked Art, for instance, has the capacity to generate various insights and sources of truth around different entities. However, additional or entirely new vocabularies from sources like the Getty may need to be used – such as Homosaurus. Complementary to Linked Art, using WADM allows for assertions that go beyond purely descriptive narratives, though it may sacrifice some semantic richness. This complexity in managing vocabularies and maintaining semantic richness directly ties into broader usability considerations within the community. Addressing these usability concerns, Robert Sanderson has suggested focusing on the use of full URIs in Linked Art to ensure computational usability, in contrast to IIIF‘s approach of minimising URIs to enhance readability. This difference highlights a fundamental question in usability: balancing readability and computational usability. Understanding developers’ perspectives on these approaches is critical. I would suggest as a way forward for the IIIF and Linked Art communities to focus on further improving usability of the specifications. This includes conducting comprehensive usability assessments of APIs to evaluate the experiences of new developers versus existing ones, understanding the steepness of the learning curve associated with each API, and guiding improvements in documentation, on-boarding processes, and overall developer support. Efforts should be made to lower the barriers to entry for new developers by developing more intuitive and user-friendly tutorials, providing example projects, and creating a robust support community. Ensuring that developers can quickly and effectively leverage APIs will foster greater adoption. Addressing the challenges of transitioning between different versions of specifications is critical, and developing tools and guidelines that help maintain consistency across versions will reduce friction and ensure smoother updates. Future Directions and Sustainability Survey findings, as discussed in , underscore the need for ongoing efforts to develop LOUD standards that foster an inclusive, dynamic digital ecosystem. Future strategies should include creating educational resources and frameworks that support interdisciplinary collaboration and reduce barriers to participation. While the Manifest serves as the fundamental unit within IIIF, the Linked Art protocol can play a similar central role as semantic gateways in broader contexts, allowing round-tripping across the APIs. The topic modelling exercise in LUX, detailed in , reveals complex actor-networks of organisations, individuals, and non-human actors, providing insights into the relationships sustaining the LUX initiative. The next steps for Linked Art might involve forming a new consortium independent of a CIDOC Working Group, which could provide the necessary support to sustain the initiative. Alternatively, integrating Linked Art into IIIF as a new TSG and specification could address the discovery challenges within IIIF, as discussed during the birds of a feather session led by Robert Sanderson [see @raemy_notes_2024] at the 2024 IIIF Conference in Los Angeles[16]. Design principles that act as bridges across different disciplines, as proposed by @roke_pragmatic_2022, are crucial. IIIF has demonstrated that this collaborative approach is feasible, and Linked Art could follow in its footsteps. However, achieving this requires increased dedication from passive members and broader adoption of the model and the API ecosystem in the near future. Digital Materiality and Representation As explored in Chapter 7, the detailed digital representation of photographic albums, such as the Kreis Family Collection, demonstrates the need to comprehensively capture the materiality of digital objects. This includes the structure and context of images, which are crucial for maintaining their historical and social significance. The implementation of the IIIF Presentation API in creating a detailed digital replica of the Getty’s Bayard Album shows how digital materiality can be enhanced through thoughtful use of technology, but also highlights the scalability challenges for such detailed representations. Creating these detailed digital representations can be seen as a ‘boutique’ approach, which, while labour-intensive and resource-demanding, is necessary for preserving the integrity and contextual significance of cultural heritage objects. The challenge lies in developing the appropriate means and methodologies to achieve this level of detail consistently. Future endeavours, whether through research projects or collaborative efforts between GLAM institutions and DH practitioners, should aim to address these challenges and create sustainable practices for digital materiality and representation. As Edwards aptly notes: ‘Presentational forms equally reflect specific intent in the use and value of the photographs they embed, to the extent that the objects that embed photographs are in many cases meaningless without their photographs; for instance, empty frames or albums. These objects are only invigorated when they are again in conjunction with the images with which they have a symbiotic relationship, for display functions not only make the thing itself visible but make it more visible in certain ways‘. [@edwards_photographs_2004 p. 11] Challenges of Scaling and Implementation As seen in Chapter 6, the IIIF Cookbook recipes and Linked Art patterns reflect the tension between creating advanced specifications and their practical implementation. This gap between ideation and real-world application underscores the challenges faced by the community in achieving broad adoption and interoperability. In Chapter 7, the exploration of APIs like the IIIF Change Discovery API illustrates the practical challenges and potential of scaling these technologies for wider adoption. The successful implementation in PIA demonstrates viability, but also points to the need for continued development and community engagement to fully realise the benefits. Furthermore, assessing the scalability of IIIF image servers, as discussed by [@duin_webassembly_2022] and exemplified by the firm Q42 with their Edge-based service Micrio[17], highlights the importance of optimising data performance. Erwin Verbruggen aptly noted that ‘optimising data performance in my opinion mens sending as little data over as needed’[18], emphasising the need for efficient data handling to enhance scalability. This insight reinforces the necessity of continual refinement in scaling digital infrastructure to support broader use and integration. Reflecting on these findings, I would like to assert that continuous participation, particularly for institutions that can afford to be part of initiatives like IIIF-C, is essential. Active members should not only focus on their own use cases but also consider the needs and perspectives of other, perhaps marginalised, groups. Achieving the dual goals of making progress within one community, whether it be IIIF or Linked Art, while also engaging in effective outreach and creating a solid baseline, will benefit everyone in the CH sector and beyond. Addressing where LOUD fits in, how people perceive this new concept or paradigm, and understanding how LOUD differs from Linked Data in general are essential. These questions help to clarify the stages at which themes related to one of the LOUD design principles emerge, crystallise, and potentially disappear. My thesis does not fully resolve these queries but offers insights and hints for further exploration. In conclusion, the empirical findings reveal the richness of the implementation and maintenance of LOUD standards in the CH domain. From the critical role of community practices and standards to the challenges of achieving interoperability and inclusivity, each theme underlines the complex interplay of social, technical and organisational factors. will look at the evaluation of LOUD and explore its overall impact, delving into the delta of what to do with it, particularly in terms of Linked Data versus LOUD, where my thesis provides pointers but does not provide definitive answers. 9.2 Evaluation: Abstracting LOUD (…) 9.3 Retrospective: Truding like an Ant (…) 10. Conclusion For a better understanding of the past, Our images have to be enhanced, A new dialogue in three dimensions, Must have openness at its heart, For somewhere within the archive Of our aggregated minds Are a multitude of questions And a multitude of answers, Simply awaiting to be found. [@mr_gee_day_2023] This chapter brings to a close the journey undertaken since February 2021, aiming to clearly articulate the answers to the research questions, discuss how the research aligns with the objectives, elucidate the significance of the work, outline its shortcomings, and suggest avenues for future research. I had the privilege of hearing the above poem at EuropeanaTech in The Hague in October 2023. What struck me most, and what I have tried to convey in this thesis, was the powerful dialogue and collective spirit striving to harness the potential of our (digital) heritage. With a sense of conviction after this conference, I approached the next one in Geneva in February 2024 with confidence, believing that I had made a compelling case for the concept of LOUD. When a participant asked how LOUD differed from Linked Data, however, I found myself explaining the socio-technical ethos of IIIF and Linked Art, the richness of the individuals who make them up, the ability to combine these different standards, and the common use cases that emerge from these collaborations. Whether my answer was convincing remains uncertain, but I knew it was too brief. Perhaps it is here, in this conclusion, that my thoughts can find their full expression. I believe that LOUD should be at the forefront of efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of CH data, an endeavour that is increasingly relevant in a web-centric environment. This paradigm has gained considerable traction, particularly with the advent of Linked Art and the recognition that the IIIF Presentation API has been an inspiration for the LOUD design principles. The development and maintenance of LOUD standards by dedicated communities are characterised by collaboration, consensus building, and transparency. In the interstices of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, frameworks for interoperability are not only exposed, but revealed as profound testaments to the power of transparent collaboration across institutional boundaries. Both communities, it is true, are still very much Anglo-Saxon efforts, where the specifications have mainly been implemented in GLAM and/or DH research projects, or at least when we have been aware of them. It has clear guidelines on how to propose use cases, mostly using GitHub, and hides the sometimes unnecessary RDF complexity behind a set of JSON-LD @ context. IIIF is at the presentation layer and can really play its role as a mediator, with the Manifest as its central unit connecting other specifications, including semantic metadata, and preferably with simpatico specifications such as Linked Art. An important hypothesis arises from the observation that adherence to the LOUD design principles makes specifications more likely to be adopted. The primary benefit of adopting LOUD standards lies in their grassroots nature. This grassroots approach not only aligns with the core values of openness and collaboration within the DH community but also serves as a common denominator between DH practitioners and CHIs. This unique alignment fosters a sense of shared purpose and common ground. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that while LOUD and its associated standards, including IIIF, hold immense promise, their limited recognition in the wider socio-technical ecosystem may currently hinder their full potential impact beyond the CH domain. Consideration of socio-technical requirements and the promotion of digital equity are essential to the development of specifications in line with the LOUD design principles. In the context of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, this means both recognising current challenges and building on existing practices. This includes forming alliances that support diverse forms of inclusion at both project and individual levels. For example, organisations should be encouraged to send representatives from diverse professional and personal backgrounds, such as underrepresented groups or non-technical fields. This can be facilitated by initiatives that lower the barriers to participation, such as financial support for travel and participation, flexible participation formats, and targeted outreach efforts. Furthermore, as these standards often align with open government data initiatives, they present opportunities for broader public engagement and institutional transparency. In the broader context of DH, understanding LOUD involves tracing the historical development of the field and its evolving relationship with technology. The interdisciplinary nature of DH has always integrated diverse scholarly and technical practices. In recent years, DH has seen a notable increase in interest in the use of Linked Data and semantic technologies to improve the discoverability and accessibility of CH collections. LOUD's emphasis on user-centred design and usability aligns well with these goals. Consequently, the principles of LOUD hold great promise for advancing the integration and use of community-driven APIs and/or Linked Data within DH. This can be seen within PIA, where the benefits of implementing IIIF helped us to streamline machine-generated annotations, integrate different thumbnails into GUI prototypes, model photo albums with different layers from the Kreis Family collection, and enable project members and students to engage in digital storytelling, an important participatory facet that can be seamlessly explored by DH efforts and CHIs with the help of the IIIF Image and Presentation APIs. Data reuse is definitely a key LOUD driver, which could have been done more extensively with a productive instance of Linked Art. As for widening participation, this is definitely a strategic and political decision, rather than a technical one. That said, LOUD specifications can definitely be embedded through strategic citizen science initiatives. A recent example that highlights the comprehensive value of Linked Data was presented by @newbury_linked_2024 at the CNI Spring 2024 Meeting. He delineated its significance as extending well beyond single entities, such as the Getty Research Institute, to enrich a vast ecosystem. Specifically, he identified three principal areas of value: Firstly, within the ecosystem itself, where the utility of information is amplified through its application in diverse contexts. Secondly, for the audience, by directly addressing user needs and facilitating various conceptual frameworks. And finally, within the community, by enabling wider use and adaptation of data and code. This approach to Linked Data, as articulated by Newbury, not only enhances its utility across these dimensions, but also aligns seamlessly with the LOUD proposition, underscoring a shared vision for a digital space where the interconnectedness and accessibility of (meta)data serve as foundational principles for progress and community engagement. LUX, as a catalyst for LOUD, exemplifies a practical approach to implementing Linked Data that has garnered significant local engagement and support at Yale. This initiative demonstrates how sound socio-technical practices can be effectively applied within a supportive institutional environment. The consistency of the data within LUX aligns well with IIIF and Linked Art standards, with only a few minor adjustments required for full compliance. These quick fixes are manageable and do not detract from the overall robustness of the initiative. While it may be too early to fully assess the wider impact of using LOUD specifications on the LUX platform within the CH domain, the initiative has already attracted considerable interest in recent months. This growing attention suggests that the LUX approach is resonating with other organisations, suggesting the potential for wider adoption and impact. The enthusiastic local engagement at Yale provides a strong foundation for LUX and highlights its potential to serve as a model for similar projects aimed at enriching digital heritage through effective collaboration and agreed-upon standards. In carrying out this thesis, I have adhered to the five main objectives set out at the beginning of the PhD. These objectives have been accomplished to a high degree, reflecting a substantial and well-executed project. Furthermore, most of the outputs – such as data models and scripts – from this work are available on GitHub, providing open access to the wider community. In addition, I have published several papers, both individually and collaboratively, further disseminating the findings and contributions of this research. Additionally, this thesis is relevant because it sheds light on communities and implementations that can be celebrated not only for their standards but also for their operating ethos; IIIF and Linked Art present models ripe for emulation beyond their immediate digital confines. Here, agency and authority are most typically granted to the collective over the isolated, with each actor - be it an individual, an institution or an interface – intricately interconnected. Yale’s LUX initiative also embodies this ethos, demonstrating how collaborative efforts can lead to innovative solutions and wider impact. It is to be hoped, then, that these practices of openness and multiple partnerships will not be seen as limited to their origins in digital representation. At the very least, I hope that these socio-technical approaches can serve as exemplars or sources of inspiration in broader arenas, where the principles of mutual visibility and concerted action can point the way towards cohesive and adaptive collaborative architectures. Despite its contribution, this thesis is far from perfect and certainly contains several shortcomings. I will name here three significant ones. First, the visualisations included and the use of FOL are primarily designed to support my own self-reflection and may be more beneficial to me than to the broader academic community. While they provide insights into my research process and findings, their applicability and usefulness to others might be limited. Second, the theoretical framework I employed, while instrumental to my research, may not serve as a universally applicable toolbox. Nevertheless, I urge readers to pay close attention to STS methodologies and practices. The works of Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, and Susan Leigh Star have been invaluable companions throughout this dissertation. Additionally, for those involved in conceptualising semantic information, I recommend exploring Floridi’s PI, which offers profound insights into the nature and dynamics of information. These readings have greatly influenced my approach and understanding, and I believe they can offer valuable perspectives to others as well. Third, while the thesis aims to address both community practices and semantic interoperability, it leans more heavily towards the former. This emphasis on community practices may overshadow the broader discussion of semantic interoperability, potentially limiting the appeal of the thesis to those primarily interested in the technical aspects. Other shortcomings include the broad scope of the thesis, with three empirical chapters exploring different avenues. While this comprehensive approach provides a broad understanding of the research topic, it has also resulted in a rather lengthy thesis. This may be a challenge for the reader, as a topic of interest in one chapter may not be as compelling in another. The diversity of empirical focus, while enriching the research, may dilute the coherence for some readers, making it more difficult to maintain a consistent engagement throughout the dissertation. Despite these limitations, I hope that the different perspectives and findings contribute to a richer, more nuanced understanding of LOUD for CH. Avenues for future research are numerous and promising. One interesting area to explore is the comparative benefits experienced by early adopters of IIIF and Linked Art specifications versus those who implemented these standards later. Early adopters have the advantage of having their use cases discussed and resolved within the community, and it would be insightful to analyse the long-term impacts on their projects. Such a study is already feasible for early adopters of IIIF and will become possible to compare further implementations of Linked Art within a few years. Furthermore, future exploration could focus on the full implementation of Linked Art within PIA or similar efforts, as well as more performance-oriented testing with the deployed LOUD APIs. These efforts should further validate the robustness and scalability of these specifications. Another important area for future investigation is the participation of institutions and individuals from the Global South in both the IIIF and Linked Art communities. It is crucial to explore how we can better support their uptake of these specifications and encourage their active involvement in these initiatives to ensure a more inclusive and globally representative environment. As I reflect on the journey of this thesis, I am reminded of the powerful dialogue and collective effort that has been at its heart. Mr Gee’s poem resonates deeply with my own aspirations for this work: to enhance our understanding of the past through openness and collaboration, as can be seen in IIIF and Linked Art. As I bring this dissertation to a close, I am filled with a sense of accomplishment and a renewed commitment to promoting sound socio-technical practices. It is my hope that the insights and methodologies presented here will inspire others to engage in this ongoing dialogue, continually asking and answering the many questions that arise as we collectively explore our cultural heritage landscapes. Throughout this dissertation, British English spelling conventions are predominantly observed. However, there are instances of American English spelling where direct quotations from sources are used as well as referring to names of institutions, standards, or concepts. ↩︎ SNSF Data Portal - Grant number 193788: https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/193788 ↩︎ Seminar für Kulturwissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie: https://kulturwissenschaft.philhist.unibas.ch/ ↩︎ DHLab: https://dhlab.philhist.unibas.ch/ ↩︎ HKB: https://www.hkb.bfh.ch/ ↩︎ The considerable size of the ASV collection, which includes over 90,000 analogue objects, reflects not just the work of the main authors but also the contributions from numerous explorers and additional material beyond the maps and primary publications. ↩︎ Max Frischknecht’s PhD: https://phd.maxfrischknecht.ch/ ↩︎ PIA project website: https://about.participatory-archives.ch/ ↩︎ The vision of the PIA project was first written in German and then translated into English and French. ↩︎ In our joint paper, we wrote , corrected here, which makes me think of the transition within the CIDOC-CRM for the Entity E22 Human-Made Object from version 6.2.7 onward. ↩︎ Knora Base Ontology: https://docs.dasch.swiss/2023.07.01/DSP-API/02-dsp-ontologies/knora-base/ ↩︎ SIPI documentation: https://sipi.io/ ↩︎ IIIF Working Groups Meeting, The Hague, 2016: https://iiif.io/event/2016/thehague/ ↩︎ Author’s translation: ‘We need to give up on the idea of syntactic or structural interoperability through the use of a single model, whether for producing, storing or managing data within an information system’. ↩︎ CHAOSS: https://chaoss.community/ ↩︎ IIIF Annual Conference and Showcase - Los Angeles, CA, USA - June 4-7, 2024: https://iiif.io/event/2024/los-angeles/ ↩︎ Micrio: https://micr.io/ ↩︎ Message written on the IIIF Slack Workspace on 28 October 2022. ↩︎]]></description>
+        <description><![CDATA[Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage: Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability PhD Thesis in Digital Humanities, completed as part of the Graduate School of Social Sciences’ (G3S) doctoral programme. It was successfully defended on 18 November 2024 (slides). This page will host a lightweight HTML version of my thesis, optimised for easy access and readability. The PDF version (e-dissertation) is available on the University of Basel’s repository: https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep96807. Page in construction (please be patient ⌛) Author Dr. Julien A. Raemy (University of Basel) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4711-5759 Supervisors Prof. Dr. Peter Fornaro (University of Basel) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1485-4923 Prof. Dr. Walter Leimgruber (University of Basel) Dr. Robert Sanderson (Yale University) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4441-6852 Abstract Digital technologies have fundamentally transformed how Cultural Heritage (CH) collections are accessed and engaged with. Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) specifications, including the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) Presentation API 3.0, Linked Art, and the W3C Web Annotation Data Model, have emerged as web standards to facilitate the description and dissemination of these valuable resources. Despite the widespread adoption of IIIF, implementing LOUD specifications, particularly in combination, remains challenging. This is especially evident in the development and assessment of infrastructures, or sites of assemblage, that support these standards. This research is guided by two perspectives: community practices and semantic interoperability. The first perspective assesses how organizations, individuals, and apparatuses engage with and contribute to the consensus-making processes surrounding LOUD. By examining these practices, the social fabrics of the LOUD ecosystem can be better understood. The second perspective focuses on making data meaningful to machines in a standardized, interoperable manner that promotes the exchange of well-formed information. This research is grounded in the SNSF-funded project, Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archives (PIA) (2021–2025), which aims to develop a citizen science platform for three photographic collections from the Cultural Anthropology Switzerland (CAS) archives. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) forms the theoretical foundation, aiming to describe the collaborative structures of the LOUD ecosystem and emphasize the role of non-human actors. Beyond its implementation within the PIA project, this research includes an analysis of the social dynamics within the IIIF and Linked Art communities and an investigation of Yale’s Collections Discovery platform, LUX. The research identifies socio-technical requirements for developing specifications aligned with LOUD principles. It also examines how the implementation of LOUD standards in PIA highlights their potential benefits and limitations in facilitating data reuse and broader participation. Additionally, it explores Yale University’s large-scale deployment of LOUD standards, emphasizing the importance of ensuring consistency between Linked Art and IIIF resources within the LUX platform for the CH domain. The core methodology of this thesis is an actor- and practice-centered inquiry, focusing on a detailed examination of specific cosmologies within LOUD-driven communities, PIA, and LUX. This micro-perspective approach provides rich empirical evidence to unravel the intricate web of cultural processes and constellations in these contexts. Key empirical findings indicate that LOUD enhances the discoverability and integration of data in CH, requiring community-driven consensus on model interoperability. However, significant challenges include engaging marginalized groups, sustaining long-term participation, and balancing technological and social factors. Strategic use of technology and the capture of digital materiality are critical, but LOUD also poses challenges related to resource investment, data consistency, and the broader implementation of complex patterns. LOUD should lead efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of CH data. The community-driven methodologies of IIIF and Linked Art inherently foster collaboration and transparency, making these standards essential tools in evolving data management practices. Even for institutions and projects that do not adopt these specifications, the socio-technical practices of LOUD offer vital insights into effective digital stewardship and strategies for community engagement. Keywords: Actor-Network Theory; Community of Practice; Cultural Anthropology Switzerland; Cultural Heritage; Digital Infrastructure; International Image Interoperability Framework; Knowledge Practices; Linked Art; Linked Data; LUX; Participatory Archives; Photographic Archives; Semantic Interoperability; Web Annotation Data Model Table of Contents Introduction Context Interlinking Cultural Heritage Data Exploring Relationships through an Actor-Network Theory Lens Research Scope and Methodology The Social Fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art PIA as a Laboratory Yale’s LUX and LOUD Consistency Discussion Conclusion 1. Introduction Since its inception in 2011, the IIIF has revolutionised[1] the accessibility of image-based resources. Initially driven by the needs of manuscript scholars, IIIF focused on two-dimensional images, but has since expanded to encompass a wide range of image-based resources, including audiovisual materials and, in the near future, 3D images. Similarly, Linked Art, formally established in 2017, initially concentrated on art museum objects but has since broadened its scope to model a variety of CH entities, leveraging CIDOC-CRM, a renowned ontology in the museum and DH space. Both initiatives aim to break down silos: IIIF focuses on improving the presentation of digital objects, while both initiatives enhance their dissemination. Together, they make CH data more accessible through IIIF and more meaningful through Linked Art for machines. These efforts have primarily benefited the CH domain. A key commonality is that the main APIs these communities create align with the LOUD design principles, either intentionally or empirically demonstrated through use cases. These principles enable software developers to develop compliant tools and services without needing to fully understand RDF, a syntax for representing information on the web. Additionally, they may not need to grasp all LOD principles, which promote the interlinking of data from diverse datasets using tools like KOS such as thesauri. WADM, a W3C standard, is also recognised as a LOUD specification. It provides a framework for creating interoperable annotations on web resources, facilitating the linking and sharing of data across different platforms and applications. These LOUD design principles include the right abstraction for the audience, few barriers to entry, comprehensibility by introspection, documentation with working examples, and the use of many consistent patterns rather than few exceptions. Additionally, both IIIF and Linked Art are driven by vibrant communities, mainly comprising GLAM and higher education institutions. While the standards and principles discussed have broad applications, it is important to clarify the scope of this dissertation. This work does not focus on KGs by assessing triplestores – databases specifically designed to store and retrieve triples, which are the fundamental data structures in RDF. Similarly, it does not deal with evaluating SPARQL engines, which are specifically designed to query KGs. Additionally, this dissertation does not address the intersection of ML and IIIF, or the ontological reasoning of Linked Art. Instead, this dissertation concentrates on LOUD, the consistency of its standards, design principles and the vibrant communities behind it. It examines JSON-LD serialisation efforts and the crucial intersection required to establish robust semantic interoperability baselines between presentation and semantic layers. It also presents real-world use case implementations, both on a small scale in a laboratory and flexible space within the PIA research project, and on a large scale at Yale, exemplified by the LUX platform that provides access to (meta)data from YUL, YCBA, YUAG, and YPM. The focus is therefore on digital infrastructures capable of delivering JSON-LD files from the above specifications, which are primarily, though not exclusively, CH resources. It is more about the different actors – both human and non-human – that create and maintain these interconnected systems and the dynamic interactions that sustain them. The deployment of various LOUD specifications addresses the need for semantic interoperability between CH resources and disparate datasets by establishing a standardised approach to representing and linking data, ensuring that information can be seamlessly shared and understood across different platforms and contexts. This dissertation seeks to carve out a distinct niche by addressing an often-overlooked aspect of IIIF and Linked Art. IIIF is sometimes perceived and studied merely as a service or an appendix, with the content it delivers taking precedence. However, this PhD thesis positions IIIF as a first-class citizen worthy of in-depth study. Similarly, Linked Art, despite its potential and its relatively recent establishment, has been the subject of very few scholarly papers. This gap underscores the significance of LOUD in this context. Furthermore, this thesis elevates Linked Art to a position of primary importance, recognising its significance and advocating for its thorough examination. To thoroughly study LOUD and its adherence to design principles, it is essential to immerse ourselves actively in both communities – an approach I have embraced for years. The thesis also emphasises the importance of participatory efforts and collaboration between research projects, which typically have shorter lifespans, and memory institutions, which need to implement technical standards as a lingua franca. In doing so, it reveals the mediating role of LOUD in advancing the heritage sphere. To truly understand IIIF, Linked Art, and to a lesser extent WADM, it is crucial to examine the social fabrics and consensus decision-making of each community. Among these considerations are how the specifications can be implemented pragmatically, and how the standards can support the implementation and maintenance of more extensive semantic interoperability efforts. The significance of this research lies in highlighting the commitment and diligence of the individuals and organisations that make up both the IIIF and Linked Art communities. It aims to demonstrate that community-driven practices, such as those exemplified by IIIF and Linked Art, have a potential that goes beyond the mere sharing of digital objects and their associated metadata. The more people who embrace these approaches and implement the associated specifications, the more society as a whole will benefit. Furthermore, this research illustrates that IIIF is no longer limited to two-dimensional images, that Linked Art is not restricted to artworks, and that WADM is a simple, content-agnostic standard that can be easily integrated into a range of systems. This adaptability is a strength of LOUD standards, which are designed to be simple yet effective. LOUD can serve a variety of purposes, primarily rooted in CH, but with the potential to extend its benefits to other sectors. The true beauty of LOUD lies in its ability to foster networking opportunities and transparent socio-technical practices, demonstrating its value beyond mere technical implementation. By emphasising these aspects, this dissertation highlights the wider impact of LOUD in promoting semantic interoperability and enhancing collaborative efforts within the heritage field and beyond. In addition, the implementation of standards through PIA underlines the potential for similar participatory or citizen science projects, while the LUX initiative serves as an illustrative example of robust infrastructure and cross-unit engagement. These examples demonstrate the practical applications and far-reaching implications of adopting LOUD standards in different contexts. This dissertation is structured across ten chapters, each building upon the previous ones up to Chapter 5 to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research. These initial chapters lay the foundation of the study, establishing the context, theoretical framework, and methodological approaches. After this foundational section, Chapters 6, 7, and 8 present empirical studies that, while interconnected, can be read independently if desired. These chapters offer detailed insights into specific aspects of the research and can be appreciated on their own or as part of the broader narrative. The thesis continues with Chapter 2, which extends this introduction by providing more information about the research setting, specifically PIA. Chapter 3 follows with an extensive literature review, offering a comprehensive overview of methods to interlink CH data. Next, Chapter 4 presents the theoretical framework, conceptualised as a toolbox and firmly rooted in ANT, guiding the analysis and discussion throughout the dissertation. Following this, Chapter 5 details the research scope and methodology, explaining the approaches and methods employed in the study. Moving on to the empirical work, Chapter 6 sheds light on the social fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art, exploring the communities and practices that underpin these initiatives.Chapter 7 then examines the implementation of LOUD standards within PIA, highlighting the practical aspects and challenges encountered. This is followed by Chapter 8, which focuses on the LUX initiative at Yale, examining the underlying governance and interdepartmental ownership of the Yale Collections Discovery platform. The discussion of findings is presented in Chapter 9, where the results from the empirical chapters are synthesised and analysed in relation to the theoretical framework. Finally, Chapter 10 concludes the thesis, summarising the key insights and contributions of the research while outlining potential directions for future study. 2. Context In this chapter, I will set the stage for my PhD thesis by providing important background information. First, in Section 2.1, I will explain why I chose the title for my thesis. This will give you an understanding of the main focus and the direction of my research. Next, in , I will describe the PIA research project, which is central to my work. This section will cover the project’s goals, significance, and overall framework. In , I will detail my specific contributions to the PIA project. I will emphasise how my work fits into the larger project and its importance to my thesis. Finally, in , I will talk about my active participation in the IIIF and Linked Art communities. This section will highlight how my involvement in these communities has influenced my research and its broader implications. 2.1 PhD Title I chose the title ‘Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage: Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability’ as it encapsulates the essence of my research focus but I could have indeed chosen other ones. During the initial stages of my research, multiple working titles were explored to capture the diverse facets of my interests and objectives. If I was quite sure about having in the title after the third iteration, I was quite unsure of what should follow and if a subtitle was actually needed at all. Amidst this dynamic progression, the underlying theme of my research remained steadfast – to delve into the transformative potential of LOUD for CH. I also opted to maintain in the title of my thesis subsection. While holds its appeal, my choice reflects a broader narrative that acknowledges the crucial role of CHIs and spotlighting the multifaceted nature of heritage preservation, encapsulating both its digital facets and the essential contribution of individuals and institutions in curating, interpreting, and making heritage accessible. As for the subtitle, while I do explore CoP as defined by @lave_situated_1991 and @wenger_communities_2011 through investigating the social fabrics of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, my main interest lies in the broader application of LOUD for describing and interlinking CH resources. Thus, I decided to opt for the more generic as the first axis or perspective. For the second perspective, I wanted to see how semantic interoperability can be achieved through standards adhering to the LOUD design principles, as they seem to be key enablers for seamless collaboration and knowledge exchange among practitioners. There was a time in my research when I envisaged decoupling and , perceiving them as two distinct dimensions. However, what really captivates me is the unification of these factors to facilitate collective reasoning for both humans and machines. In summary, this title reflects my enthusiasm for using web-based and community-driven technologies to transform the way we understand, share and value CH. 2.2 The PIA Research Project I undertook my doctoral studies within the scope of the PIA research project financed by the SNSF under their Sinergia funding scheme from February 2021 to January 2025[2]. The project aimed to analyse the interplay of participants, epistemological orders and the graphical representation of information and knowledge in relation to three photographic collections from CAS. It sought to bring together the world of data and things in an interdisciplinary manner, exploring the phases of the analogue and digital archive from a cultural anthropological, technical and design research perspective [@felsing_community_2023 p. 42]. As part of this endeavour, interfaces were developed to enable the collaborative indexing and use of photographic archival records [@chiquet_participatory_2023 p. 110]. I discuss in more detail the interdisciplinary components and briefly introduce the people involved in the project in Subsection 2.2.1, then talk about the photographic collections that were the overarching narrative of the research in Subsection 2.2.2, and lastly in Subsection 2.2.3, the vision that we had put together. The project, divided in three interdisciplinary teams, was led by the University of Basel through the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology[3] (Team A) and the DHLab[4] in collaboration with the DBIS group (Team B) as well as by the HKB[5], an art school and department of the Bern University of Applied Sciences (Team C) [@felsing_community_2023 p. 43]. Table 2.1 lists the people who contributed to the project, broken down by the three teams and their particular perspectives. Table 2.1: PIA Team Core Members Perspective People A) Anthropological Prof. Dr. Walter Leimgruber, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Dr. Nicole Peduzzi, Photographic Restoration and Digitisation Supervisor Regula Anklin, Conservation and Restoration Specialist (project partner at Anklin &amp; Assen) Murielle Cornut, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology Birgit Huber, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology Fabienne Lüthi, PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology B) Technical Prof. Dr. Peter Fornaro, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Prof. Dr. Heiko Schuldt, Dissertation Supervisor (project partner at the University of Basel) Dr. Vera Chiquet, Postdoctoral Researcher Adrian Demleitner, Software Developer (2021-2023) Fabian Frei, Software Developer (2023-2025) Christoph Rohrer, Software Developer (2023-2025) Julien A. Raemy, PhD Candidate in Digital Humanities Florian Spiess, PhD Candidate in Computer Science C) Communicative Dr. Ulrike Felsing, Team Leader and Dissertation Supervisor Prof. Dr. Tobias Hodel, Dissertation Supervisor (project partner at the University of Bern) Daniel Schoeneck, Research Fellow Lukas Zimmer, Designer (project partner at A/Z&amp;T) Max Frischknecht, PhD Candidate in Digital Humanities 2.2.2 Photographic Collections/Archives as Anchors CAS has historically been engaged in active collaborations that bridge the academic research and the public sphere, primarily through traditional analogue methods. The PIA project was created with the intention of exploring the complexities inherent in both analogue and digital approaches, and to encourage and investigate these collaborative endeavours between academia and the wider public. As such, PIA represents a paradigm shift within the scope of projects associated with or supported by CAS, facilitating the seamless integration of digital tools to explore multiple facets of participation and engagement. This transformative endeavour embodies a profound exploration of new intersections where scholarly endeavours intertwine with the active involvement of citizens. PIA drew on three collections: one focusing on scientific cartography and titled (Atlas der Schweizerischen Volkskunde), a second from the estate of the photojournalist Ernst Brunner (1901–1979), and a third collection consisting of vernacular photography which was owned by the Kreis Family (1860–1970). SGV_05 ASV consists of 292 maps and 1000 pages of commentary published from 1950 to 1995 — an example of such a map is shown in Figure 2.1. This collection was commissioned by the CAS to do an extensive survey of the Swiss population in the 1930s and 1940s on many issues pertaining, for instance, to everyday life, local laws, superstitions, celebrations or labour [@weiss_atlas_1940]. The contents were compiled by researchers and by people who were described as [6]. Questions were asked about everyday habits, community rights, work, trade, superstitions, and many other topics [@schmoll_richard_2009; @schmoll_vermessung_2009]. This collection offers a snapshot of everyday life in Switzerland right before the beginning of a modernisation process that fundamentally changed lifestyles in all areas during the postwar period. A digitised version of the ASV would not only allow the results of that time to be enriched with further findings [@schranz_critical_2021], but would also make transparent how knowledge was generated in cartographic form through a complex process along different types of media and actors. The restoration, digitisation, cataloguing and indexing efforts took all part throughout PIA under the supervision of Birgit Huber, who extensively based her doctoral research on this particular collection [see @huber_entdeckung_2023]. Figure 2.1: Map from the SGV_05 Collection Relating to Question 93 Showing Walks and Excursions at Pentecost. ASV. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 SGV_10 Kreis Family comprises approximately 20,000 loose photographic objects, where a quarter of them are organised and kept in 93 photo albums — as illustrated by Figure 2.2, from a wealthy Basel-based family and spanning from the 1850s to the 1980s. This private collection was acquired by CAS in 1991. The collection, which originally arrived in banana cases and was enigmatic due to the lack of clear organisation or accompanying information from the family, posed significant challenges. Despite these initial hurdles, CAS undertook meticulous efforts to catalogue and preserve its contents [@felsing_re-imagining_2024 p. 42]. The pictures were taken by studio photographers as well as by family members themselves. The Kreis Family collection represents a typical example of urban bourgeois culture and gives a comprehensive insight into the development of private photography over the course of a century [@pagenstecher_private_2009]. The photographic materials and formats are very diverse, ranging from prints to negatives, small, medium or large format photographs, black and white or colour. The collection also encompasses many photographic techniques, from the one-off daguerreotypes and ferrotypes, to the glass-based negatives that could be reproduced en masse, to the modern paper prints. While some of the albums and loose images were restored and digitised during the 2014 project, much of this work was completed during PIA and overseen by Murielle Cornut, whose doctoral investigation was centred on the study of photo albums [see @cornut_open_2023]. Figure 2.2: A photo Album Page from the SGV_10 Collection, Bearing the Following Inscription: Botanische Excursion ins Wallis, Pfingster 1928. SGV_10A_00031_015. Kreis Family. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 SGV_12 Ernst Brunner is a donation of about 48,000 negatives and 20,000 prints to the CAS archives from Ernst Brunner, a self-taught photojournalist, who lived from 1901 to 1979 and who documented mainly in the 1930s and 1940s a wide range of folkloristic themes — as shown by Figure 2.3. He is one of the most important photographers of the era and one of the most outstanding visual chroniclers of Swiss society [@pfrunder_ernst_1995]. His photographs show rural lifestyles, but also urban motifs. In his late work, he led the documentation and research on farmhouses in a specific Swiss district, a project initiated by CAS. Before Ernst Brunner became an independent photojournalist in the mid-1930s, he worked as a carpenter, influenced by the ideas of the Bauhaus and Neues Bauen movements. This can also be seen in the aesthetics and formal language of his photography. If all the black and white negatives were digitised and recorded between 2014 and 2018, the digitisation of prints, which is a selection done by Ernst Brunner, was conducted at the end of the PIA research project. The latter was supervised by Fabienne Lüthi, whose PhD was about organisational systems and knowledge practices in the Ernst Brunner Collection. Figure 2.3: Picture from the SGV_12 Collection Showing Walkers Looking at the Timetable Train. [Wanderer studieren den Fahrplan in der Bahnhofhalle]. Lucerne, 1938. Ernst Brunner. SGV_12N_00716. CAS. CC BY-NC 4.0 Whereas for each of the PhD Candidates in Cultural Anthropology, a particular collection was assigned to them and its content was to varying degrees part of their subject of study, this was not exactly the same for the PhD Candidates in DH, including myself, and in Computer Science. Put differently, we had relative leeway in terms of what interested us in each or all of these three photographic collections. In my case, I briefly explain my contribution to the project more in and then in as part of the empirical portion of my thesis focusing on the deployment of LOUD specifications using the three CAS photographic collections. Florian Spiess focused on the use of VR through vitrivr, a multimedia retrieval system developed by the DBIS research group at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science [@spiess_multimodal_2022; @spiess_forschung_2023; @spiess_exploring_2024]. His work included experiments with PIA-related collections, such as the creation of virtual galleries clustered according to content-based similarity [see @peterhans_automatic_2022]. In the case of Max Frischknecht, his doctoral research centred on generative design[7], a methodology to visualise dynamic cultural archives. He mostly worked on the ASV collection and on a mapping tool which is a cartographic visualisation designed to explore the CAS photographic archives [see @frischknecht_generating_2022; @eggmann_digitalisierung_2024]. It should also be mentioned that not only did we use the three collections of the CAS photographic archives within the project, but that both formal and informal meetings took place most commonly within the photographic archives at the Spalenvorstadt premises in the old Gewerbemuseum and later either at the on Allschwilerstrasse, though less frequently, or at Rheinsprung where the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology is located. This meant that there was a strong and sometimes blurred entanglement between those involved in the archives and the PIA core team members. 2.2.3 Project Vision Between December 2021 and March 2022, we worked together to develop and finalise a vision for the project[8]. It includes seven key priorities, or pillars, which were meant to strengthen the interdisciplinary perspectives of PIA. Although ambitious, these elements were of paramount importance to us and served as a guiding blueprint for all PIA activities. Hereafter is a modified version of the vision[9] taken from @cornut_annotations_2023 [p. 4]. Accessibility by developing open interfaces and offering the possibility of expanding the archive and turning it into an instrument of current research that collects and evaluates knowledge with the participation of other users (Citizen Science). Heterogeneity by making visible where, why and under what circumstances the objects were created, how they were handled and what path they have taken to get to and in the archive. We work on visualisations that take into account the heterogeneous character of archival materials and make their respective biographies visible. Materiality by conveying the material properties of the objects: they have front and back sides, inscriptions, traces, development errors, they are transparent, multi-layered or fabric-covered. They tell of their origin, use, and peculiarities. We want to make this knowledge accessible and understandable in digital form. To this end, we also consider the necessary infrastructure involved in the creation as part of their narrative: the restoration, the relocation, the indexing, the storage devices, the research tools, the display medium, as well as the process of repro-photography. Interoperability as a crucial component and which will be done by supporting digital means that allow different stakeholders to freely access and interact with the project’s data. Both humans and machines can use, contribute to, correct and annotate the existing data in an open and interoperable manner, thus encouraging exchange and the creation of new knowledge. To do this, we use web-based standards that are widely adopted in the cultural heritage field. Affinities by leveraging data models and pattern recognition which can uncover semantic relationships between entities that were previously incomplete or difficult for users to access. Using specific interfaces and visualisations, we make it possible to explore digital assets and discover forms of relationships and similarities between images. AI that facilitates automated searches for simple image attributes such as colour, shapes, and localisation of image components. It should also become possible to recognise texts and object types for extracting metadata. Bias Management by taking into account that associated metadata was human-made[10] and thus is never objective. Collections and their metadata reflect biases or focus narrowly on selected areas and perceptions. Machines working on the basis of such data automatically reproduce the implicit biases in decision-making due to so-called biased algorithms. Therefore, understanding the data used for training and the algorithms applied for decision making is crucial to ensure the integrity of the application of these technologies in archives. We take ethical issues into account when using AI and visualisations, because the higher the awareness of a possible bias, the faster it can be detected or brought up for consideration with users. As my thesis is notably concerned with semantic interoperability, Interoperability and Affinities are of particular importance to my PhD thesis, although I recognise the importance of all pillars. Each of these resonated with me and my fellow PhD Candidates. As we immersed ourselves in the vision of the PIA research project, it became a unifying thread that brought us together in our research ambitions. We found that all these priorities within the project spoke to us at different points and provided a strong point of communication and practice in the development of processes, prototypes or interfaces. 2.3 Contribution to PIA and its Relevance to the Thesis To develop a participatory platform, an open and sustainable technological foundation for facilitating the reuse of CH resources was needed [@raemy_applying_2021]. Throughout the PIA project, I was mainly involved in the extension of the data infrastructure, the uptake of IIIF as well as designing the data model, leveraging Linked Art and WADM [@raemy_interlinking_2024]. As a member of Team B, I undertook this PhD as a bridge between the different teams, mostly participating in discussions with the three doctoral candidates from Team A to further develop and agree on the CAS data model and with the software developers from my team to discuss the impact of the data model on our evolving — yet transitory — infrastructure as well as helping in implementing the APIs adhering to the LOUD design principles. It was necessary to redesign the data model within the context of a database migration, from Salsah to the DSP, that happened between November 2021 and March 2024. This updated version, based on the Knora Base Ontology[11], corresponded to the needs of the CAS archives and to some extent to those of PIA, in particular to enable the PhD Candidates in Cultural Anthropology to make more precise assertions, whether in terms of descriptive metadata, or in the ability to link one object to another or to provide comments on these objects in several narrative forms. Moreover, an assessment of the appropriate technical standards for improved usability of the objects by both humans and machines was carried out, as a basis for extending the capabilities provided by DaSCH, such as helping the software developers to implement SIPI[12], a C++ image server compatible with the IIIF Image API and build services that create IIIF Presentation API 3.0 resources. While the theoretical framework of the thesis extends across the scope of PIA, the empirical part focuses on a specific set of findings derived from the research project outlined in , under the title . In this chapter, I discuss the data model and its refinement as well as the generation of custom IIIF Manifests during the specific digitisation, cataloguing and indexing efforts that took place throughout the project for the three CAS collections (SGV_05, SGV_10 and SGV_12) under investigation, the implementation of LOUD standards, and the overall design of the technological underpinnings. 2.4 Involvement within the IIIF and Linked Art communities I must acknowledge the invaluable role that my involvement within the IIIF and Linked Art communities has played in shaping my journey as a trained information specialist and an aspiring DH practitioner. Being an active participant in both communities has not only broadened my understanding of the latest developments in the field but has also profoundly influenced the trajectory of this dissertation. I have been involved within the IIIF community since October 2016 and the Working Groups Meeting that happened in The Hague[13]. This significant journey was, in fact, initiated by a recommendation from my first supervisor, Peter Fornaro, during my time as an undergraduate doing an internship at the DHLab. Little did I know that this recommendation would lead me to be carrying out a PhD and looking at IIIF not only as community-driven standards but as an object of study. Engaging with the IIIF community exposed me to cutting-edge advances in image interoperability and standards, and fostered a deeper appreciation for the importance of digital representations of cultural heritage. Through collaborative discussions with experts from diverse backgrounds, I gained new perspectives on the potential of technology to advance humanities research and preserve our collective cultural memory. Similarly, my involvement in the Linked Art community introduced me to the opportunities offered by LOUD and its transformative impact on research discourse. Exposure to Linked Data methodologies and the CIDOC-CRM has significantly influenced the way I have structured and interpreted the data in this dissertation, thereby enriching its scholarly breadth and rigour. I started to be actively involved in Linked Art at the beginning of my PhD in 2021, but I was already a by 2020, driven by the efforts of Rob Sanderson, my third supervisor. By mid-2023, I had become a member of the Editorial Board. The individuals I have met and the knowledge shared in these vibrant communities have deeply informed my approach as a scholar. The invaluable connections and collaborations I have made have expanded my network of fellow researchers, educators, and experts, leading to fruitful discussions that have significantly shaped the research questions addressed in this thesis. The events and workshops organised by these communities have also provided immersive learning experiences, giving me first-hand insights into the tools, technologies and methodologies used in the context of describing and disseminating CH data. The dynamic ecosystem of these communities has served as an inspiring backdrop, fostering innovative thinking and encouraging a more holistic approach to my research. 3. Interlinking Cultural Heritage Data Interlinking CH data is an important aspect of publishing heritage collections over the web, in particular by using LOD technologies to make assertions more easily readable and meaningful to machines [@marcondes_integrated_2021]. Due to the complexity of CH data and their intrinsic inter-relationships, it is necessary to define its nature and introduce controlled vocabularies and ontologies that can be integrated with existing web standards and interoperable with relevant platforms [@bruseker_cultural_2017; @hyvonen_using_2020]. Efforts to interlink CH data have brought about significant advancements, but challenges remain. One such challenge is finding a balance between completeness and precision of expression to ensure that the that CH data remain accessible and usable to a wider audience. Addressing this challenge, the LOUD design principles and the specifications that adhere to those, such as the IIIF Presentation API 3.0 and Linked Art, offer a promising approach [@raemy_enabling_2023]. By focusing on usability aspects from the perspective of software developers and data scientists involved in designing visualisation tools and data aggregation approaches, LOUD strives to enhance the overall user experience [@sanderson_keynote_2019]. Finding this equilibrium becomes crucial as CH data continues to grow in complexity and size, necessitating the seamless integration of native web technologies. The LOUD concept cultivates an environment that encourages the formation of vibrant CoP and the seamless integration of native web technologies, wherein an essential principle is the availability of comprehensive documentation supplemented with practical examples [@raemy_ameliorer_2022]. Moreover, the emphasis on leveraging widely adopted technologies enhances the interoperability of data and promotes its wider dissemination. With LOUD principles guiding the linking of CH data, the resulting web of knowledge becomes more than just a machine-readable resource; it transforms into a user-centric ecosystem where both accessibility of Linked Data and usability intersect to enable scholars and a wider audience to engage in the exploration and appreciation of CH [@newbury_loud_2018]. Finally, by fostering a collaborative, knowledge-sharing mindset, LOUD empowers software developers to implement data in a robust way, drawing insights from shared experiences [see @page_linked_2020]. In this chapter, which serves as the literature review of the PhD thesis, I attempt to draw on this brief introduction by dividing the insights into seven sections in order to provide an overview of the key concepts related to interlinking data in the CH domain. The literature review primarily encompasses works published up until December 2023, providing a comprehensive snapshot of the field’s current state and its evolution. ??? discusses what makes CH data stand out and is about CH metadata standards, while ??? explores the technological trends, scientific movements and guiding principles that have shaped the field. ??? provides an overview of the web as an open platform, which are essential to understanding the current landscape of interlinking CH data. ??? focuses on LOUD, while ??? looks at characterising the community practices and semantic interoperability dimensions for CH. Finally, in ???, I summarise key elements from each section and within each of these I give some initial thoughts with respect to LOUD, and then conclude the chapter with some considerations on why we as a society need to care about CH data. 3.1 What Makes Cultural Heritage Data Stand Out? Here, I aim to establish the indirect territory of my study, as I am situated on a distinct plane that focuses on web technologies and standards — as well as software and services that enable them — as the subjects of investigation. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that LOUD specifications owe their existence to the available data that have served as case studies. Thus, their significance can be best understood through the lens of data and I recognise here the pivotal role played by CH practitioners — encompassing individuals from research and memory institutions — who have had a significant impact on specifying a series of web-based standards and who have helped to move forward the discovery of CH data and beyond, in particular those belonging to the public domain, in an open manner. (…) Data processing offers great potential for humanities research as @owens_defining_2011 argues: ‘In the end, the kinds of questions humanists ask about texts and artifacts are just as relevant to ask of data. While the new and exciting prospects of processing data offer humanists a range of exciting possibilities for research, humanistic approaches to the textual and artifactual qualities of data also have a considerable amount to offer to the interpretation of data’. 4. Exploring Relationships through an Actor-Network Theory Lens (…) 5. Research Scope and Methodology This chapter delineates the Research Scope and Methodology, laying the groundwork for the empirical exploration within this thesis. (…) 6. The Social Fabrics of IIIF and Linked Art (…) 7. PIA as a Laboratory (…) 8. Yale’s LUX and LOUD Consistency (…) 9. Discussion [Il] faut renoncer à l’idée d’une interopérabilité syntaxique ou structurelle par l’utilisation d’un modèle unique, qu’il s’agisse de la production, de stockage ou de l’exploitation au sein même d’un [système d’information]. [@poupeau_reflexions_2018] [14] This chapter presents a comprehensive discussion where I interpret, analyse and critically examine my findings in relation to the thesis and the wider application of LOUD. Through an in-depth analysis of the design principles of LOUD and their implications for CH, this discussion aims to demonstrate the many challenges and opportunities inherent in this framework. The focus is on achieving community-driven consensus, rather than simply pursuing technological breakthrough. The following sections are organised to provide a comprehensive review of the empirical findings, an evaluation abstracting LOUD, and a retrospective analysis of the research journey. Firstly, in Section 9.1, I will present a summary of the empirical findings from my research. This will include key themes and insights, structured to reflect the different areas of study and practice within LOUD. Secondly, in Section 9.2 I will provide an evaluation of LOUD by means of using the LoA approach. This evaluation will focus on the impact of LOUD on the perception of Linked Data within the CH domain and the wider DH field. This will include the key themes and insights that have emerged, structured in a way that reflects four levels of abstraction. I will also explore the dual nature of LOUD implementation, involving both simplicity and complexity, and discuss the various factors that influence such dynamics. Finally, in Section 9.3, I will offer a retrospective analysis of the research journey. This section will interpret the findings to situate LOUD as fully-fledged actors. It will reflect on the challenges, achievements, and lessons learned throughout the research process, providing a holistic view of the project’s trajectory and its implications for the future of LOUD. 9.1 Empirical Findings This section summarises the empirical findings of my research and already offers some suggestions. The structure does not follow the exact order of the three empirical chapters but is organised around overarching topics that emerged throughout the study. The seven topics include Community Practices and Standards, Inclusion and Marginalised Groups, Maintenance and Community Engagement, Interoperability and Usability, Future Directions and Sustainability, Digital Materiality and Representation, as well as Challenges of Scaling and Implementation. Community Practices and Standards GitHub serves as a vital hub for community involvement, with a core group of active contributors often attending meetings regularly. This platform simplifies decision-making within the community, although it also reflects biases similar to those in FLOSS communities. Behind visible activities like meetings, there is substantial preparatory work managed by co-chairs, editorial boards, or driven by community-generated use cases. This foundational work often determines the direction and outcomes of formal gatherings. The LUX project at Yale, as seen in , has successfully fostered collaboration across various units, bringing together libraries and museums on a unified platform. The technological foundation of LUX, based on open standards, facilitates data integration and cross-collections discovery. Not only does the deployment of FLOSS tools contribute to these achievements, but it also emphasises the social advantages of working collaboratively. The concept of the Tragedy of the Commons, as described by @hardin_tragedy_1968, highlights the potential for individual self-interest to deplete shared resources. However, @ostrom_governing_1990 offers a counterpoint by demonstrating how communities can successfully manage common resources through collective action and shared norms. In this context, initiatives like the CHAOSS initiative[15] play a significant role by providing metrics that help evaluate the health and sustainability of open source communities. These metrics include contributions, issue resolution times, and community growth, offering valuable insights into how collaborative efforts can be maintained and improved. Reaching consensus is another critical aspect of community practices and standards. While the minutes of meetings are valuable artefacts, they often reflect an Anglo-Saxon approach to decision-making characterised by few substantive points and critical turning points. The formal aspects of conversations captured in minutes do not fully encompass the decision-making process, which frequently involves informal conversations, consensus-building through open dialogue, and subtle cues that influence outcomes. These elements are integral to the English and American approach and hold valuable lessons for an international community. IIIF and Linked Art are international communities, but decisions are made in English and the majority of participants are based in North America and the UK, significantly imprinting this approach. Understanding these nuances can help us improve our collaborative efforts within the IIIF and Linked Art communities. By recognising and appreciating these different facets of decision-making, we can learn from each other and enhance our collective ability to make effective and inclusive decisions. Some of the challenges associated with these practices include the major demand on resources for community building, the slowness inherent in distributed development, and the difficulty in achieving consensus. Additionally, the concept of social sustainability can be seen as an imaginary construct that papers over differences, as discussed by @fitzpatrick_generous_2019. Addressing these challenges is crucial for the long-term success and effectiveness of the IIIF and Linked Art communities. Inclusion and Marginalised Groups The demographic homogeneity in these communities can perpetuate biases and neglect issues relevant to underrepresented or marginalised groups, as seen in . Participation in these standardisation processes is itself a privilege. The assumption that internet access and digital devices are universally available is critically examined, revealing key actors in the digital landscape. This mirrors issues within the IIIF community, where generating IIIF resources presupposes means that may not be accessible to all. We need clear terms of inclusion, as highlighted by @hoffmann_terms_2021. She argues that effective inclusion requires a critical examination of the frameworks and conditions under which inclusion is offered. The framework should ensure that inclusion initiatives do not merely add diversity to existing power structures but work to transform these structures fundamentally. This involves questioning who defines the terms of inclusion, who benefits from them, and who may be inadvertently excluded. @hoffmann_terms_2021 suggests a participatory approach, where marginalised communities are actively involved in shaping inclusion policies and practices, thus making inclusion an ongoing, reflective process rather than a static goal. The inclusion of marginalised groups is a necessary step, but it is not sufficient. To truly make a difference, there must be a strategic and concentrated effort to appropriate technologies, as emphasised by [@morales_apropiacion_2009; @morales_imaginacion_2017; @morales_apropiacion_2018] and further articulated by [@martinez_demarco_empowering_2019; @martinez_demarco_digital_2023]. This strategic approach highlights the political significance of challenging dominant neoliberal and consumerist perspectives on technology and individual engagement. @martinez_demarco_digital_2023 underscores the critical importance of focusing on practices that go beyond mere inclusion. Instead, it requires a deep understanding and critical assessment of how technology is intertwined with social, economic, and ideological contexts. It implies a reflective and deliberate process of technology adoption in which individuals creatively tailor technology to their specific needs, beliefs, and interests. Moreover, a key aspect highlighted by @martinez_demarco_digital_2023 is the implicit and explicit critique of a universalist approach to inclusion, which often lends itself to all too easy instrumentalisation. Understanding and studying resistance to inclusion in an oppressive digital transformation context is paramount, particularly given the highly unequal conditions that prevail. In this light, a comprehensive study of socio-material and symbolic processes, practices, and involved in embedding technologies into individuals’ lives is needed. This approach also recognises technology as a catalyst for change. It envisions the use of technology to drive meaningful change at multiple dimensions and realities—national, societal, or personal. By focusing on these practices, empowering individuals to navigate and use technology thoughtfully and purposefully becomes a reality, bridging the gap between technological advances and societal progress [@martinez_demarco_empowering_2019]. Maintenance and Community Engagement The tension between creating advanced specifications and their practical implementation by platforms is evident in the IIIF Cookbook recipes and Linked Art patterns, as discussed in Chapter 6. This ongoing development shows that the community is still finding the best ways to achieve broad adoption and interoperability. The deployment of the Change Discovery API, as illustrated in Chapter 7, demonstrates that establishing such a protocol on top of the IIIF Presentation API is feasible and straightforward. High-level support from leadership, particularly Susan Gibbons as Vice Provost, has been crucial in building trust and ensuring the project’s success as a valuable discovery layer at Yale. This integration of diverse collections through a unified platform, based on open standards, highlights the potential for transforming teaching, learning, and research by leveraging collaborative efforts. The topic modelling exercise in LUX reveals the intricate actor-networks composed of organisations, individuals, and non-human actors. This analysis underscores the importance of ongoing processes and relationships in maintaining and evolving infrastructure, akin to the concept of ‘infrastructuring’. As detailed in Chapter 8, following best practices and guidelines such as the SHARED Principles is essential for better involvement, but it is also crucial to uphold these commitments consistently over the long term to ensure meaningful participation. Between the PIA team members, there were sometimes ‘disconnects between different communities who undertake collaborative research’ [@vienni-baptista_foundations_2023]. This was something we had to navigate and learn from, which was manageable within the context of a laboratory setting. However, for any follow-up projects or whatever forms the digital infrastructure we built may take, it is imperative that these disconnects are addressed and solidified to ensure cohesive and sustained community engagement. Interoperability and Usability Within PIA, different APIs have been progressively deployed to meet various requirements while allowing parallel exploration of data modelling. Each API offers unique advantages, but their collective integration promotes semantic interoperability. For example, the IIIF Image API has been instrumental in rationalising image distribution across prototypes, providing efficient access to high-quality digital surrogates and the ability to resize them for different uses. Adherence to LOUD standards and schemas within LUX has generally been positive, although transitioning between versions of a specification can present challenges, highlighting the need to improve the consistency of compliant resources. Linked Art, for instance, has the capacity to generate various insights and sources of truth around different entities. However, additional or entirely new vocabularies from sources like the Getty may need to be used – such as Homosaurus. Complementary to Linked Art, using WADM allows for assertions that go beyond purely descriptive narratives, though it may sacrifice some semantic richness. This complexity in managing vocabularies and maintaining semantic richness directly ties into broader usability considerations within the community. Addressing these usability concerns, Robert Sanderson has suggested focusing on the use of full URIs in Linked Art to ensure computational usability, in contrast to IIIF‘s approach of minimising URIs to enhance readability. This difference highlights a fundamental question in usability: balancing readability and computational usability. Understanding developers’ perspectives on these approaches is critical. I would suggest as a way forward for the IIIF and Linked Art communities to focus on further improving usability of the specifications. This includes conducting comprehensive usability assessments of APIs to evaluate the experiences of new developers versus existing ones, understanding the steepness of the learning curve associated with each API, and guiding improvements in documentation, on-boarding processes, and overall developer support. Efforts should be made to lower the barriers to entry for new developers by developing more intuitive and user-friendly tutorials, providing example projects, and creating a robust support community. Ensuring that developers can quickly and effectively leverage APIs will foster greater adoption. Addressing the challenges of transitioning between different versions of specifications is critical, and developing tools and guidelines that help maintain consistency across versions will reduce friction and ensure smoother updates. Future Directions and Sustainability Survey findings, as discussed in , underscore the need for ongoing efforts to develop LOUD standards that foster an inclusive, dynamic digital ecosystem. Future strategies should include creating educational resources and frameworks that support interdisciplinary collaboration and reduce barriers to participation. While the Manifest serves as the fundamental unit within IIIF, the Linked Art protocol can play a similar central role as semantic gateways in broader contexts, allowing round-tripping across the APIs. The topic modelling exercise in LUX, detailed in , reveals complex actor-networks of organisations, individuals, and non-human actors, providing insights into the relationships sustaining the LUX initiative. The next steps for Linked Art might involve forming a new consortium independent of a CIDOC Working Group, which could provide the necessary support to sustain the initiative. Alternatively, integrating Linked Art into IIIF as a new TSG and specification could address the discovery challenges within IIIF, as discussed during the birds of a feather session led by Robert Sanderson [see @raemy_notes_2024] at the 2024 IIIF Conference in Los Angeles[16]. Design principles that act as bridges across different disciplines, as proposed by @roke_pragmatic_2022, are crucial. IIIF has demonstrated that this collaborative approach is feasible, and Linked Art could follow in its footsteps. However, achieving this requires increased dedication from passive members and broader adoption of the model and the API ecosystem in the near future. Digital Materiality and Representation As explored in Chapter 7, the detailed digital representation of photographic albums, such as the Kreis Family Collection, demonstrates the need to comprehensively capture the materiality of digital objects. This includes the structure and context of images, which are crucial for maintaining their historical and social significance. The implementation of the IIIF Presentation API in creating a detailed digital replica of the Getty’s Bayard Album shows how digital materiality can be enhanced through thoughtful use of technology, but also highlights the scalability challenges for such detailed representations. Creating these detailed digital representations can be seen as a ‘boutique’ approach, which, while labour-intensive and resource-demanding, is necessary for preserving the integrity and contextual significance of cultural heritage objects. The challenge lies in developing the appropriate means and methodologies to achieve this level of detail consistently. Future endeavours, whether through research projects or collaborative efforts between GLAM institutions and DH practitioners, should aim to address these challenges and create sustainable practices for digital materiality and representation. As Edwards aptly notes: ‘Presentational forms equally reflect specific intent in the use and value of the photographs they embed, to the extent that the objects that embed photographs are in many cases meaningless without their photographs; for instance, empty frames or albums. These objects are only invigorated when they are again in conjunction with the images with which they have a symbiotic relationship, for display functions not only make the thing itself visible but make it more visible in certain ways‘. [@edwards_photographs_2004 p. 11] Challenges of Scaling and Implementation As seen in Chapter 6, the IIIF Cookbook recipes and Linked Art patterns reflect the tension between creating advanced specifications and their practical implementation. This gap between ideation and real-world application underscores the challenges faced by the community in achieving broad adoption and interoperability. In Chapter 7, the exploration of APIs like the IIIF Change Discovery API illustrates the practical challenges and potential of scaling these technologies for wider adoption. The successful implementation in PIA demonstrates viability, but also points to the need for continued development and community engagement to fully realise the benefits. Furthermore, assessing the scalability of IIIF image servers, as discussed by [@duin_webassembly_2022] and exemplified by the firm Q42 with their Edge-based service Micrio[17], highlights the importance of optimising data performance. Erwin Verbruggen aptly noted that ‘optimising data performance in my opinion mens sending as little data over as needed’[18], emphasising the need for efficient data handling to enhance scalability. This insight reinforces the necessity of continual refinement in scaling digital infrastructure to support broader use and integration. Reflecting on these findings, I would like to assert that continuous participation, particularly for institutions that can afford to be part of initiatives like IIIF-C, is essential. Active members should not only focus on their own use cases but also consider the needs and perspectives of other, perhaps marginalised, groups. Achieving the dual goals of making progress within one community, whether it be IIIF or Linked Art, while also engaging in effective outreach and creating a solid baseline, will benefit everyone in the CH sector and beyond. Addressing where LOUD fits in, how people perceive this new concept or paradigm, and understanding how LOUD differs from Linked Data in general are essential. These questions help to clarify the stages at which themes related to one of the LOUD design principles emerge, crystallise, and potentially disappear. My thesis does not fully resolve these queries but offers insights and hints for further exploration. In conclusion, the empirical findings reveal the richness of the implementation and maintenance of LOUD standards in the CH domain. From the critical role of community practices and standards to the challenges of achieving interoperability and inclusivity, each theme underlines the complex interplay of social, technical and organisational factors. will look at the evaluation of LOUD and explore its overall impact, delving into the delta of what to do with it, particularly in terms of Linked Data versus LOUD, where my thesis provides pointers but does not provide definitive answers. 9.2 Evaluation: Abstracting LOUD (…) 9.3 Retrospective: Truding like an Ant (…) 10. Conclusion For a better understanding of the past, Our images have to be enhanced, A new dialogue in three dimensions, Must have openness at its heart, For somewhere within the archive Of our aggregated minds Are a multitude of questions And a multitude of answers, Simply awaiting to be found. [@mr_gee_day_2023] This chapter brings to a close the journey undertaken since February 2021, aiming to clearly articulate the answers to the research questions, discuss how the research aligns with the objectives, elucidate the significance of the work, outline its shortcomings, and suggest avenues for future research. I had the privilege of hearing the above poem at EuropeanaTech in The Hague in October 2023. What struck me most, and what I have tried to convey in this thesis, was the powerful dialogue and collective spirit striving to harness the potential of our (digital) heritage. With a sense of conviction after this conference, I approached the next one in Geneva in February 2024 with confidence, believing that I had made a compelling case for the concept of LOUD. When a participant asked how LOUD differed from Linked Data, however, I found myself explaining the socio-technical ethos of IIIF and Linked Art, the richness of the individuals who make them up, the ability to combine these different standards, and the common use cases that emerge from these collaborations. Whether my answer was convincing remains uncertain, but I knew it was too brief. Perhaps it is here, in this conclusion, that my thoughts can find their full expression. I believe that LOUD should be at the forefront of efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of CH data, an endeavour that is increasingly relevant in a web-centric environment. This paradigm has gained considerable traction, particularly with the advent of Linked Art and the recognition that the IIIF Presentation API has been an inspiration for the LOUD design principles. The development and maintenance of LOUD standards by dedicated communities are characterised by collaboration, consensus building, and transparency. In the interstices of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, frameworks for interoperability are not only exposed, but revealed as profound testaments to the power of transparent collaboration across institutional boundaries. Both communities, it is true, are still very much Anglo-Saxon efforts, where the specifications have mainly been implemented in GLAM and/or DH research projects, or at least when we have been aware of them. It has clear guidelines on how to propose use cases, mostly using GitHub, and hides the sometimes unnecessary RDF complexity behind a set of JSON-LD @ context. IIIF is at the presentation layer and can really play its role as a mediator, with the Manifest as its central unit connecting other specifications, including semantic metadata, and preferably with simpatico specifications such as Linked Art. An important hypothesis arises from the observation that adherence to the LOUD design principles makes specifications more likely to be adopted. The primary benefit of adopting LOUD standards lies in their grassroots nature. This grassroots approach not only aligns with the core values of openness and collaboration within the DH community but also serves as a common denominator between DH practitioners and CHIs. This unique alignment fosters a sense of shared purpose and common ground. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that while LOUD and its associated standards, including IIIF, hold immense promise, their limited recognition in the wider socio-technical ecosystem may currently hinder their full potential impact beyond the CH domain. Consideration of socio-technical requirements and the promotion of digital equity are essential to the development of specifications in line with the LOUD design principles. In the context of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, this means both recognising current challenges and building on existing practices. This includes forming alliances that support diverse forms of inclusion at both project and individual levels. For example, organisations should be encouraged to send representatives from diverse professional and personal backgrounds, such as underrepresented groups or non-technical fields. This can be facilitated by initiatives that lower the barriers to participation, such as financial support for travel and participation, flexible participation formats, and targeted outreach efforts. Furthermore, as these standards often align with open government data initiatives, they present opportunities for broader public engagement and institutional transparency. In the broader context of DH, understanding LOUD involves tracing the historical development of the field and its evolving relationship with technology. The interdisciplinary nature of DH has always integrated diverse scholarly and technical practices. In recent years, DH has seen a notable increase in interest in the use of Linked Data and semantic technologies to improve the discoverability and accessibility of CH collections. LOUD's emphasis on user-centred design and usability aligns well with these goals. Consequently, the principles of LOUD hold great promise for advancing the integration and use of community-driven APIs and/or Linked Data within DH. This can be seen within PIA, where the benefits of implementing IIIF helped us to streamline machine-generated annotations, integrate different thumbnails into GUI prototypes, model photo albums with different layers from the Kreis Family collection, and enable project members and students to engage in digital storytelling, an important participatory facet that can be seamlessly explored by DH efforts and CHIs with the help of the IIIF Image and Presentation APIs. Data reuse is definitely a key LOUD driver, which could have been done more extensively with a productive instance of Linked Art. As for widening participation, this is definitely a strategic and political decision, rather than a technical one. That said, LOUD specifications can definitely be embedded through strategic citizen science initiatives. A recent example that highlights the comprehensive value of Linked Data was presented by @newbury_linked_2024 at the CNI Spring 2024 Meeting. He delineated its significance as extending well beyond single entities, such as the Getty Research Institute, to enrich a vast ecosystem. Specifically, he identified three principal areas of value: Firstly, within the ecosystem itself, where the utility of information is amplified through its application in diverse contexts. Secondly, for the audience, by directly addressing user needs and facilitating various conceptual frameworks. And finally, within the community, by enabling wider use and adaptation of data and code. This approach to Linked Data, as articulated by Newbury, not only enhances its utility across these dimensions, but also aligns seamlessly with the LOUD proposition, underscoring a shared vision for a digital space where the interconnectedness and accessibility of (meta)data serve as foundational principles for progress and community engagement. LUX, as a catalyst for LOUD, exemplifies a practical approach to implementing Linked Data that has garnered significant local engagement and support at Yale. This initiative demonstrates how sound socio-technical practices can be effectively applied within a supportive institutional environment. The consistency of the data within LUX aligns well with IIIF and Linked Art standards, with only a few minor adjustments required for full compliance. These quick fixes are manageable and do not detract from the overall robustness of the initiative. While it may be too early to fully assess the wider impact of using LOUD specifications on the LUX platform within the CH domain, the initiative has already attracted considerable interest in recent months. This growing attention suggests that the LUX approach is resonating with other organisations, suggesting the potential for wider adoption and impact. The enthusiastic local engagement at Yale provides a strong foundation for LUX and highlights its potential to serve as a model for similar projects aimed at enriching digital heritage through effective collaboration and agreed-upon standards. In carrying out this thesis, I have adhered to the five main objectives set out at the beginning of the PhD. These objectives have been accomplished to a high degree, reflecting a substantial and well-executed project. Furthermore, most of the outputs – such as data models and scripts – from this work are available on GitHub, providing open access to the wider community. In addition, I have published several papers, both individually and collaboratively, further disseminating the findings and contributions of this research. Additionally, this thesis is relevant because it sheds light on communities and implementations that can be celebrated not only for their standards but also for their operating ethos; IIIF and Linked Art present models ripe for emulation beyond their immediate digital confines. Here, agency and authority are most typically granted to the collective over the isolated, with each actor - be it an individual, an institution or an interface – intricately interconnected. Yale’s LUX initiative also embodies this ethos, demonstrating how collaborative efforts can lead to innovative solutions and wider impact. It is to be hoped, then, that these practices of openness and multiple partnerships will not be seen as limited to their origins in digital representation. At the very least, I hope that these socio-technical approaches can serve as exemplars or sources of inspiration in broader arenas, where the principles of mutual visibility and concerted action can point the way towards cohesive and adaptive collaborative architectures. Despite its contribution, this thesis is far from perfect and certainly contains several shortcomings. I will name here three significant ones. First, the visualisations included and the use of FOL are primarily designed to support my own self-reflection and may be more beneficial to me than to the broader academic community. While they provide insights into my research process and findings, their applicability and usefulness to others might be limited. Second, the theoretical framework I employed, while instrumental to my research, may not serve as a universally applicable toolbox. Nevertheless, I urge readers to pay close attention to STS methodologies and practices. The works of Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, and Susan Leigh Star have been invaluable companions throughout this dissertation. Additionally, for those involved in conceptualising semantic information, I recommend exploring Floridi’s PI, which offers profound insights into the nature and dynamics of information. These readings have greatly influenced my approach and understanding, and I believe they can offer valuable perspectives to others as well. Third, while the thesis aims to address both community practices and semantic interoperability, it leans more heavily towards the former. This emphasis on community practices may overshadow the broader discussion of semantic interoperability, potentially limiting the appeal of the thesis to those primarily interested in the technical aspects. Other shortcomings include the broad scope of the thesis, with three empirical chapters exploring different avenues. While this comprehensive approach provides a broad understanding of the research topic, it has also resulted in a rather lengthy thesis. This may be a challenge for the reader, as a topic of interest in one chapter may not be as compelling in another. The diversity of empirical focus, while enriching the research, may dilute the coherence for some readers, making it more difficult to maintain a consistent engagement throughout the dissertation. Despite these limitations, I hope that the different perspectives and findings contribute to a richer, more nuanced understanding of LOUD for CH. Avenues for future research are numerous and promising. One interesting area to explore is the comparative benefits experienced by early adopters of IIIF and Linked Art specifications versus those who implemented these standards later. Early adopters have the advantage of having their use cases discussed and resolved within the community, and it would be insightful to analyse the long-term impacts on their projects. Such a study is already feasible for early adopters of IIIF and will become possible to compare further implementations of Linked Art within a few years. Furthermore, future exploration could focus on the full implementation of Linked Art within PIA or similar efforts, as well as more performance-oriented testing with the deployed LOUD APIs. These efforts should further validate the robustness and scalability of these specifications. Another important area for future investigation is the participation of institutions and individuals from the Global South in both the IIIF and Linked Art communities. It is crucial to explore how we can better support their uptake of these specifications and encourage their active involvement in these initiatives to ensure a more inclusive and globally representative environment. As I reflect on the journey of this thesis, I am reminded of the powerful dialogue and collective effort that has been at its heart. Mr Gee’s poem resonates deeply with my own aspirations for this work: to enhance our understanding of the past through openness and collaboration, as can be seen in IIIF and Linked Art. As I bring this dissertation to a close, I am filled with a sense of accomplishment and a renewed commitment to promoting sound socio-technical practices. It is my hope that the insights and methodologies presented here will inspire others to engage in this ongoing dialogue, continually asking and answering the many questions that arise as we collectively explore our cultural heritage landscapes. Throughout this dissertation, British English spelling conventions are predominantly observed. However, there are instances of American English spelling where direct quotations from sources are used as well as referring to names of institutions, standards, or concepts. ↩︎ SNSF Data Portal - Grant number 193788: https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/193788 ↩︎ Seminar für Kulturwissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie: https://kulturwissenschaft.philhist.unibas.ch/ ↩︎ DHLab: https://dhlab.philhist.unibas.ch/ ↩︎ HKB: https://www.hkb.bfh.ch/ ↩︎ The considerable size of the ASV collection, which includes over 90,000 analogue objects, reflects not just the work of the main authors but also the contributions from numerous explorers and additional material beyond the maps and primary publications. ↩︎ Max Frischknecht’s PhD: https://phd.maxfrischknecht.ch/ ↩︎ PIA project website: https://about.participatory-archives.ch/ ↩︎ The vision of the PIA project was first written in German and then translated into English and French. ↩︎ In our joint paper, we wrote , corrected here, which makes me think of the transition within the CIDOC-CRM for the Entity E22 Human-Made Object from version 6.2.7 onward. ↩︎ Knora Base Ontology: https://docs.dasch.swiss/2023.07.01/DSP-API/02-dsp-ontologies/knora-base/ ↩︎ SIPI documentation: https://sipi.io/ ↩︎ IIIF Working Groups Meeting, The Hague, 2016: https://iiif.io/event/2016/thehague/ ↩︎ Author’s translation: ‘We need to give up on the idea of syntactic or structural interoperability through the use of a single model, whether for producing, storing or managing data within an information system’. ↩︎ CHAOSS: https://chaoss.community/ ↩︎ IIIF Annual Conference and Showcase - Los Angeles, CA, USA - June 4-7, 2024: https://iiif.io/event/2024/los-angeles/ ↩︎ Micrio: https://micr.io/ ↩︎ Message written on the IIIF Slack Workspace on 28 October 2022. ↩︎]]></description>
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@@ -336,6 +336,12 @@ <h4 id="#sec:involvement_iiif_la" tabindex="-1">2.4 Involvement within the IIIF
 <p>Similarly, my involvement in the Linked Art community introduced me to the opportunities offered by <abbr title="Linked Open Usable Data">LOUD</abbr> and its transformative impact on research discourse. Exposure to Linked Data methodologies and the <abbr title="CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model">CIDOC-CRM</abbr> has significantly influenced the way I have structured and interpreted the data in this dissertation, thereby enriching its scholarly breadth and rigour. I started to be actively involved in Linked Art at the beginning of my PhD in 2021, but I was already a by 2020, driven by the efforts of Rob Sanderson, my third supervisor. By mid-2023, I had become a member of the Editorial Board.</p>
 <p>The individuals I have met and the knowledge shared in these vibrant communities have deeply informed my approach as a scholar. The invaluable connections and collaborations I have made have expanded my network of fellow researchers, educators, and experts, leading to fruitful discussions that have significantly shaped the research questions addressed in this thesis. The events and workshops organised by these communities have also provided immersive learning experiences, giving me first-hand insights into the tools, technologies and methodologies used in the context of describing and disseminating <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data. The dynamic ecosystem of these communities has served as an inspiring backdrop, fostering innovative thinking and encouraging a more holistic approach to my research.</p>
 <h2 id="cha:literature" tabindex="-1">3. Interlinking Cultural Heritage Data</h2>
+<p>Interlinking <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data is an important aspect of publishing heritage collections over the web, in particular by using <abbr title="Linked Open Data">LOD</abbr> technologies to make assertions more easily readable and meaningful to machines (Marcondes, 2021). Due to the complexity of <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data and their intrinsic inter-relationships, it is necessary to define its nature and introduce controlled vocabularies and ontologies that can be integrated with existing web standards and interoperable with relevant platforms (Bruseker et al., 2017; Hyvönen, 2020).</p>
+<p>Efforts to interlink <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data have brought about significant advancements, but challenges remain. One such challenge is finding a balance between completeness and precision of expression to ensure that the that <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data remain accessible and usable to a wider audience. Addressing this challenge, the <abbr title="Linked Open Usable Data">LOUD</abbr> design principles and the specifications that adhere to those, such as the <abbr title="International Image Interoperability Framework">IIIF</abbr> Presentation <abbr title="Application Programming Interface">API</abbr> 3.0 and Linked Art, offer a promising approach (Raemy et al., 2023). By focusing on usability aspects from the perspective of software developers and data scientists involved in designing visualisation tools and data aggregation approaches, <abbr title="Linked Open Usable Data">LOUD</abbr> strives to enhance the overall user experience (Sanderson, 2019).</p>
+<p>Finding this equilibrium becomes crucial as <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data continues to grow in complexity and size, necessitating the seamless integration of native web technologies. The <abbr title="Linked Open Usable Data">LOUD</abbr> concept cultivates an environment that encourages the formation of vibrant <abbr title="Communites of Practice">CoP</abbr> and the seamless integration of native web technologies, wherein an essential principle is the availability of comprehensive documentation supplemented with practical examples (Raemy, 2022). Moreover, the emphasis on leveraging widely adopted technologies enhances the interoperability of data and promotes its wider dissemination. With <abbr title="Linked Open Usable Data">LOUD</abbr> principles guiding the linking of <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data, the resulting web of knowledge becomes more than just a machine-readable resource; it transforms into a user-centric ecosystem where both accessibility of Linked Data and usability intersect to enable scholars and a wider audience to engage in the exploration and appreciation of <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> (Newbury, 2018). Finally, by fostering a collaborative, knowledge-sharing mindset, <abbr title="Linked Open Usable Data">LOUD</abbr> empowers software developers to implement data in a robust way, drawing insights from shared experiences (see Page et al., 2020).</p>
+<p>In this chapter, which serves as the literature review of the PhD thesis, I attempt to draw on this brief introduction by dividing the insights into seven sections in order to provide an overview of the key concepts related to interlinking data in the <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> domain. The literature review primarily encompasses works published up until December 2023, providing a comprehensive snapshot of the field’s current state and its evolution. ??? discusses what makes <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data stand out and is about <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> metadata standards, while ??? explores the technological trends, scientific movements and guiding principles that have shaped the field. ??? provides an overview of the web as an open platform, which are essential to understanding the current landscape of interlinking <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data. ??? focuses on <abbr title="Linked Open Usable Data">LOUD</abbr>, while ??? looks at characterising the community practices and semantic interoperability dimensions for <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr>. Finally, in ???, I summarise key elements from each section and within each of these I give some initial thoughts with respect to <abbr title="Linked Open Usable Data">LOUD</abbr>, and then conclude the chapter with some considerations on why we as a society need to care about <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data.</p>
+<h3 id="sec:standout" tabindex="-1">3.1 What Makes Cultural Heritage Data Stand Out?</h3>
+<p>Here, I aim to establish the indirect territory of my study, as I am situated on a distinct plane that focuses on web technologies and standards — as well as software and services that enable them — as the subjects of investigation. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that <abbr title="Linked Open Usable Data">LOUD</abbr> specifications owe their existence to the available data that have served as case studies. Thus, their significance can be best understood through the lens of data and I recognise here the pivotal role played by <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> practitioners — encompassing individuals from research and memory institutions — who have had a significant impact on specifying a series of web-based standards and who have helped to move forward the discovery of <abbr title="Cultural Heritage">CH</abbr> data and beyond, in particular those belonging to the public domain, in an open manner.</p>
 <p>(…)</p>
 <p>Data processing offers great potential for humanities research as (Owens, 2011) argues: ‘In the end,
 the kinds of questions humanists ask about texts and artifacts are just as relevant to ask of data. While the new and exciting prospects of processing data offer humanists a range of exciting possibilities for
@@ -488,7 +494,7 @@ <h2 id="cha:conclusion" tabindex="-1">10. Conclusion</h2>
 </section>
 
     
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diff --git a/src/thesis.md b/src/thesis.md
index 5fb4423..4c36065 100644
--- a/src/thesis.md
+++ b/src/thesis.md
@@ -285,6 +285,18 @@ The individuals I have met and the knowledge shared in these vibrant communities
 
 ## 3. Interlinking Cultural Heritage Data {id="cha:literature"}
 
+Interlinking {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} data is an important aspect of publishing heritage collections over the web, in particular by using {{ "LOD" | abbr | safe }} technologies to make assertions more easily readable and meaningful to machines [@marcondes_integrated_2021]. Due to the complexity of {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} data and their intrinsic inter-relationships, it is necessary to define its nature and introduce controlled vocabularies and ontologies that can be integrated with existing web standards and interoperable with relevant platforms [@bruseker_cultural_2017; @hyvonen_using_2020].
+
+Efforts to interlink {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} data have brought about significant advancements, but challenges remain. One such challenge is finding a balance between completeness and precision of expression to ensure that the that {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} data remain accessible and usable to a wider audience. Addressing this challenge, the {{ "LOUD" | abbr | safe }} design principles and the specifications that adhere to those, such as the {{ "IIIF" | abbr | safe }} Presentation {{ "API" | abbr | safe }} 3.0 and Linked Art, offer a promising approach [@raemy_enabling_2023]. By focusing on usability aspects from the perspective of software developers and data scientists involved in designing visualisation tools and data aggregation approaches, {{ "LOUD" | abbr | safe }} strives to enhance the overall user experience [@sanderson_keynote_2019].
+
+Finding this equilibrium becomes crucial as {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} data continues to grow in complexity and size, necessitating the seamless integration of native web technologies. The {{ "LOUD" | abbr | safe }} concept cultivates an environment that encourages the formation of vibrant {{ "CoP" | abbr | safe }} and the seamless integration of native web technologies, wherein an essential principle is the availability of comprehensive documentation supplemented with practical examples [@raemy_ameliorer_2022]. Moreover, the emphasis on leveraging widely adopted technologies enhances the interoperability of data and promotes its wider dissemination. With {{ "LOUD" | abbr | safe }} principles guiding the linking of {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} data, the resulting web of knowledge becomes more than just a machine-readable resource; it transforms into a user-centric ecosystem where both accessibility of Linked Data and usability intersect to enable scholars and a wider audience to engage in the exploration and appreciation of {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} [@newbury_loud_2018]. Finally, by fostering a collaborative, knowledge-sharing mindset, {{ "LOUD" | abbr | safe }} empowers software developers to implement data in a robust way, drawing insights from shared experiences [see @page_linked_2020].
+
+In this chapter, which serves as the literature review of the PhD thesis, I attempt to draw on this brief introduction by dividing the insights into seven sections in order to provide an overview of the key concepts related to interlinking data in the {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} domain. The literature review primarily encompasses works published up until December 2023, providing a comprehensive snapshot of the field's current state and its evolution. ?????? discusses what makes {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} data stand out and is about {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} metadata standards, while ?????? explores the technological trends, scientific movements and guiding principles that have shaped the field. ?????? provides an overview of the web as an open platform, which are essential to understanding the current landscape of interlinking {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} data. ?????? focuses on {{ "LOUD" | abbr | safe }}, while ?????? looks at characterising the community practices and semantic interoperability dimensions for {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }}. Finally, in ??????, I summarise key elements from each section and within each of these I give some initial thoughts with respect to {{ "LOUD" | abbr | safe }}, and then conclude the chapter with some considerations on why we as a society need to care about {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} data.
+
+### 3.1 What Makes Cultural Heritage Data Stand Out? {id="sec:standout"} 
+
+Here, I aim to establish the indirect territory of my study, as I am situated on a distinct plane that focuses on web technologies and standards --- as well as software and services that enable them --- as the subjects of investigation. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that {{ "LOUD" | abbr | safe }} specifications owe their existence to the available data that have served as case studies. Thus, their significance can be best understood through the lens of data and I recognise here the pivotal role played by {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} practitioners --- encompassing individuals from research and memory institutions --- who have had a significant impact on specifying a series of web-based standards and who have helped to move forward the discovery of {{ "CH" | abbr | safe }} data and beyond, in particular those belonging to the public domain, in an open manner.
+
 (...)
 
 Data processing offers great potential for humanities research as @owens_defining_2011 argues: ‘In the end,