https://github.com/nationalarchives/miiify
A web annotation server built with the same principles as Git
https://github.com/nationalarchives/miiify
annotations dream git iiif irmin miiify ocaml w3c web web-annotation
Last synced: 12 days ago
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A web annotation server built with the same principles as Git
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/nationalarchives/miiify
- Owner: nationalarchives
- License: mit
- Created: 2021-07-10T13:41:45.000Z (almost 4 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2024-09-06T13:49:00.000Z (8 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-03-25T00:30:47.974Z (29 days ago)
- Topics: annotations, dream, git, iiif, irmin, miiify, ocaml, w3c, web, web-annotation
- Language: OCaml
- Homepage:
- Size: 405 KB
- Stars: 37
- Watchers: 7
- Forks: 2
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
### Introduction
Miiify is a light-weight web annotation server using an embedded database. Its primary use case is to support [IIIF](https://iiif.io/) applications where it separates the annotation content away from the manifest. This has the advantage of simplifying the manifest and providing persistent access to each annotation through its own unique identifier. Miiify follows the Web Annotation Model and Protocol which means annotations are structured into [containers](https://www.w3.org/TR/annotation-protocol/#annotation-containers). The following [video tutorial](https://miiifystore.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/presentations/simple-external-annotation.mp4) helps illustrates this and how the server can interact with a IIIF viewer.
There is a choice of two storage backends depending on requirements:
#### git
Designed to be compatible with the Git protocol. This means annotations can be added or edited using standard git flow mechanisms such as a pull request and all new content can go through a review process before going public.
#### pack
Designed to be highly-scalable and disk efficient. This backend uses technology that is part of the distributed ledger used within the [Tezos blockchain](https://tezos.com/).
### Getting started
Miiify can be run with Docker using either the git or pack backend. The example below uses the pack backend.
#### Starting server
```bash
docker compose pull pack
docker compose up pack -d
```
#### Check the server is running
```bash
http :
```
#### Stopping server
```bash
docker compose down pack
```
### Basic concepts
Annotations are organised into containers and can be retrieved in pages to display within IIIF viewers such as [Mirador](https://projectmirador.org/). To filter the annotation page to a specific IIIF canvas an additional target parameter can be supplied. The examples below use [httpie](https://httpie.io/) with a live demo server which spins down when inactive.
Create an annotation container called my-container:
```bash
https miiify.onrender.com/annotations/ < miiify/test/container1.json Slug:my-container
```
Add an annotation called foobar to my-container:
```bash
https miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/ < miiify/test/annotation1.json Slug:foobar
```
Add another annotation but use a system generated id:
```bash
https miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/ < miiify/test/annotation1.json
```
Retrieve the first annotation page from my-container:
```bash
https miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/\?page\=0
```
produces:
```json
{
"@context": "http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json",
"id": "https://miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/?page=0",
"items": [
{
"@context": "http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld",
"body": "http://example.org/post1",
"created": "2023-12-07T17:13:18Z",
"id": "https://miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/4acb2493-96b2-4efb-a5aa-044cde1408f0",
"target": "http://example.com/page1",
"type": "Annotation"
},
{
"@context": "http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld",
"body": "http://example.org/post1",
"created": "2023-12-07T17:11:44Z",
"id": "https://miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/foobar",
"target": "http://example.com/page1",
"type": "Annotation"
}
],
"partOf": {
"created": "2023-12-07T17:10:20Z",
"id": "https://miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/",
"label": "A Container for Web Annotations",
"total": 2,
"type": "AnnotationCollection"
},
"startIndex": 0,
"type": "AnnotationPage"
}
```
Retrieve the first annotation page from my-container but filter annotations based on their target:
```bash
https miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/ < miiify/test/annotation3.json
https miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/\?page\=0\&target\=http://example.com/page3
```
produces:
```json
{
"@context": "http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json",
"id": "https://miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/?page=0&target=http://example.com/page3",
"items": [
{
"@context": "http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld",
"body": "http://example.org/post3",
"created": "2023-12-07T17:15:47Z",
"id": "https://miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/20375636-3af4-44e4-b005-b5c5e625ec85",
"target": "http://example.com/page3",
"type": "Annotation"
}
],
"partOf": {
"created": "2023-12-07T17:10:20Z",
"id": "https://miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/",
"label": "A Container for Web Annotations",
"total": 3,
"type": "AnnotationCollection"
},
"startIndex": 0,
"type": "AnnotationPage"
}
```
Retrieve a single annotation:
```bash
https miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/foobar
```
produces
```json
{
"@context": "http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld",
"body": "http://example.org/post1",
"created": "2023-12-07T17:11:44Z",
"id": "https://miiify.onrender.com/annotations/my-container/foobar",
"target": "http://example.com/page1",
"type": "Annotation"
}
```
### Tutorial
Simple [video tutorial](https://miiifystore.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/presentations/simple-external-annotation.mp4) to show how to create annotations and display them in the Mirador IIIF viewer.
### Other key features
* Support for validating annotations using [ATD](https://atd.readthedocs.io/en/latest/atd-language.html#introduction) with a detailed example available [here](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jptmoore/maniiifest/main/src/specification.atd)
* Easy to use with Docker and Kubernetes
* Support for ETag caching and collision avoidance
* Simple key/value interface for working with IIIF manifests
### Building from source
To build your own native Docker images:
```
cd miiify/test
./build.sh pack
```
### Documentation
[API specification](https://petstore.swagger.io/?url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nationalarchives/miiify/main/doc/swagger.yml)