This presentation wants to give an overview of the Getty Trust's plans to publish 50 million images from its Museum, Conservation Institute, Research Institute, and other programs using the IIIF protocol by 2022.

1. Reconciliation Is A Necessity
Stefano Cossu, J.P. Getty Trust
IIIF Showcase, Edinburgh, Scotland
December 3rd, 2018

2. Getty Digital (GD)
• GD is part of the Getty Trust:
• Getty Conservation Institute
• Getty Foundation
• Getty Research Institute
• J. P. Getty Museum
• GD is currently under restructuring
• Consolidating digital projects formerly
owned by other Getty programs
https://commons.
wikimedia.org/wiki
/File:Getty_center
_architecture_(Uns
plash).jpg (CC0)

3. IIIF Image Services: Current
Two separate services
• One image server for the Research
Institute
• Level 0 Image API for the Museum
Michelangelo
Buonarroti (Italian,
1475 - 1564)
Study of a
Mourning Woman,
about 1500–1505,
Pen and brown ink,
heightened with
white lead opaque
watercolor
26 × 16.5 cm (10
1/4 × 6 1/2 in.),
2017.78
The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los
Angeles

4. Image Services Consolidation Goals
Deliver all images using one IIIF service
• 50 million images by 2022
• Include Museum, Library, GRI, GCI
• Include implementation of
• Image API
• Presentation API
• Auth API
Attributed to the
Isidora Master
(Romano-Egyptian,
active 100 - 125)
Mummy Portrait of a
Woman, A.D. 100,
Encaustic on linden
wood; gilt; linen
48 × 36 × 12.8 cm (18
7/8 × 14 3/16 × 5 1/16
in.), 81.AP.42
The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los Angeles

5. Where Things Get Complicated
• The Getty has characteristics of Libraries,
Museums, Archives, and Research
Institutions
• Data will be inter-linked between programs
with vastly different scopes and missions
• How can we cross-walk such different data
sets, with so much content in common?
• How can we harmonize metadata from all
programs?
Nadar [Gaspard
Félix Tournachon]
(French, 1820 -
1910)
[Félix Nadar in
Gondola of
Balloon], about
1863, Albumen
silver print
8.8 × 5.6 cm (3
7/16 × 2 3/16 in.),
84.XC.873.5906
The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los
Angeles

6. The IIIF LAMR Landscape
Museums Libraries & Archives Research Institutions
Audience range Broad Narrower Specialized
Primary focus of rich
media
Rich user experience,
education, engagement
Exhaustive and accurate
information
Accurate information,
relationships
Sharing mission Copyrights are often a
barrier*
Historically open access
mission and mind set
Sharing is intrinsic to
scientific community
UX Flow Non-linear (thematic) Linear (textual media) Relational
Semantic structures Complex, diverse Highly codified Articulated, codified
IIIF manifest purpose Curated collections Reflect medium
structure
Dependent on
individual use cases
Annotation purpose Broad category tags Literal transcriptions Dependent on
individual use cases
*Recently, however, museums have been increasingly adopting open-access policies.

7. Reconciliation Is A Necessity!
• Characterize the Getty's visual and conceptual
material across different programs
• Bridge conceptual gaps across disciplines
• Linked Open Data is the ideal tool for that
• IIIF is (conceptually) LOD
• A technological and semantic framework to
facilitate contribution (especially from smaller
entities)
• Increase “biodiversity” of institutions and data in
the IIIF community
Unknown
Head of an
Amazon, late 5th
century B.C.,
Marble
21.4 × 15.7 × 16.2
cm (8 7/16 × 6
3/16 × 6 3/8 in.),
73.AA.79
The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los
Angeles

8. The Challenges: Scale
• Migration effort
• Availability & reliability
• Upkeep & growth costs
Unknown maker,
British
[Scott Monument,
Edinburgh], about
1860, Albumen
silver print
84.XC.873.5109
The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los
Angeles

9. The Challenges: Complexity
• Produce source images with consistent
specs
• Gather all contents + metadata from
different sources
Unknown
Book of Chess
Problems, late 14th
century, Tempera
colors and gold leaf
on parchment
bound between
pasteboard
covered with
parchment
Leaf: 24.8 × 16.8
cm (9 3/4 × 6 5/8
in.), Ms. Ludwig XV
15
The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los
Angeles

10. The Challenges: Coordination
• Different content management tools
• Different content management patterns
• Different user mind sets
Charles-François
Daubigny (French,
1817 - 1878)
La Rentrée Du
Troupeau, plate
1858–1862; print
1921, Cliché verre
34 × 27 cm (13 3/8
× 10 5/8 in.),
84.XO.702.317.27
The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los
Angeles

11. Talk to you again in 2022!
Questions?
scossu@getty.edu
Many thanks to David Newbury and Robert Sanderson for their
guidance and information.
Unknown
Male Harp Player
of the Early Spedos
Type, 2700–2300
B.C., Marble
35.8 × 9.5 × 28.1
cm (14 1/8 × 3 3/4
× 11 1/16 in.),
85.AA.103
The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los
Angeles°
Thank You