The session will build practical skills in creating, managing, and publishing annotations on IIIF images
Digital image annotation is an increasingly valuable method for cultural institutions to document and interpret their collections online. However, in many galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM institutions), annotation is still underused—often limited to basic tagging rather than developed as a structured interpretive tool. This hands-on workshop introduces participants to Glycerine Workbench, a hosted IIIF platform for annotating and publishing digitised image collections, designed for research and curatorial engagement with visual materials. Participants will learn how to design and implement multi-layered annotation models that combine authoritative data, scholarly research, and exhibition storytelling using Glycerine Workbench’s Annotation Set and Annotation Template features.
The session will build practical skills in creating, managing, and publishing annotations on IIIF images, while also exploring strategic approaches to annotation within institutional contexts. Using example datasets from art and heritage collections, participants will learn how to distinguish between authoritative layers (cataloguing and conservation data), research layers (curatorial interpretation and scholarship), and exhibition layers (public narratives and storytelling), and how to design annotation models that GLAM practitioners can adapt to their own workflows.
