An open source prototype for public annotation of archival objects, developed at Archives at NCBS with partners.
Key features:
- Enables public annotations on material imported from existing archival catalogues (EAD 2002 standard)
- Annotations align with archival fields: subjects, people, places, description, plus a new “affect” field
- Users can tag with existing controlled vocabulary or suggest new terms for a local vocabulary
- Annotated objects can be exported back to source archives for richer catalogue descriptions
- Source code: https://github.com/tattle-made/archive-annotation/
- Launch video: https://youtu.be/j8P2CIOjQUI
Observations from the thread:
- ASD noted a similarly named proprietary tool at anno.milli.link (different project)
- ASD observed how annotation implementation depends on taxonomies, vocabularies, approval workflows, granularity all differ depending on goals
- ASD and MK were in early stages of thinking about an annotation tool using WikiData as vocabulary, with sub-item level annotation granularity
Kaanu Integration Possibilities
Kaanu serves as both interpretive and archival platform for South Indian Adivasi studies, using Quartz (interpretive layer - now at old.kaanu) and Omeka S (archival records)/ From Annomilli:
- Public annotation model could enrich Kaanu’s archival descriptions with community-sourced perspectives
- The “affect” field is interesting for capturing community emotional/cultural connections to objects
- Controlled vs open vocabulary tension is relevant to Kaanu’s metadata design (Dublin Core + custom vocabularies)
From email thread - WIP