(30 September 2016) The University of Tokyo has become the first institution in Japan to join the IIIF Consortium, the International Image Interoperability Framework. An announcement is also available in Japanese.
Although new to the Consortium, the University of Tokyo has been involved with IIIF for some time. Dr. Kiyonori Nagasaki of the International Institute for Digital Humanities has been a leading advocate for IIIF in Japan, disseminating information about IIIF through blogs written in Japanese, introducing students to IIIF in his digital humanities classes at the University, and implementing the IIIF APIs in the 国デコ Image Wall for viewing digital images of paintings and drawings from around Japan from the year 1200 – 1944. Dr. Nagasaki also recently presented a workshop on IIIF at the annual conference of the Japanese Association for Digital Humanities at the University of Tokyo on September 12. Additionally, Professor Masahiro Shimoda of the University of Tokyo has led a project to implement the IIIF Image and Presentation APIs in the SAT Taishōzō Image DB in order to promote Buddhist studies in the digital realm.
The announcement is here.
