Preliminaries

The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “NOT RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14, RFC2119 and RFC8174 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

This document is licensed under CC-BY-ND-4.0 (via SPDX).

The style of this documentation is adapted from OpenAPI 3.0.2 specification.

Status of this Document

The current version of this document is 1.0.0.

The version number will be applied according to Semantic Versioning 2.0.0.

Definitions

W3C Annotations

The AnnotationAPI is an implementation of the W3C Annotation Model. This means that we provide an Annotation Collection per resource and Annotation Pages for each Annotation Collection.

The W3C specs, however, don’t assume hierarchical/nested resources as we have in the IIIF derived TextAPI model.

In order to bring these two approaches together, all Objects of the TextAPI (Collection/Manifest/Item) provide an endpoint for delivering an Annotation Collection. These list the next level items (Collection → Manifest, Manifest → Item, Item → Item) as Annotation Pages including all annotations on that level. Since Collection Objects are on the top of the hierarchy there aren’t any Annotation Pages provided for them.

Additions to the W3C model are marked with an x-.

Cardinalities

Cardinality Description REQUIRED
1 exactly one yes
? zero or one no
* zero or more no

Data Types

Type Description
[…] array
string a sequence of characters, MAY be empty
IRI a valid IRI, see IRI Syntax
MIME type a valid MIME type according to IANA. See MDN
iso639-3 alpha-3 language code according to ISO 639-3.
int a non-negative Integer value

IRI Syntax

The URI Syntax is used according to the one described at IIIF.

We encourage to allow for IRI (an internationalizes superset or URI) on client side.

Delivery Service / Available Endpoints

The AnnotationAPI delivery service is the description of endpoints. All endpoints use the https protocol.

Annotations for Collection Objects

https://{server}{/prefix}{/collection?}/annotationCollection.json

Returns an Annotation Collection for the given collection.

Examples

  • https://example.com/textapi/Shakespeares_works/annotationCollection.json

Annotations for Manifest Objects

https://{server}{/prefix}{/collection?}/{manifest}/annotationCollection.json

Returns an Annotation Collection for the given manifest.

https://{server}{/prefix}{/collection?}/{manifest}/annotationPage.json

Returns an Annotation Page for the given manifest.

Examples

  • https://example.com/textapi/Shakespeares_works/Othello/annotationCollection.json
  • https://example.com/textapi/Shakespeares_works/Othello/annotationPage.json
  • https://example.com/textapi/Othello/annotationCollection.json
  • https://example.com/textapi/Othello/annotationPage.json

Annotations for Item Objects

https://{server}{/prefix}{/collection?}/{manifest}/{item}/{revision}/annotationCollection.json

Returns an Annotation Collection for the given item in the given revision.

https://{server}{/prefix}{/collection?}/{manifest}/{item}/{revision}/annotationPage.json

Returns an Annotation Page for the given item.

Examples

  • https://example.com/textapi/Shakespeares_works/Othello/7a/latest/annotationCollection.json
  • https://example.com/textapi/Shakespeares_works/Othello/7a/1/annotationPage.json
  • https://example.com/textapi/Othello/7a/latest/annotationCollection.json
  • https://example.com/textapi/Othello/7a/1/annotationPage.json

Schema

Annotation Collection

An Annotation Collection presents an overview of the Annotation Pages provided for a given resource.

Field Name Cardinality Type Description
@context 1 IRI MUST be http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld
id 1 IRI a unique identifier for the Annotation Collection
type 1 string MUST be AnnotationCollection
label 1 string a descriptive title for the Annotation Collection
total ? int the number of annotations belonging to this Collection
first 1 IRI an IRI pointing to the API endpoint of the first Annotation Page of this Collection
last 1 IRI an IRI pointing to the API endpoint of the last Annotation Page of this Collection. identical to first if the collection has only one Annotation Page

Annotation Page

An Annotation Page lists all annotations that occur on them while linking to the previous and next Annotation Pages within an Annotation Collection.

Field Name Cardinality Type Description
@context 1 IRI MUST be http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld
id 1 IRI a unique identifier for the Annotation Collection
type 1 string MUST be AnnotationPage
partOf 1 [PartOf Object] information about the Annotation Collection the pPage is part of
next 1 IRI an IRI pointing to the API endpoint of the next Annotation Page of this Annotation Collection. MAY be null if there is no following Page
prev 1 IRI an IRI pointing to the API endpoint of the previous Annotation Page of this Annotation Collection. MAY be null if there is no previous Page
startIndex ? int a number denoting the position of this Page’s first annotation, relative to the parent Annotation Collection
items 1 [Annotation Item Object] a sequence of annotations

PartOf Object

Represents a relation between an Annotation Page and an Annotation Collection.

Contains information about the Page’s parent Annotation Collection.

Field Name Cardinality Type Description
id 1 IRI a unique identifier for the Annotation Collection
label 1 string a descriptive title for the Annotation Collection
total ? int the number of annotations belonging to this Collection.

Annotation Item Object

A sequence of annotations belonging to an Annotation Page.

Field Name Cardinality Type Description
body 1 [Body Object] the content of the annotation
target 1 [Target Object] information about the target of the annotation
type 1 string MUST be Annotation
id 1 IRI a unique identifier for the annotation

Body Object

The content of the annotation.

Field Name Cardinality Type Description
type 1 string MUST be TextualBody
value 1 string the content of the annotation
format 1 MIME type text/plain OR text/html (see notes)
x-content-type 1 string the semantic type of the annotation. can be chosen freely by each project, e.g. Person or Place

Notes

When using HTML within value the set of allowed elements is limited to the following:

  • p
  • span
  • a

Besides the href attribute for html:a no further attribute SHOULD be used.

Target Object

Provides information about the target resource the annotation refers to.

Field Name Cardinality Type Description
selector 1 CssSelector or Range Selector a selector pointing to the target
format 1 MIME type the MIME type of the target resource
language 1 iso639-3 the language of the target resource
source 1 IRI a URL to the resource to which the annotation points to

Selector Object: CssSelector

Provides information about the target resource the annotation refers to.

Field Name Cardinality Type Description
type 1 string CssSelector
value 1 string a CSS selector in most cases referencing an ID or class.

Selector Object: RangeSelector

Provides information about the target resource the annotation refers to.

Field Name Cardinality Type Description
type 1 string RangeSelector
startSelector 1 Selector Object CssSelector representing the start of the range.
endSelector 1 Selector Object CssSelector representing the end of the range.

Appendix

Class Diagram

UML class diagram

Examples

Annotation Collection: Example for Collection

https://www.example.com/collection/annotationCollection.json

{
  "annotationCollection" : {
    "total" : 52,
    "@context" : "http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld",
    "first" : "https://www.example.com/collection/manifest/annotationPage.json",
    "label" : "Annotations for some collection.",
    "last" : "https://www.example.com/collection/manifest/annotationPage.json",
    "type" : "AnnotationCollection",
    "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationCollection/collection"
  }
}

Annotation Collection: Example for Manifest

https://www.example.com/collection/manifest/annotationCollection.json

{
  "annotationCollection" : {
    "total" : 23,
    "@context" : "http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld",
    "first" : "https://www.example.com/collection/manifest/page1/annotationPage.json",
    "label" : "Annotations for some manifest.",
    "last" : "https://www.example.com/collection/manifest/page12/annotationPage.json",
    "type" : "AnnotationCollection",
    "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationCollection/collection/manifest"
  }
}

Annotation Collection: Example for Item

https://www.example.com/collection/manifest/page1/annotationCollection.json

{
  "annotationCollection" : {
    "total" : 2,
    "@context" : "http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld",
    "first" : "https://www.example.com/collection/manifest/page1/annotationPage.json",
    "label" : "Annotations for some manifest, page1",
    "type" : "AnnotationCollection",
    "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationCollection/collection/manifest/page1"
  }
}

Annotation Page: Example for Manifest

https://www.example.com/collection/manifest/annotationPage.json

{
  "annotationPage" : {
    "items" : [ {
        "body": {
          "type": "TextualBody",
          "value": "A person's name.",
          "format": "text/plain",
          "x-content-type": "Person"
        },
      "target" : {
        "format" : "text/xml",
        "language" : "eng",
        "selector" : {
          "type" : "CssSelector",
          "value" : "#MD775409N1l4l2l6l4l8l2"
        },
        "source": "https://example.com/1/test.html"
      },
      "type" : "Annotation",
      "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationCollection/manifest/annotation-1"
    }, {
        "body": {
          "type": "TextualBody",
          "value": "The author probably means another person at this point.",
          "format": "text/plain",
          "x-content-type": "Editorial Comment"
        },
      "target" : {
        "format" : "text/xml",
        "language" : "eng",
        "selector" : {
          "type" : "CssSelector",
          "value" : "#MD775409N1l4l2l6l4l8l2"
        },
        "source": "https://example.com/1/test.html"
      },
      "type" : "Annotation",
      "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationCollection/manifest/annotation-2"
    }],
    "partOf" : {
      "total" : 23,
      "label" : "Annotations for some manifest.",
      "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationCollection/collection/manifest"
    },
    "@context" : "http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld",
    "startIndex" : 1,
    "prev" : null,
    "next" : "https://www.example.com/collection/manifest2/annotationPage.json",
    "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationPage/collection/manifest"
  }
}

Annotation Page: Example for Item

https://www.example.com/collection/manifest/page1/annotationPage.json

{
  "annotationPage" : {
    "items" : [ {
      "body": {
        "type": "TextualBody",
        "value": "This is a place in Azerbaijan.",
        "format": "text/plain",
        "x-content-type": "Person"
      },
      "target" : {
        "format" : "text/xml",
        "language" : "eng",
        "selector" : {
          "type" : "CssSelector",
          "value" : "#MD775409N1l4l2l6l4l8l2"
        },
        "source": "https://example.com/1/test.html"
      },
      "type" : "Annotation",
      "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationCollection/manifest/annotation-1"
    }, {
      "body": {
        "type": "TextualBody",
        "value": "A person's name.",
      "format": "text/plain",
          "x-content-type": "Person"
      },
      "target" : {
        "format" : "text/xml",
        "language" : "eng",
        "selector" : {
          "type" : "CssSelector",
          "value" : "#MD775409N1l4l2l6l4l8l2"
        },
        "source": "https://example.com/1/test.html"
      },
      "type" : "Annotation",
      "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationCollection/manifest/annotation-2"
    }],
    "partOf" : {
      "total" : 2,
      "label" : "Annotations for some manifest, page1.",
      "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationCollection/collection/manifest/page1"
    },
    "@context" : "http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld",
    "startIndex" : 0,
    "prev" : null,
    "next" : "https://www.example.com/collection/manifest/page2/annotationPage.json",
    "type" : "AnnotationPage",
    "id" : "https://www.example.com/annotationPage/collection/manifest/page1"
  }
}