In 2025, the IIIF Consortium engaged Jake Orlowitz of WikiBlueprint to look at the historic connections of the IIIF standard and community and the larger world of Wikimedia, both the community and its various projects. The goal of this effort was to see if there were areas where the IIIF standard could use functions, features, and products of Wikimedia to enhance the effectiveness of IIIF. For instance, could Wikidata help in the findability of IIIF enabled resources?
As long ago as 2018, the Wikidata property for IIIF Manifests was proposed by Christopher Johnson and shortly after accepted. The IIIF Manifest property (P6108) allows queries to be written that will retrieve manifests if they match other Wikidata properties. “The linking property is enormously helpful and opens the question of whether deeper integration could benefit both Wikimedia and IIIF communities, and provide better access to cultural heritage materials” says Simeon Warner (Cornell University Library).
The IIIF community, with its commitment to open access and community driven development, has a number of overlapping members. The IIIF Slack has long had a dedicated #wikimedia channel for discussion of shared questions. Neil Fitzgerald (The British Library) noted “GLAM organisations and the Wikimedia community have a long track record of fruitful collaboration on matters of shared interest and values. This white paper proposes an opportunity for us to jointly examine what more can we do together, to make our intellectual heritage accessible for everyone, for research, inspiration and enjoyment.”
Thanks to the many Wikimedia community members who provided feedback during the creation of the paper. Any conclusions or recommendations in the paper, however, should not be construed as endorsement by the Wikimedia community. Likewise, IIIF community members and the IIIF Consortia Executive Committee and staff provided input, pointers, and information on the historic relationship of IIIF and Wikimedia.
This paper is the result of Jake’s exploration of IIIF and Wikimedia. We hope this inquiry fosters further mutual awareness of each community and exploration of ongoing dialog.