Martin Kalfatovic (Managing Director) and Glen Robson (Technical Coordinator) visited the Republic of Korea to attend and present at two conferences, Digital Humanities 2026 in Daejeon) and DCMI 2026 in Seoul.
DH 2026
Glen Robson and Martin Kalfatovic both attended the DH2026, the annual conference of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO). The theme of this year’s conference was “Engagement” and the five days in Daejeon gave us plenty of opportunities to engage with global users of IIIF. The conference was also a great place to see IIIF in action and support the work of a wide spectrum of scholars. The number of presentations that reference IIIF was impressive.
The week got underway early with the IIIF workshop, “DH Tools for Working with IIIF Enabled Collections.” The workshop drew a global audience with a number of great projects to explore. The program committee did an outstanding job scheduling the hundreds of presentations across numerous tracks. The three keynotes, by Maciej Eder, Kim Hyeon, and Kirsten Thorpe anchored the conference days and opened up conversations in the hallways and the queue of the conference center’s outpost of the renowned Sungsimdang Bakery.
Gathering in Daejeon gave us a chance to reconnect with familiar colleagues and to make new connections. The conference took place from July 27 to July 31, 2026, at the Daejeon Convention Center in Daejeon, South Korea. Thanks to the local hosts, the Korean Association for Digital Humanities (KADH).
DCMI 2026
Following DH26, Martin Kalfatovic continued on to Seoul to attend DCMI as an invited speaker on the topic of IIIF (“IIIF Interoperability in Practice”). The conference was held at the National Library of Korea (in their International Conference Center) in Seoul, Republic of Korea. There were four keynotes: Min Kyung Lee (UT Austin), Tom Baker (DCMI) & Kalliopi Mathios (Stanford University Libraries), and Tom Cramer (Stanford University Libraries). Also, ten other invited talks besides mine, four panels, 25 long and short papers, and a selection of workshops, project briefings, and posters.
The opening panel was a highlight of the conference, “Perspectives on Open Metadata” presented by Tom Cramer, Rochelle Lundy, Wayne Graham, Amy Warner May, and Jason Kovari which outlined the role of open metadata in supporting the mission of cultural heritage organizations. The keynote by Tom Baker (DCMI) and Kalliopi Mathios (Stanford University Libraries), “Identity in context across metadata styles” was a brilliant overview of the progression of bibliographic metadata from the card catalog to BIBFRAME (with various stops along the way).
Side Meetings in Daejeon and Seoul
While in Daejeon, Glen and Martin met with staff from Technology Research Institute for Culture & Heritage (TRIC). It was a pleasure to reconnect with TRIC staff who’d attended the 2026 IIIF Annual Conference and Showcase earlier this year.
In Seoul, Sam Oh (DCMI) arranged for Tom Cramer and Martin to visit with staff from the Collections Department and the Digital Museum Department of the National Museum of Korea. Tom and Martin gave an overview of IIIF. Also, with introductions by Sam Oh, Tom and Martin met with Director General Juok Park and staff of the National Library of Korea.