Join the IIIF Editorial Committee

Glen Robson

Technical Coordinator

We are looking for dedicated community members to join the Editorial committee to help write the future IIIF specifications.

Role: IIIF Editor

Closing Date: 16th of October 2026

About us

The IIIF Editorial Committee works in collaboration with community groups to propose new technical specifications and to update existing ones. This includes the recently released IIIF Presentation API version 4.0 support for 3D and updates to the Image API and the other APIs the IIIF community maintains.

The role

The IIIF editors participate in discussions around the specification gathering use cases and proposing solutions which are put to the community for review. They meet every two weeks to respond to issues and draft specifications to meet community needs. Editors often meet at the IIIF annual conference and also an in person editor meeting is usually held once a year. During periods where the committee is working toward specific deliverables, it is possible for the editors to meet more than twice in a year.

Editors will participate in IIIF Technical Specification Groups (TSG) and work with the community to extend the existing specifications. One editor is required to co-chair a TSG and this role will be shared between the Editorial group members. As a co-chair of a TSG an editor will be responsible for setting the agenda for meetings and coordinating the discussions.

This role is a voluntary position and applicants must have support from their institution or company to apply for this role. Some funding may be available to help with travel costs to editorial meetings.

Why join us?

The editorial committee has a real impact in steering the IIIF community and making a contribution to the wider cultural heritage sector. The IIIF standards have been adopted across the world and as part of the editorial committee you will be ensuring they maintain the connection between the standards and those that would like to implement them. You will work on engaging challenges and compelling technical scenarios to translate practical needs of the community into flexible, resilient open specifications. Compared to some kinds of technical work, you will see the results of your contributions quickly and in ways that have significant impact on global communities of practice that are deeply invested in these standards. You will also gain perspective on and experience with how specialists across many different institutions tackle challenges relating to images, audio, video, and 3D content, and participation in the committee represents a great professional development opportunity.

What we are looking for

The direction of the Editorial work is driven by the community through the formation of TSGs. With the publication of the release candidate of IIIF version 4, it is expected there will be work reacting to feedback from implementers and there is also work required to update the Search and Authentication specifications. Other work may lead to extensions like the Geo referencing extension. It is to be expected that each member of the Editorial Committee will bring overlapping but possibly distinct sets of skills, and so a good candidate for the committee should have experience with at least some of these:

Required:

Participation in and knowledge of the IIIF community
Experience with working with digitised material including images, audio/video and 3D
Passion for creating open data standards and APIs that serve an evolving user community
Familiarity with existing IIIF design principles and/or experience with formalized design principles
Time to attend regular editorial group meetings, work on issues between meetings, and attend several days of dedicated editorial working meetings each year.

Advantageous:

Candidates should have some experience with some of these:

Experience working with JSON-LD and Linked Data
Experience serving on similar committees or other open communities.
Knowledge of viewer implementations either as a member of a community of practice or as a developer
Knowledge of authentication practices and processes
IIIF encourages applications from candidates globally. Please note that Editorial Committee business is carried out in English and meetings are scheduled flexibly for timezones with limitations based on current Committee membership.

Before applying

Successful applicants will have an understanding of current IIIF processes, procedures, and policies. Candidates must read and be familiar with the following documents before applying:

How to apply

Please send a copy of your CV and a covering letter to staff@iiif.io by 16th of October 2026. The covering letter should cover the following:

Details of your involvement in the IIIF community for example activity in TSGs and the TRC
Area of the IIIF specification you are most interested in and your relevant experience
Relevant experience and skills not mentioned in the CV that would apply to this role.
Demonstrate institution support for the time requirements for joining the Editorial group
Institutional support for travel funding.