Summary (tl;dr)

Julien Antoine Raemy (he/him) works as a Project Assistant and Doctoral Student at the Digital Humanities Lab of the University of Basel as well as Interoperability Specialist for DaSCH, the Swiss National Data and Service Center for the Humanities. Within the Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archives (PIA) research project, he is involved in the extension of the data infrastructure, the uptake of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) as well as designing the data model. Julien is currently writing his PhD thesis on Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) for Cultural Heritage.

He obtained a BSc (2017) and a MSc in Information Science (2020) from the Haute école de gestion de Genève (HEG-GE), which is part of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland (HES-SO). He previously worked as a Research and Teaching Assistant in Information Science at the HEG-GE (2017-2021), as IIIF Systems Architect for the Swiss Art Research Infrastructure (SARI) coordinated at the University of Zürich (2020) as well as Photo Archivist at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in the context of the Montreux Jazz Digital Project (2015-2017).

Furthermore, he is an active member of the IIIF community, notably serving on the Technical Review Committee (TRC) and the Coordinating Committee (CoCo). He is also involved in the Archival Resource Key (ARK) Alliance.

Curriculum vitae

Experience :office:

Since February 2021: Assistant and PhD Candidate in Digital Humanities at the University of Basel, Digital Humanities Lab

  • PhD undertaken within the Sinergia project titled “Partizipative Wissenspraktiken in analogen und digitalen Bildarchiven / Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archives” (PIA) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
  • Current working title of the dissertation: “Linked Open Usable Data for Cultural Heritage: Perspectives on Community Practices and Semantic Interoperability” :link:

Since February 2021: Interoperability Specialist at the DaSCH, Swiss National Data and Service Center for the Humanities

  • Representing DaSCH within the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), notably through the Coordinating Committee and Technical Review Committee
  • Analysing and advising DaSCH on IIIF norms and APIs to be integrated into the DaSCH Service Platform (DSP)
  • Identifying and communicating potential synergies between the DHLab of the University of Basel and DaSCH
  • Conducting proofs of concept and reporting the results at relevant international conferences

July 2020 - December 2020: Knowledge Graph Engineer / IIIF Systems Architect for the Swiss Art Research Infrastructure (SARI) at the University of Zurich

  • Developing an overarching strategy for the integration of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) within the Swiss Art Research Infrastructure (SARI)
  • Conceiving different IIIF implementation scenarios and assessing which IIIF APIs should be leveraged for the Bilder der Schweiz Online (BSO) project
  • Assessing the conformance of image formats and the optimal conversion recipes for their dissemination on the research platform and the BSO website
  • Building a IIIF Manifest template
  • Representing SARI on relevant IIIF committees and working groups

August 2017 - January 2021: Research and Teaching Assistant in Information Science at the HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Haute école de gestion de Genève (HEG-GE)

  • Coordinating the bilingual French-German curriculum of the BSc in Information Science
  • Teaching the course “Informations- und Dokumentationssysteme” and ensuring the hands-on exercises during the “User-centred design” and “Linked Open Data in Libraries” courses
  • Helping Professor René Schneider with his research projects, assignments, as well as the training sessions that he gives during further education programmes
    • Two-day continuing training courses on “Web Usability” at the CERN in 2017 and for members of the Handschriftenportal (HSP) project in 2019
    • Moderation of the “Rolle der Schweizerischen Nationalbibliothek (NB) in der digitalen Gesellschaft” (Role of the Swiss National Library (NL) in the digital society) workshop on 05.12.2018
    • User Friendly Online Services for Scientific Information (UFO) assignments with the Fachhochschule Graubünden (FHGR)
    • Conducting research, reporting and presentations, as well as developing models and approaches for assigning persistent identifiers as part of the “Identités de confiance pour les données de l’art et du design” (ICOPAD) project in partnership with the Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIK-ISEA), the Zentralbibliothek Zürich and the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste
    • Coordinating the “Towards IIIF-Compliance Knowledge in Switzerland” (TICKS) project and the uptake of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) in Switzerland
    • Coordinating the “Infrastructure Nationale d’un Complément d’Identifiants Pérennes, Interopérables et Traçables” (INCIPIT) project aimed at developing ARKetype an Archival Resource Key (ARK) allocation service in Switzerland.

January 2015 - July 2017: Photo Archivist for the Montreux Jazz Digital Project at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Cultural Heritage & Innovation Center (previously MetaMedia Center)

  • Assessing the photography archives and digitizing pictures for the Montreux Jazz Digital Project
  • Checking the quality process and adding metadata to them on the Montreux Jazz Festival database
  • Conducting research and interviews in order to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the records and the added metadata.
  • Transferring data on our servers and on magnetic tapes (LTO) for long-term preservation
  • Conducting guided tours for artists, sponsors, and friends during the festival in Claude Nobs’ Chalet in Caux where the original audiovisual records are stored.
  • Defining long-term archiving strategies
  • Writing a report on Semantic Web technologies
  • Collating anecdotes for the Montreux Jazz Heritage Lab II designed by the EPFL+ECAL Lab
  • Taking part in conferences and working group sessions such as iPRES, IIIF and Museomix

August 2016 - October 2016: University Intern at the University of Basel, Digital Humanities Lab

  • Doing a survey and writing a report about the criteria for standard digital video formats for long-term preservation (based on the recommendations from IASA, FADGI and Memoriav)
  • Conducting video transcoding tests with FFmpeg
  • Writing up a conference paper which demonstrate the benefits of elaborating a structure for digital video assets based on the IIIF concepts for the use in archival environments

Memberships :busts_in_silhouette:

Archival Resource Key (ARK) Alliance [:link:][ark]

formerly “ARKs in the Open (AITO)”

formerly “Bibliothèque Information Suisse” (BIS)

  • Since March 2014: Member
  • May 2018 - February 2021: Member
  • Since October 2010: Member
  • September 2013 - July 2016: Bar Manager
  • September 2010 - August 2013: Bartender
  • Since January 2008: Member

Education :school:

  • 2021-2025 (expected): PhD in Digital Humanities at the University of Basel
  • 2018-2020: Master of Science in Information Science at the HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Haute école de gestion de Genève
  • 2013-2017: Bachelor of Science in Library and Information Science at the HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Haute école de gestion de Genève
  • 2010-2011: Professional Business Baccalaureate (“Maturité professionnelle commerciale”) at the Ecole professionnelle artisanale et commerciale (EPAC)
  • 2005-2008: Federal Diploma of Vocational Education and Training - Bookseller (“Certificat fédéral de capacité de libraire”) at the Ecole professionnelle commerciale de Lausanne (EPCL)