IIIF for Educators

Information Literacy in the Pictographic Age

click to copy lesson html Students are introduced to the practice of "Ekphrasis" to practice "reading" an image/photograph.

Information Literacy in the Pictographic Age

💡 Concept

Detail of a pictograph from the Codex Mendoza

Pictographic Literacy

Elizabeth Boone is a scholar. She writes:

As an Aztec specialist, I argue for a broader, more encompassing definition of writing, one that embraces nonverbal systems. Several of my colleagues, people whom I respect and whose opinions I trust, ask me why we need to do this, when such a broadening blurs the important distinction between phonetic writing and other forms. It is because the word "writing" is so loaded. Writing is not merely a type of notational system but an entire cultural category. It has been used to distinguish literate people from preliterates, people with history from those without, and even civilized people from barbarians or primitives. Writing, as a "cornerstone of the human heritage," to quote Schoville and Senner, is seen as a basic clement of civilized society. Gelb represents this prevalent position when he states, "Writing exists only in a civilization and a civilization cannot exist without writing." Given these meanings, how can we deny that the Aztecs and Mixtecs had writing?

Boone recognizes, in other words, that writing can take many forms and communicate information through various channels, or modalities both visual and verbal. So what, then, is the "picture" of a literate person in any given age? 

Information Literacy

Librarians have a similar interest in literacy, especially in the digital age. According to a leading society of librarians, the Association of College and Research Libraries (A.C.R.L.):

Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.

The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy (2016) represents information literacy in six frames, or simple propositions, which are further articulated into definitions, knowledge practices, and dispositions. Helpfully, they identify qualities and characteristics of learners (that is, you!).

🖥️ Activity

This assessment activity will serve to demonstrate your own developing literacy among the many interwoven systems of communication by which you receive and interpret information in the 21st Century. First it will send you out into the world of primary source collections, to see where these materials come from, and task you to bring back examples as evidence. Then it will revisit three different ways you have accessed knowledge about the Nahua in this unit and ask you to reflect upon them in terms of information literacy. 

🪜 Steps

Part 1: Curating Content

Your first task is to demonstrate a practice of knowledge creation by curating a "mini collection" of 3 items, including:

  • An image detail from the Codex Mendoza showing pictographic imagery
  • A comparable image detail from another item in the Digital Bodleian
  • A detail from an item in another digital collection

Part 2: Reflective Statement

Your second task is to reflect upon your learning experiences. In this first Unit, you were introduced to IIIF-based digital imagery, and shown how these materials reached you. One learning goal of this instruction is described under the ACRL "Frame" Information has Value. You will read the frame, then select 1-2 passages that you find most relevant for a reflective statement of approx. 60-80 words.

📍 Location

Here are several places online and in the physical world where you can locate items for this activity:

The Bodleian Library at Oxford University 
holds the Codex Mendoza in its material form. It also provides it for open online access in the Digital Bodleian site.  (click to open and close)
  1. Go to this address for the Codex Mendoza, inspect the page and the item it contains, then click the  iiif and other viewers button to experience other viewing options and to access the IIIF manifest URL: https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00486220/
  2. Then scroll to the bottom of the item page to Related Collections, and click the link (with a familiar thumbnail!) for Mesoamerican Manuscripts. Browse and explore the other items in the digital collection, and choose one you would like to curate for this activity.  
The Library of Congress
hosts a massive digital collections site that presents its own materials and those of other institutions  (click to open and close)
  1. Go to this address to see the Codex Azcatitlan (read description and then click to view): https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668122/
  2. At the bottom of both the item and view pages are  More items like this  and  You might also like : browse there for items to curate
  3. Also near the bottom of the pages are links to IIIF Presentation Manifest, for you to use for your submission 
The Internet Archive
has converted its digital collections to IIIF, which you can use like other IIIF-based content if you know how to translate an item URI into a manifest URI  (click to open and close)

Here is an item link: https://archive.org/details/tovarcodex00tova/mode/2up

And here is its Manifest URI, which isn't directly provided:

https://iiif.archive.org/iiif/3/tovarcodex00tova/manifest.json
Princeton University's DPUL (Digital Princeton University Library)
makes many of their manuscript holdings available online and in IIIF.  (click to open and close)

👓 Examples

Here are three different ways you have already accessed and learned about the Codex Mendoza on this course site

Illustrated text in a book
 Page 33 from Boone, Elizabeth Hill. Stories In Red and Black: Pictorial Histories of the Aztecs and Mixtecs, 2000  (click to open and close)

One page of text and pictographic illustrations from Boone, Elizabeth Hill. Stories In Red and Black: Pictorial Histories of the Aztecs and Mixtecs.

Video
Scholarly Zoom lecture by Boone on YouTube (click to open and close)
IIIF
View the Codex Mendoza using a IIIF manifest in Mirador  (click to open and close)

Manifest URI

https://iiif.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/iiif/manifest/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00486220.json

🧱 Materials

ACRL Framework for Information Literacy
Read "Information Has Value," one of the ACRL "frames" below. As you move through the text, take note of any of the relevant passages or bullet points that you think applies to your learning experiences in this course so far in Unit 1.  (click to open and close)

Information Has Value

Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. Legal and socioeconomic interests influence information production and dissemination.

The value of information is manifested in various contexts, including publishing practices, access to information, the commodification of personal information, and intellectual property laws. The novice learner may struggle to understand the diverse values of information in an environment where “free” information and related services are plentiful and the concept of intellectual property is first encountered through rules of citation or warnings about plagiarism and copyright law. As creators and users of information, experts understand their rights and responsibilities when participating in a community of scholarship. Experts understand that value may be wielded by powerful interests in ways that marginalize certain voices. However, value may also be leveraged by individuals and organizations to effect change and for civic, economic, social, or personal gains. Experts also understand that the individual is responsible for making deliberate and informed choices about when to comply with and when to contest current legal and socioeconomic practices concerning the value of information.

Knowledge Practices

Learners who are developing their information literate abilities

  • give credit to the original ideas of others through proper attribution and citation;
  • understand that intellectual property is a legal and social construct that varies by culture;
  • articulate the purpose and distinguishing characteristics of copyright, fair use, open access, and the public domain;
  • understand how and why some individuals or groups of individuals may be underrepresented or systematically marginalized within the systems that produce and disseminate information;
  • recognize issues of access or lack of access to information sources;
  • decide where and how their information is published;
  • understand how the commodification of their personal information and online interactions affects the information they receive and the information they produce or disseminate online;
  • make informed choices regarding their online actions in full awareness of issues related to privacy and the commodification of personal information.

Dispositions

Learners who are developing their information literate abilities

  • respect the original ideas of others;
  • value the skills, time, and effort needed to produce knowledge;
  • see themselves as contributors to the information marketplace rather than only consumers of it;
  • are inclined to examine their own information privilege.
</details>

🛠️ Tools

IIIF Cropping Tool
Use this tool to find the URI for an image in a IIIF manifest, and to crop a detail from that image  (click to open and close)
Selecting and Cropping a IIIF image URI with a IIIF Cropping Tool
To access an image URI (click to open and close)
  1. Copy and paste the IIIF manifest URI in the IIIF Cropping Tool
  2. Scroll through thumbnails on the left to find a page
  3. Click the page thumbnail to load in the viewer
  4. Zoom and view
  5. If you would like the complete image URI, click Copy 
  6. To crop a detail from the image, click the white pencil icon, and highlight the desired rectangle by clicking and dragging a rectangle from corner to corner
  7. A thumbnail of your selected detail will appear in a slider at the bottom of the Cropping Tool. You can repeat to collect multiple details.
  8. Click on the thumbnail of any detail to generate an image URL 
  9. Select "Full" for highest resolution or leave it at "Actual" to crop your detail at the size you see it in the viewer
  10. Click Copy to copy the Image URL
  11. X out of any item you don't want to view 

📩 Submission

Quote 1-2 passages from the ACRL Frame Information Has Value, and write a brief (60-80 words) illustrated response, reflecting upon the various ways (visual, oral, written, digital...) knowledge is passed down to you through assigned items and IIIF-based digital collections. Include at least 3 image details and say what you found interesting about them in your exploration of various collections sites: 

  • An image detail from the Codex Mendoza
  • A comparable image detail from another item you select from the Digital Bodleian
  • A comparable image detail from an item you selected from another digital collection

NOTE: This Unit 1 Assessment ensures that you have mastered necessary skills and understandings needed for activities in units 2 and 3. You must score all 10 points on the rubric for credit, but are allowed to resubmit until you do. 

Use the Canvas text entry to submit your media and reflective statement

Submitting a text assignment with IIIF image details
To add linked images to a discussion post (click to open and close)
  1. Click Start Assignment
  2. to enter your image details, click the Picture icon picture icon in the text editing toolbar. In the Upload Image popup, click the URL tab, and paste your URL in the File URL blank. Briefly describe your image in the Alt Text field (for the visually impaired), and click Post Reply 
  3. repeat for additional images
  4. type or paste in reflective text
copyright 2026