A Day of Digital Publishing
& Quire

Join Price Lab for Digital Humanities and Penn Libraries for a deep dive into digital publishing and Quire, Getty’s free and open source publishing tool. Held in conjunction with the annual MCN (Museum Computer Network) conference taking place at the Penn Museum, all sessions are free with registration and open to anyone who wants to attend. Pick one session or attend them all!

November 8, 2023
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Following these sessions, MCN kicks off with its famous Ignite event, 6:15 p.m. at the nearby World Cafe Live. Paid conference registration required.

Part 1: Roundtable
Digital Publishing in Dialogue: Quire, Manifold, and Contemporary Publishing

12:00–1:00 p.m.
Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
Lunch will be provided

This roundtable conversation brings together the perspectives of publishers, editors, and authors around the topic of born-digital, multimodal publishing paths, focusing on the digital publishing platforms Quire (Getty) and Manifold (Cuny/University of Minnesota Press). Speakers include Matthew K. Gold (CUNY Graduate Center), Katie Rawson (Annenberg School for Communication), and Chris Diaz (Northwestern University Libraries).

The unique affordances of digital publishing enable authors to advance their scholarship through innovative uses of digital tools as well as media-rich enhancements. Recent publications taking advantage of such digital affordances have included monographs, journals, and exhibition catalogs. How do these platforms and publishing paths address the aims of traditional publishing (promotion, review, discoverability), while forging new and multimodal paths for sharing scholarship? And how are they changing the landscape of scholarly publishing through their unique integration of digital tools in ways that collapse structures like period/format/genre? In this hour-long dialogue, speakers will introduce the Quire and Manifold platforms and share considerations for proposing and creating a digital publication.

About Manifold

A joint partnership between the University of Minnesota Press, the GC Digital Scholarship Lab at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and Cast Iron Coding (Portland, OR), the open-source platform was released in March 2018. Manifold is a mobile native application that is compatible on all modern devices—smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and desktops. Readers have a beautiful, deep reading experience that encourages discussion and fosters community; publishers can quickly turn existing ebook files into online publications. Built from the ground up, the platform is reliable, fast, responsive, and intuitive for users, and suitable for a wide range of projects, from media enriched to text-only. Learn more on the Manifold website.

About Quire

Quire is a free, open-source digital publishing tool developed by Getty to address challenges around the discoverability, longevity, and sustainability of online scholarly publications. Quire’s strength lies in transforming a single set of files into a dynamic and fully-featured website, downloadable PDF, e-book, and print-on-demand book, thereby increasing the access and reach of scholarship. Quire excels at long-form, visually-rich publishing and is designed to be flexible and deeply customizable. A growing international community of academics, and arts and cultural heritage professionals are utilizing Quire to create everything from collection and exhibition catalogues to conference proceedings, journals, student research projects, and more. View them on the Quire community showcase.

Part 2: Quire Demonstration

1:30–2:30 p.m.
Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center

This hour-long session is a great place to start for those interested in learning more about Getty’s multiformat publishing tool. Erin Cecele Dunigan, Quire Community Manager, and Greg Albers, Digital Publications Manager at Getty, will begin by briefly introducing what Quire is and how it works. Recent publications from both Getty and the Quire community will be used to illustrate the scholarly publishing solutions the tool provides. This will be followed by a demonstration of how to use Quire, from running the command line application to working with a text editor and previewing a publication in real time. Get a glimpse of how to get a new project up and running, make edits, and add customizations.

Part 3: Quire Hands-on Workshop

3:00–5:00 p.m.
RDDSx Space, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
Attendance is limited

This two-hour workshop led by representatives from Getty and Quire, will provide valuable hands-on experience navigating and using Quire, from creating a new project with our starter template to outputting the publication as a website and PDF. Participants will edit content, add images, and play around with customizing various elements of their sample publication. Other formats like collection catalogues or special features like zooming images will also be explored if time permits. This workshop aims to get participants comfortable with the inner workings of Quire, so they leave feeling confident and empowered to start a digital publishing project of their own.

This workshop is designed for individuals at all technical skill levels. Participants must bring their own laptop, and must complete the Quire installation and setup requirements prior to the workshop. Details will be provided after registering. Questions can be sent to quire@getty.edu.