News and release notes
The website is constantly evolving, with metadata being edited and new documents being added to the collection on a regular basis. This page lists the main updates that have been made.
2 April 2024
The Collection is now compliant with the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) standards. This enhancement not only marks a leap forward in our commitment to making the database more accessible and user-friendly, but also underscores our commitment to promoting interoperability among digital repositories. What this means for our users:
- Improved access: Regardless of their internet speed, users will now experience faster and more reliable access to high-resolution images. Using TIFF with tiling improves online image access for users with poor internet connections by downloading only the necessary tiles, reducing initial load times. It enables progressive display by loading relevant tiles first, allowing immediate interaction. The approach handles smaller chunks of data, reducing resource requirements, and supports parallel downloads for faster access.
- Interoperability: By adopting IIIF standards, we enable seamless integration and sharing of our digital assets with other institutions and platforms around the world.
- Improved viewing experience: The Universal Viewer allows for more interactive and immersive exploration of digital objects. Users can zoom, pan and explore images in fine detail.
9 November 2023
The Islam West Africa Collection was officially launched on 9 November in Berlin. Further information.
31 October 2023
To demonstrate the potential of digital humanities to analyse the data in the Islam West Africa Collection, a series of visualisations were created using two corpus of press clippings from Beninese and Burkinabè newspapers. See more here.
9 October 2023
5 issues of the Islamic newspaper Al Maoulid Magazine from Niger, published between 2006 and 2010, have been added to the Collection.
4 October 2023
The metadata of 58 articles from the newspaper Boulevard des Infos, published between 2018 and 2023, have been added to the Collection.
30 September 2023
762 newspaper articles from the Beninese newspaper La Nation, published between 1990 and 2022, have been added to the collection.
22 September 2023
160 newspaper articles from the Beninese newspaper Ehuzu, published between 1975 and 1990, have been added to the Collection.
7 August 2023
53 newspaper articles from the Beninese newspaper Daho-Express, published between 1969 and 1975, have been added to the Collection.