An API explainer for art researchers
Image credit: Paul Gauguin, Te raau rahi (The Big Tree), 1891, oil on canvas, 72.5 × 91.5 cm, Art Institute of Chicago. Image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Art researchers and historians likely see the term application programming interface (API) on museum and library websites and regularly hear about it in discussions about digital publications. The technology has become increasingly important to new research methods and forms of presentation. But what are they?
Explanations abound but are often written for technical audiences or rely on analogies about waiters, bartenders, prayers, dogs, CD players, and car engines. This article offers a simple description of APIs, discusses their role in digital art history and museums, and examines their benefits to anyone in the digital humanities.
A brief introduction: APIs for art historians
The purpose of APIs and example applications in art history
APIs act as connectors that allow different software components and data sources to work together. They make it easier to access and share data, such as large art databases or scholarly resources, in programs or websites. APIs can also link different research and presentation tools, helping improve how art history is studied and shared.
Digital publications. One of the most significant impacts of APIs in the field of art history is their use in digital publications. For instance, the Getty Research Institute and the Metropolitan Museum of Art offer APIs that provide access to their extensive collections. By using these APIs, digital publications can dynamically incorporate high-resolution images, metadata, and contextual information directly from these institutions. This enhances the reader’s experience by providing immediate access to primary resources without needing manual data entry or static content that may become outdated.
Museum APIs. Many museums allow people to connect to their collection database through an API. One well-known website that uses a museum API is Google Arts & Culture. This website and app allows users to explore high-resolution images of artworks, cultural artifacts, and exhibitions from museums and cultural institutions worldwide. Google Arts & Culture uses APIs to retrieve images, data, and metadata from various museum databases to share on its own page. Another example is the program Art Up Your Tab. This browser extension displays a different artwork from Europeana’s collection whenever you open a new tab. It uses the Europeana API to access random artworks from its database along with their descriptions, providing users with a unique cultural experience while they browse the web.
We’ll share more examples of APIs at work and their benefits later in this article. But first, here’s an introduction to how APIs operate.
The basics of how APIs work
Each API is a well-defined set of protocols, tools, and standards. An API defines the methods and data formats that applications can use to request and exchange information or perform specific operations without needing to know the internal workings of the other system.
Key aspects of an API
Endpoints are the specific URLs or URIs where the API can be accessed. Each endpoint corresponds to a different function or resource.
APIs typically operate using requests and responses. A client (e.g., a software application) sends a request to the API, and the API responds with the requested data or a confirmation of the action taken.
Common HTTP methods used in APIs include
GET: Retrieve data from a server.
POST: Send data to a server to create a new resource.
PUT: Update an existing resource on a server.
DELETE: Remove a resource from a server.
APIs commonly use data formats like JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) or XML (eXtensible Markup Language) to structure data exchanged between systems.
APIs often require authentication (verifying the identity of the client) and authorization (ensuring the client has permission to access certain resources). This can be managed through API keys, OAuth tokens, or other security measures.
APIs are often versioned to ensure former versions of the API work as it is further developed. This allows developers to continue using older versions while the API is updated or expanded.
Documentation is crucial. A well-documented API provides clear instructions on how to use the API, including details about available endpoints, request/response formats, and any required parameters.
Types of APIs, their advantages and limitations
APIs come in several types, each serving different purposes and offering specific benefits. Each type of API enhances the functionality, efficiency, and user experience of digital services in different ways.
REST APIs are the most common. They use the standard web protocol (HTTP) to allow different software applications to communicate easily, making them great for web and mobile apps.
SOAP APIs are more rigid and standardized, and they are often used in enterprise settings where security and transaction reliability are crucial.
GraphQL APIs provide more flexibility by allowing clients to request exactly the data they need. This reduces unnecessary data transfer and speeds up apps, which is especially useful for complex applications with varying data needs.
WebSocket APIs enable real-time communication, making them ideal for chat applications, live updates, or gaming.
The term open API (or public API) refers to all APIs available to external developers and businesses. They encourage innovation and collaboration by allowing them to integrate third-party functionalities into their own apps or services. Almost any type of API can be an open API. Most museums create REST APIs thanks to their simplicity and web-based protocols and make them public.
APIs in digital publications
APIs can help digital publications offer a richer, more interactive experience than traditional print publications. They play a crucial role in digital publication by enabling the incorporation of multimedia elements from various sources (such as images, videos, and interactive timelines), maintaining up-to-date research, and creating global accessibility.
Access to databases and archives
APIs are gateways to vast amounts of data, from museum collections and archival materials to scholarly publications and social media content. They allow digital publications to pull data directly from online databases and archives. For example, an art historian writing about a particular artist or movement can use an API to automatically fetch and display relevant images, biographical information, and related works from museum databases or image repositories. This not only saves time but also ensures that the information is up-to-date and accurate.
Interactive visualizations
APIs also enable the creation of interactive visualizations, which are increasingly common in digital art history publications. These can include timelines of an artist’s life, interactive maps showing the geographical spread of an art movement, or network diagrams illustrating connections between artists, patrons, and institutions.
The Georgia O’keeffe Museum, for example, has data visualizations about the artist’s oeuvre online, which allows readers to explore the works she completed concurrently or chart developments across her life.
Art historians can create sophisticated visual representations of their research using an API like D3.js, a powerful JavaScript library for producing dynamic, interactive data visualizations in web browsers. These visualizations can be updated in real time as new data becomes available, providing readers with an engaging and dynamic way to explore complex historical relationships and trends.
Enhanced bibliographies and citations
Another significant benefit of APIs in digital publications is the ability to automate and enhance bibliographies and citations. APIs like CrossRef and ORCID allow for the integration of DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) and author profiles, ensuring that citations are accurate and linked to the most current versions of scholarly works. This is particularly useful in art history, where referencing images, exhibitions, and catalogs can be complex and extensive.
APIs can also be used to cross-reference publications with other databases, ensuring that readers can access related works and trace the scholarly discourse across multiple sources. This interconnectedness fosters a more holistic understanding of art historical research and facilitates further exploration by the reader. Digital art history projects often involve collaboration across disciplines, bringing together experts in art history, computer science, digital design, and more. APIs play a key role in facilitating this collaboration by enabling the integration of diverse tools and platforms.
Increasing research transparency and reproducibility
Ensuring transparency in research is as important in digital publications as it is in traditional publications. APIs contribute to this by enabling the standardized sharing of data and methodologies. For example, by using APIs to access and analyze data, researchers can provide precise documentation of their data sources and analysis methods, making it easier for others to verify and build upon their work. Moreover, APIs can facilitate the sharing of digital research outputs, such as datasets, visualizations, and software tools. This not only enhances the visibility of digital projects but also contributes to the field's overall growth and development.
APIs in museums: enhancing the visitor experience onsite and offsite
Museums have increasingly embraced digital technologies to enhance the visitor experience, both in-person and online. APIs are central to many of these innovations, enabling museums to create more interactive, personalized, and accessible experiences.
Dynamic content delivery
Museums use APIs to deliver dynamic content to visitors’ smartphones, tablets, or interactive kiosks. For example, when a visitor approaches a particular artwork, an API can trigger the display of detailed information about the piece on a screen, including its history, significance, and related works. This can be extended to include multimedia elements such as audio guides, videos, or augmented reality experiences, all of which are powered by APIs that pull data from various museum databases and content management systems that are accessed just in time and without the need to replicate the data.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is a prime example of this. Through its API, the museum offers developers access to its vast collection, enabling the creation of custom apps that enhance the visitor experience. These apps can provide detailed information on artworks, curate personalized tours, and even allow users to explore the collection remotely.
Collection management and research
Museums also use APIs internally for collection management and research. Museums maintain extensive databases of their collections, which include not just images of the artworks but also metadata, provenance records, and conservation history. APIs allow museum staff and researchers to query these databases efficiently, retrieving relevant information without having to search through large volumes of data manually.
Moreover, APIs can facilitate collaboration between museums by enabling the sharing of data across institutions. This is particularly important for exhibitions that involve loans from multiple museums, as it allows for the seamless integration of data, ensuring that all parties have access to the most current and accurate information.
Online exhibitions and virtual tours
Over the past ten years, the number of online exhibitions and virtual tours has drastically increased, and APIs have been instrumental in making these possible. By leveraging APIs, museums can create immersive online experiences that attempt to replicate an in-person visit. These can include virtual walkthroughs of galleries, interactive exhibitions, and access to digitized collections.
The Google Arts & Culture platform uses APIs to aggregate content from museums around the world, allowing users to explore collections, view high-resolution images, and even take virtual tours of famous museums. This expands access to art for those who cannot visit in person and opens up new possibilities for global collaboration and cross-cultural exchange.
APIs open collections, research, and publication to new possibilities and audiences
In the intersection of art history and digital technology, APIs have emerged as effective tools that enable art historians to access, analyze, and share data in innovative ways. From enhancing digital publications and museum experiences to facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration and research transparency, APIs are transforming how art history is studied and communicated.
Understanding APIs is not just a technical skill but a gateway to new possibilities in research, teaching, and public engagement. As the field continues to evolve, those who embrace and master the use of APIs will be at the forefront of digital art history, helping to shape the future of scholarship and engagement.