Tutorial: Adding project texts and uploading images

This tutorial is for users who have already created a new project and are ready to begin uploading images.

Adding a text to your project

  • Open your project page and scroll down to the bottom. Click on the “Add project text” link. (You are welcome to add as many project texts as you need to over the course of your project.)
  • Enter the text’s title in whatever language you choose. You can also add the author(s) and a description of the text, although this information is not required.
  • Towards the bottom of the page are two boxes labeled “This text contains copyright materials” and “Do not make this text searchable by search engines”. Check the necessary boxes where appropriate.
    • Checking “This text contains copyright materials” will restrict viewing privileges to members of that particular project. Other users will not be able to view images of the text. However, any original content produced by the project contributors on the basis of those images (transcriptions, translations, commentaries, etc.) will be viewable.
    • Checking “Do not make this text searchable by search engines” will prevent Google and other search engines from indexing your data.
    • Make sure to save your changes by clicking “Save” at the bottom of the page.

Formatting your images

​Before you begin the process of uploading your images, take a few minutes to consider how you would like to format your files, and how they will appear within the Ten Thousand Rooms Text Viewer.

In recognition of the fact that researchers do not always have access to the best images, we do not impose any limits with respect to image quality. However, the image uploader is only able to handle png, gif, jpg, jpeg, jp2, tiff, and tif files up to 256 megabytes in size. Other image formats, including pdf and djvu, cannot be processed.

If you have a file formatted in pdf or another format, you will have to extract the images prior to upload. Fortunately, this is a fairly simple task that

  • Adobe Acrobat users can use the “Export All Images” tool so long as they make sure to maximize image quality. 
  • Mac users can simply download this “PDF Image Extractor,” a standalone application created using the Automator app. Simply download the file, double-click to extract the application, and then drag the pdf file onto the application to extract the images. Your images will be saved to your desktop in .tiff format. (If you would prefer a different format, open the application within Automator and change the settings accordingly.)
  • There are a number of free online resources for extracting images from pdfs, including this site.

Once you have your extracted images, you should consider how you want to label them. The file name for each image will appear alongside it on the project text page, as seen below:

The Ten Thousand Rooms Viewer has an “Image Manipulation” tool that allows you to adjust an image’s rotation, brightness, contrast, saturation, render it in grayscale, or invert it. However, if your images require cropping, you will need to crop them prior to upload.

You should also consider whether you would like your images to appear as single pages (as in the thumbnails above) or as two open-faced pages. If the former, you might need to divide each image into two parts, the left page and the right page.

Finally, the Ten Thousand Rooms platform organizes uploaded images according to user-defined text divisions. The advantage of this approach is that it allows users to browse texts by chapter or pian 篇 or juan 卷 (or some other division) via the chapter navigation side panel, as seen below:

Before you begin to label or upload your images, be sure to think about how your text is organized, and how you would like users to navigate its text divisions.

Uploading images

  • To begin the process of uploading images, access your project text page and then click the edit tab.
  • Scroll down to “Text Divisions,” and click “Add New Node.” 
  • Input the text division title. This is the title that will appear in the chapter navigation side panel pictured above.
  • Once you have defined your text division, there are two ways to upload your files. The “Upload” function allows you to choose files one at a time, while the “Advanced upload” function allows you to drag and drop multiple files at once.
  • Once your files are selected, click “Upload” or “Start Upload.”
  • Repeat as many times as necessary. Once you are finished uploading all of the files for that particular text division, click “Create Node.”
  • You can always go back and add to, delete, or edit a text division by clicking “Edit” next to its name.
  • To add another text division, click “Add New Node.” 
  • When you are finished adding your text divisions, click save at the bottom of the screen. Your uploaded images should now be available in the Ten Thousand Rooms Viewer.