Mission & Goals

NFDI4Objects is aimed at anyone who is professionally or privately involved with the cultural heritage of three million years of human history and who would like to participate in the digital transformation and solutions for research data management. The design of research data in accordance with the FAIR principles is a key concern for us. The aim is to improve the collection, organisation and long-term preservation of research data and make it accessible to other researchers. This allows data to be used multiple times, which improves research and makes it more efficient.

Together, the members of the consortium are working on behalf of our scientific community to establish the National Research Data Infrastructure. The concepts of the data life cycle and object biography form the central basis of our work and provide us with structural guidance. The object biography documents the life story of an object from its manufacture, through its use and owners, to its current whereabouts. It views the object not only as a static item, but as a dynamic part of social and cultural contexts in changing environments, which in archaeology continue with the initial documentation and recovery of objects, systematic cataloguing in collections, and scientific analysis and restoration. Important elements are the storage and integrated publication (linked open data) of data, as well as the teaching of data literacy.