Workshop: The object biography as a tool for digital provenance research
The digital transformation is fundamentally changing the humanities and cultural studies – particularly in terms of how collection, object and provenance data are handled. The workshop will explore how the material legacies of human and environmental history can be documented and researched in a sustainable, interoperable and scientifically compatible manner.
The focus is on the NFDI4Objects initiative, which develops interdisciplinary standards and infrastructures for research data. The data lifecycle and the object biography form central concepts here. Whilst the data lifecycle describes established processes of research data management, the object biography understands objects as dynamic nodes of events, actors, places and meanings.
There is also a particular focus on digital provenance research. Digital methods and semantic data models make it possible to document object histories, changes of ownership and collection contexts in a traceable manner, and to reveal complex relationships between objects, people and institutions.
The workshop presents the data model for object biographies developed in Task Area 6 and discusses the potential, challenges and practical applications of digital data modelling for collections and cultural heritage. The aim is to drive forward further development in a targeted manner based on the needs of digital provenance research.
Speakers: Sarah Wagner (FAU) and Anja Gerber (KSW)
Conditions of participation:
Due to its participatory nature, the workshop has a very limited number of places. Participants should have expertise in digital provenance research and data modelling and bring their own use cases, which will be used to evaluate the data model in breakout sessions.
Date and venue: The workshop will take place online in early October.
Registration: We require a letter of motivation in which you briefly describe your experience in the fields of digital provenance research and data modelling. Please also mention which use cases you would bring to the workshop. Please email your letter of motivation by 15 September 2026 to anja.gerber@klassik-stiftung.de and sarah.wagner@fau.de.
End of Registration: 31. August 2026