NFDI4Culture – Consortium for research data on material and immaterial cultural heritage

• Subject Area: Humanities ; Construction Engineering and Architecture
• Term: since 2020
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 441958017

Digital data on tangible and intangible cultural assets is an essential part of daily life, communication and experience. It has a lasting influence on the perception of cultural identity as well as on the interactions between research, the cultural economy and society. Throughout the last three decades, many cultural heritage institutions have contributed to a wealth of digital representations of cultural assets (2D digital reproductions of paintings, sheet music, 3D digital models of sculptures, monuments, rooms, buildings), audio-visual data (music, film, stage performances), and procedural research data such as encoding and annotation formats. The long-term preservation and FAIR availability of research data from the cultural heritage domain is fundamentally important, not only for future academic success in the humanities but also for the cultural self-understanding of individuals and society as a whole. Up to now, no coordinated effort for professional research data management on a national level exists. NFDI4Culture aims to fill this gap and create a user-centred, research-driven infrastructure that will cover a broad range of research domains from musicology, art history and architecture to performance, theatre, film, and media studies. The research landscape addressed by the consortium is characterised by strong institutional differentiation. Research units in the consortium's community of interest comprise university institutes, art colleges, academies, galleries, libraries, archives and museums. This diversified landscape is also characterised by an abundance of research objects, methodologies and a great potential for data-driven research. In a unique effort carried out by the applicant and co-applicants of this proposal and ten academic societies, this community of interest is tied together for the first time within a federated approach that is ideally suited to the needs of the involved researchers. Openness for collaboration within the NFDI, sharing of knowledge and technology and continued support for its users have been the guiding principles of the consortium from the beginning and will be at the heart of all workflows and decision-making processes. Through this, NFDI4Culture has gathered strong support ranging from individual researchers up to high-level cultural heritage organisations such as the UNESCO, the International Council of Museums, the Open Knowledge Foundation and Wikimedia. On this basis, NFDI4Culture will take innovative measures that promote a cultural change towards a more reflective and sustainable handling of research data and at the same time boost qualification and professionalisation in data-driven research in the domain of cultural heritage. This will create a long-lasting impact on science, cultural economy and society as a whole.

• DFG Programme: NFDI technical and methodological consortia
• International Connection: Austria, Switzerland
• Applicant Institution: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz
• Co-Applicant Institution: FIZ Karlsruhe; Leibniz-Institut für Informationsinfrastruktur GmbH (FIZ KA); Philipps-Universität Marburg; Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz; Sächsische Landesbibliothek - ; Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden; Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB); Universität Paderborn; Universität zu Köln
• Participating Institution: Bach-Archiv Leipzig; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; Bayerische Staatsbibliothek; Beethoven-Haus; Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften; Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte; Bundesverband Theatersammlungen im deutschsprachigen Raum (TheSiD) e.V.; c/o Deutsches Theatermuseum München; Deutsche Nationalbibliothek; Deutscher Museumsbund e.V.; Deutscher Verband für Kunstgeschichte e.V.; Deutsches Museum (DM); Digital Humanities im deutschsprachigen Raum e.V.; c/o Universität Trier; Professur für Digital Humanities; Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.; Fraunhofer-Institut für Graphische Datenverarbeitung (IGD); Freie Universität Berlin; Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; Germanisches Nationalmuseum (GNM); Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft e.V. (GfM); c/o Prof. Dr. Jiré Emine Gözen; University of Europe for Applied Sciences; Gesellschaft für Musikforschung; Gesellschaft für Tanzforschung; Gesellschaft für Theaterwissenschaft e.V.; Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main; Herder-Institut für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung; Institut der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft (HI); Hochschule Konstanz ; Technik, Wirtschaft und Gestaltung (HTWG), since 6/2024; Hochschule Mainz; Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover; Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, since 2/2022; ICOM Deutschland e. V.; Interessengemeinschaft für semantische Datenverarbeitung e.V., since 4/2023; International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres; Ländergruppe Deutschland e.V.; c/o Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg; Internationales Quellenlexikon der Musik (RISM); Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz; Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz - Max-Planck-Institut; Leibniz-Institut für Europäische Geschichte (IEG), since 6/2022; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg; Max Weber Stiftung - ; Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche Institute im Ausland, since 12/2022; Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V. (MPG); Museum für Naturkunde; Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung (MfN); Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM); RISM Arbeitsgruppe Deutschland e.V.; c/o Bayerische Staatsbibliothek; Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn; Stadt Köln; Stiftung Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv; Stiftung Universität Hildesheim; Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, since 3/2023; Technische Universität Dresden, since 6/2022; Universität Leipzig; Universität Münster, since 6/2024; Universität Trier, since 3/2023; Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK); Vereinigung der Denkmalfachämter in den Ländern (VDL); c/o Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen; Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte; Zentrum Bundesrepublik Deutschland des ; Internationalen Theaterinstituts e.V.; Zentrum für Kunst und Medien (ZKM); documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH; prometheus-Bildarchiv; c/o Kunsthistorisches Institut der Universität zu Köln
• Spokesperson: Professor Torsten Schrade
• Co-Spokespersons: Reinhard Altenhöner; Professorin Dr. Ina Blümel; Professorin Dr. Franziska Boehm; Dr. Jens Bove; Dr. Christian Bracht; Dr. Lisa Dieckmann; Dr. Maria Effinger; Professor Dr. Malte Hagener; Professor Dr. Andreas Münzmay; Daniel Röwenstrunk; Professor Dr. Harald Sack; Professorin Dr. Barbara Wiermann
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Christian Czychowski, since 10/2020; Professorin Dr. Mariama Diagne, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Professor Dr. Hans van Ess, since 10/2020; Paul Tillmann Haas, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Professor Dr. Markus Hilgert, since 10/2020; Professorin Dr. Kathrin Kirsch, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Professorin Dr. Katja Knaus, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Dominik Leipold, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Professorin Dr. Alexandra N. Lenz, since 10/2020; Professor Dr. Norbert Palz, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Professorin Dr. Mara Pinardi, since 3/2023; Professor Dr. Bernd Redmann, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Dr. Georg Schelbert, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Professorin Dr. Dörte Schmidt, since 10/2020; Professor Dr. Christof Schöch, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Dr. Christiane Sibille, since 10/2020; Professor Dr. Holger Simon, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Professor Dr. Wolfgang Sonne, since 3/2023; Regine Stein, since 11/2023; Professor Dr. Sven Stollfuß, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Professorin Dr. Anna Tuschling, from 10/2020 until 9/2023; Dr. Thomas Welter, from 9/2021 until 3/2023; Professorin Dr. Ulrike Wuttke, from 10/2020 until 9/2023