National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) Task Area 4 NFDI4Culture

Since October 2020, arthistoricum.net has been part of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The NFDI4Culture consortium is dedicated to research data related to tangible and intangible cultural assets. Task Area 4, “Data Publication and Data Availability,” is jointly managed by Heidelberg University Library and SLUB Dresden as co-applicants. In addition, there is close cooperation with FIZ Karlsruhe, which contributes its expertise as a service provider in the field of sustainable information infrastructure.

The specialist information services, with their long-standing and close ties to their respective academic communities, are strong partners in the sustainable development of services tailored to these communities, to be established within the framework of NFDI4Culture. 

A central element is the establishment of an expert forum on “data publication and data archiving”. With a focus on complex data types, the forum aims to ensure active participation from the user community and professional associations, a needs-based orientation of the planned measures, and effective networking within NFDI4Culture. Additionally, the creation of an advisory agency is planned to support both researchers and infrastructure providers in publishing complex data types in accordance with the FAIR principles. Other proposed measures include the development of subject-specific and reusable reference implementations for research data repositories, as well as the integration of relevant publication and long-term archiving (LTA) services into the NFDI4Culture infrastructure. The overarching goal is to align all relevant services with minimum requirements for applicable standards and interoperability, in close collaboration with their respective operators.

Fields of Action of Task Area 4 “Data Publication and Data Availability”

Forum "Data Publication and Data Archiving" (M1)

• Establishment and Operation of the Forum: Conduct surveys to evaluate services, gather expert knowledge, and organize workshops to develop new measures and features.

Advisory Agency for Data Publication and Data Archiving (M2)

• Establishment and Operation of the Advisory Agency: Specialist advisory service for researchers in all phases of the publication process and on issues related to the long-term archiving (LTA) of research data; development of handouts.

Ensuring the Availability of Central Publication and Long-Term Archiving Services for NFDI4Culture (M3)

• Conduct gap analyses, develop a needs-based catalogue of requirements, and identify appropriate publishing tools and services.
• Provide reusable reference implementations for key data management and publication services, with a particular focus on interoperability and the use of controlled vocabularies.
• Certify publication and LTA services, including CoreTrustSeal certification for central repositories.

Elaboration of LTA Procedures and Development of Needs-Based Business and Operating Models (M4)

• Development of procedures for LTA of complex data types at both national and international levels, and creation of prototype implementations for multimedia, networked, and versioned publications, 3D objects, and annotated A/V materials.
• Development of demand-driven business models and creation of operating and cost models with the aim of establishing a uniform calculation basis for providing subject-specific LTA services.