Workshop Brief Report | 17. May 2024
Multidisciplinary Use Case between MaRDI, NFDI-MatWerk and NFDI4Culture
By Dr. Jonatan Jalle Steller , Prof. Torsten Schrade and Dipl. Des. (FH) Sarah Pittroff, M. A.
Stoedtner, Franz (Lichtbildverlag): Das linke Bild zeigt das Material vor der Behandlung mit dem Sandstrahlgebläse, das rechte Bild nach derselben, wobei die weicheren Teile entfernt wurden; Schmirgelscheiben, 1900/1940
"Technikgeschichte | Stoffkunde und Materialprüfung | Stoffkunde | Baustoffkunde | Stein, einschl. Kunststein und Zement" Creator: Stoedtner, Franz (Lichtbildverlag), 1900/1940, Owner: Deutsche Fotothek / Stoedtner, Franz (Lichtbildverlag)
What do materials science, mathematics and the humanities have in common? Within the NFDI, they speak one language: data.
Each discipline has developed very specific methods for generating, classifying and analysing data. The three NFDI consortia MaRDI, NFDI-MatWerk and NFDI4Culture found it to be very promising to compare, combining and learn from each others methods. How this attempt could be achieved is part of the question posed by an interdisciplinary series of workshops that began online in December 2023 and led to an initial kick-off at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics (ITWM) in Kaiserslautern on 17 May 2024.
Search for links between subject-specific knowledge graphs that generate added research value
Searching for research value-added connections between subject-specific knowledge graphsHow do mathematical algorithms, material science taxonomies and research data on material and immaterial cultural assets come together? In insightful presentations, the semantic modelling of mathematical descriptions and algorithms, notated music, art historical metadata and material science taxonomies quickly became apparent. This can result in real added value for researchers if, for example, the results of searches for certain cultural-historical research data also contain algorithmic procedures and associated analysis programmes, or if highly precise material science taxonomies in conjunction with art historical thesauri allow a richer description of historical artefacts. These are just two possible concepts for the mutual integration and further development of knowledge graphs that are emerging in the NFDI consortia.
Method of cooperation as a result worthy of imitation
The application of mathematical workflowsheets to processes in humanities research is an a priori method that the group will hold on to for imitation. The interdisciplinary opening of research processes without reservations is a result of the trusting collaboration within the NFDI and all participants agree that the vision of cultural change can be realised for everyone in such collaborations.
Next Steps
In a follow-up in autumn 2024, the group will meet again to develop a concrete use case as an MVP. The results from this use case will then be published so that they can be presented to the research community for discussion.
(This text was written in German and translated using AI.)