Trans-consortial Case Study “Windows on Data”
The vision of “One NFDI” requires that highly heterogeneous research data be interoperable across discipline boundaries. A trans-consortial working group is addressing this challenge in the case study “Windows on Data”, using research data related to colored church windows from the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA). In addition to the art-historical cataloguing of stained glass in the CVMA, which is part of the consortium NFDI4Culture, this also involves object biographies, building research, and issues of conservation and restoration in the scope of NFDI4Objects; mathematical methods and statistical analyses from MaRDI; architectural and building research in NFDI4ING; and materials science perspectives in from MatWerk. The research data span imaging, measurement, and conservation records, as well as semantic annotations and computational models.
In recent years, the group has examined the CVMA data from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. In a workshop titled “Glass and Data – Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Historical Materials”, the consortia NFDI4Culture, MaRDI, and MatWerk explored how cultural heritage, materials science, and mathematics can collaborate on a shared application case. Since early 2024, CVMA Freiburg and Task Area 6 in NFDI4Objects have been developing an object biography as an application case for the NFDI4Objects object ontology.
In August of 2025, DAPHNE, MaRDI, NFDI4Culture, NFDI4ING, and NFDI4Objects presented the interdisciplinary use case at the Conference on Research Data Infrastructure (CoRDI) in Aachen under the title “Windows on Data”. In September, an autumn school on “Modern Stained Glass – Metadata – AI” took place in Münster, focusing on the urgent need for rapid cataloguing of stained-glass artworks threatened by destruction. This event provided an opportunity to present the potential of object biographies within NFDI4Objects, as well as the recommendation of the Minimal Data Set Working Group (AG Minimaldatensatz).
In October 2025, “Windows on Data” was discussed as a cross-consortial topic between MaRDI and NFDI4Objects in the DiHMA Lab “Objects and Methods” (doi). In November, the case study was presented at the Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technology (CHNT30) in Vienna.
During a workshop in early December 2025, the participants agreed to continue the case study and joint work on bringing together the many perspectives. The aim is to strengthen collaboration and deepen the networking among all contributors. This collaborative effort stands as a best-practice example of the vision behind ‘One NFDI,’ demonstrating how shared challenges can be addressed more effectively through coordinated, cross-consortial expertise.
A. Noback