Conservation of cultural heritage objects is an important component of preserving material heritage, yet it often remains largely invisible for researchers and the wider public. Conservation reports have been an essential part of professional practice, documenting an object’s condition, damages, as well as the detailed description of all conservation interventions (see DIN EN 16095). However such records are often heterogeneous, difficult to compare, and rarely openly accessible (Fischer/Witt 2025). As a result, essential knowledge about an object’s material history or the decision-making processes and efforts behind conservation work remains inaccessible to both scholarly research and public understanding.

This contribution presents an overview of an approach within NFDI4Objects that will provide conservators with a foundation for preparing their data in accordance with good research data management (RDM) practices. In this context ‘infrastructure’ is not primarily understood as software or platform, but rather as conceptual and methodological infrastructure. The approach contains the development of interconnected components like domain-specific controlled vocabularies (Fischer/Mempel-Länger 2025a), a LIDO and CIDOC CRM-aligned metadata schema for structured conservation documentation (Fischer/Mempel-Länger 2025b; Schwenk/Fischer 2025), as well as practical RDM guidelines and training materials. Together, these components enable the creation of standardised conservation data in accordance with the FAIR-Principles, designed to be widely applicable and adaptable for a diverse range of stakeholders (e.g. museums, universities, research institutions). This promotes the connectivity of conservation science within the broader humanities ecosystem, ensuring that conservation data can be meaningfully integrated with related infrastructures and collaborative research networks.

The societal potential becomes evident when standardised conservation data are made openly accessible. Through consistently structured and ambiguous data does it become possible to visualise the “condition biography” of an object across time. Historic alteration, degradation, different conservation interventions, etc. can be presented for example as interactive timeline or visualisations in online museum portals. In this way, conservation, usually undertaken behind closed doors, becomes visible and experientially accessible. It shows conservation as an openly communicated scientific practice, allowing researchers, museum visitors and the wider public to understand the value, rationale and impact of conservation work.

The approach presented here demonstrates how ‘infrastructure of engagement’ can be methodological foundations, enabling sustainable research practices and making cultural heritage tangible for society.

Bibliography

DIN EN 16095 (2012): Erhaltung des kulturellen Erbes - Zustandsaufnahme an beweglichem Kulturerbe.

Kristina Fischer, Lasse Mempel-Länger. (2025b). Aufbau eines Minimalmetadatensatzes für die Konservierung-Restaurierung. SODa Forum am 16.10.2025. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17367214

Gudrun Schwenk, Kristina Fischer. (2025). Der Nutzen von Ontologien für die Konservierungs- und Restaurierungsdokumentation: CIDOC CRM als Brücke zwischen Kulturerbe und digitaler Welt. FORGE 2025 - Daten neu denken (FORGE2025), Rostock. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17178210

Kristina Fischer, Lasse Mempel-Länger. (2025a). Restaurierungswissen digital vernetzen - Von textlichen Dokumentationen zu maschinenlesbaren Begriffen. FORGE 2025 - Daten neu denken (FORGE 2025), Rostock. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17202284

Kristina Fischer, Nathaly Witt. (2025). Zusammenfassung des Status Quo im Forschungsdatenmanagement für den Bereich der Konservierung-Restaurierung (Version v1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17475354