Digital Humanities (DH) research requires interoperable, semantically structured data to enable sustainable and computational analysis. Especially in contexts shaped by AI, the modelling of cultural heritage and collection data determines how knowledge can be connected, interpreted, and reused across institutions.

This half-day workshop introduces ontology-based modelling as a method for linking heterogeneous collections. Developed within the German SODa initiative, it addresses the creation of FAIR, cross-institutional research data infrastructures. The workshop is based on WissKI (Scientific Communication Infrastructure), an open-source environment that supports RDF-based modelling and Linked Open Data (LOD) publication using standards such as CIDOC CRM.

Participants work through the full workflow—from domain analysis and conceptual modelling to implementing graph-based structures in WissKI. In hands-on exercises with tools such as Protégé and the WissKI Pathbuilder, they translate domain knowledge into formal, machine-readable representations.

By presenting semantic modelling as both a technical and scholarly practice, the workshop highlights how modelling decisions shape research outcomes. It empowers researchers and collection professionals to build transparent, interoperable data structures that extend beyond institutional and national boundaries.