In the humanities, particularly in ethnology and cultural anthropology, research often begins in the field, and its initial materials consist of qualitative data: notes, conversations, photographs, audio recordings, video recordings, and other forms of documentation. Yet the trajectory of these materials has changed significantly after fieldwork. Instead of being transferred to archives or documentation departments, research materials increasingly remain on personal phones, computers, external drives, and commercial cloud services — environments suitable for everyday work, but inadequate for long-term preservation, description, access control, and future availability. Digitization, therefore, reopens rather than resolves the question of research materials: they are born digital but do not automatically become part of a stable, responsibly managed system of scholarly preservation. This need prompted the development of an application conceived as digital support for field documentation and subsequent preservation.

This poster presents a mobile-friendly web application developed within the Croatian national consortium for digital humanities and arts, DARIAH-HR. Designed at the intersection of field research, archival description, and repository-based preservation, the application facilitates field documentation while supporting the creation of records that can later be described, preserved, discovered, and, where appropriate, reused.

Mobile data collection itself is not presented here as an innovation. Established platforms such as Open Data Kit, KoboToolbox, and Omeka S already provide solutions for field data collection, forms, media, and geolocation records, hosting, and reuse. However, humanities field materials often exceed the logic of standardized forms. They are frequently small in scale yet interpretively dense; they emerge in unpredictable situations, are marked by relationships between researchers and interlocutors, and may include multilingual, fragmentary, or ethically sensitive records. The contribution of this solution lies in connecting field documentation, contextual metadata, archival description, and repository preservation preparation within a humanities-oriented workflow.

The project begins from a practical and conceptual problem: how to equip field documentation with basic descriptive and technical metadata at the moment of its creation and prepare it for long-term preservation. Its goal is to reduce the administrative work later on that often delays or prevents the transfer of field materials into institutional systems. More broadly, it asks how fragile, heterogeneous, and potentially sensitive records can be migrated from personal devices to institutional infrastructure without losing their contextual integrity.

The conceptual framework brings together discussions on humanities data, infrastructure, and archival ethics. Borgman emphasizes that research materials acquire meaning within specific scholarly practices and conditions of reuse (2015), while Drucker argues that humanities data are not simply “given,” but produced through observation, selection, and interpretation — capta rather than neutral records (Drucker 2011: 5–11). Situated approaches to digital humanities show that digital work is shaped by workspaces, tools, platforms, communication practices, and institutional collaboration (Oiva / Pawlicka-Deger 2020: 1–3). Studies of archives and infrastructures further show that standards, classifications, invisible labor, and archival decisions shape what will be preserved, described, and made accessible (Star / Ruhleder 1996; Bowker / Star 1999; Ketelaar 2001: 131–136). The application is thus understood as a tool for context-dependent, multilingual, and potentially sensitive records in specific research and institutional settings.

The project is about the gradual development and pilot testing with researchers, archivists, and IT specialists. Results of testing and feedback shaped the application’s functionalities and metadata forms. Testing included scenarios from ethnology and folklore studies: recording interviews or audio fragments, adding photographs, creating textual notes, verifying automatically extracted metadata, and assessing which descriptive fields can realistically be completed on a mobile device. Particular attention was paid to what researchers need while recording, what archivists require for later processing, and what repositories need for discovery, access control, and reuse.

In its current version, the application allows users to upload existing files or record photographs, audio files, short videos, and textual notes directly. Once a file is added, the system extracts basic technical metadata, such as creation date and, where available, geolocation data, which are then used to prepopulate the form. Users with repository access can add descriptive information such as material type, project title, institution, and keywords. The pilot is currently being tested within the INDIGO platform environment, while further alignment with the Croatian national repository infrastructure DABAR is planned.

Because this workflow involves potentially sensitive ethnographic and cultural materials, sensitivity is not understood solely as a matter of technical security. It also includes graduated access, contextual description, decisions about visibility, responsibility toward interlocutors, and institutional stewardship. In a repository environment, authentication, role-based editing, local access policies, embargoes, restricted visibility, and publication decisions can be applied before wider dissemination.

The workflow we are proposing here is not intended as a replacement for existing mobile data collection platforms, but as a prototype developed for the specific needs of humanities research. Its core value lies in connecting field practice, archival stewardship, and long-term institutional preservation. The poster presents the application interface and workflow, the metadata model, screenshots, and possible use scenarios in libraries, archives, museums, and research projects.