One Template to Rule Them All
Interactive Research Data Documentation with Quarto
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- Authors: Moritz Mähr, Moritz Twente
- Title: One Template to Rule Them All: Interactive Research Data Documentation with Quarto
- Journal: Anthology of Computers and the Humanities, Volume 2, 2025, pp. 54-67
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.63744/X90VnKkYV5Hb
- License: CC BY 4.0
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Anthology of Computers and the Humanities, Vol. 2
One Template to Rule Them All: Interactive Research
Data Documentation with Quarto
Moritz Mähr1,2 , and Moritz Twente1
1
University of Basel, Switzerland
2
University of Bern, Switzerland
Abstract
This paper introduces the Open Research Data Template, a modular, Quarto-based framework
developed to enhance the documentation, publication, and reuse of research data in the Digi-
tal Humanities. Originating from the Stadt.Geschichte.Basel project, the template addresses
common challenges in research data management (RDM), such as poor documentation of data
preprocessing and reuse pathways, by integrating narrative, metadata, and executable code
into interactive, version-controlled websites. Built on The Turing Way guidelines and leverag-
ing GitHub for collaboration and Zenodo for archival DOIs, the template enables automated
deployment, consistent repository structure, and living, reproducible documentation. Through
diverse use cases, including project documentation, reproducible workflows, conference and
teaching platforms, and living handbooks, the paper demonstrates the template’s flexibility
and scalability. The authors argue that making robust, interactive documentation a default
practice lowers technical barriers, improves sustainability, and fosters genuinely open and
reusable research outputs. The widespread adoption of the template illustrates its value as a
practical model for elevating open data standards and supporting the evolving needs of the
Digital Humanities community.
Keywords: open research data, documentation, reproducibility, Digital Humanities, Quarto,
static sites, research data management, GitHub, Zenodo
1 Introduction and Project Background
The large-scale research project Stadt.Geschichte.Basel at the University of Basel (2017–2026)
aims to present Basel’s history through a ten-volume book series, a digital portal, and a dedicated
research data platform [6]. As Team for Research Data Management and Public History, we were
tasked with managing a vast range of historical research data produced by over fifty authors work-
ing on the book series. From collection and organization to long-term preservation and public dis-
semination, we worked with images and figures, maps and geodata, tabular data and bibliographic
references provided by the authors or compiled by ourselves. The project mission and goals as
defined by the Canton of Basel-Stadt and the Foundation Stadt.Geschichte.Basel placed emphasis
on robust research data management (RDM) and continuous public engagement. We created an
online documentation website [10] to make our work on Basel’s historical data publicly accessi-
ble, ensuring the project maintained continuous public visibility and dialogue with future users
even during development. Key RDM work packages included securing the project’s diverse data
(spanning images, maps, figures, tabular data, geodata, etc.) and developing interactive showcases
for data presentation. We decided that adhering to FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Inter-
operable, Reusable) was critical for reproducibility [20], especially since historical scholarship to
date lacks well-established discipline-specific RDM guidelines [7; 13]. We also adopted minimal
Moritz Mähr, and Moritz Twente. “One Template to Rule Them All: Interactive Research Data Documentation with
Quarto.” In: Digital Humanities Tech Symposium 2025, ed. by Julia Damerow and Rebecca Sutton Koeser. Vol. 2.
Anthology of Computers and the Humanities. 2025, 54–67. https://doi.org/10.63744/X90VnKkYV5Hb.
© 2025 by the authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
54
computing tools like CollectionBuilder for digital collections, working with GLAM institutions to
translate research data into formats accessible to the public [12]. This comprehensive approach to
RDM in a public history context underscored the need for better workflows to document not just
the data, but also the processes and decisions behind the data [3].
2 Developing an Open Research Data Template
To implement best practices across the research data lifecycle, we developed the Open Research
Data Template [12]—a modular, GitHub-based framework designed to streamline the publication,
documentation, and reuse of open research data.1 The motivation arose from a common challenge:
even as more datasets are shared openly, the preprocessing steps, methodological decisions, and
potential pathways for reuse are often poorly documented, rendering much “open data” difficult to
actually reuse. Our template directly addresses this gap by enabling researchers (and our team) to
package data with its context and code, not in isolation.
2.1 Design Principles and Technologies
The template is explicitly built around the guidelines from The Turing Way [15] to ensure that data
and documentation are maximally reusable. Central to the approach is Quarto, an open-source
publishing system designed for reproducible research. Quarto is the language-agnostic successor
to RMarkdown and is built on Pandoc, extending it with native support for literate programming
across multiple languages. Authors write in plain text (.qmd files) combining Markdown, YAML
metadata, and optional executable code cells. At render time, Quarto executes these cells and
weaves narrative, code, and output into multiple formats (such as HTML websites, PDFs, Word
documents, or slides) from a single source.
Quarto’s key advantage is its ability to embed and execute code chunks from Python, R, Julia,
or JavaScript (Observable) within the same document. This keeps narrative text, data analysis,
and visualizations in sync and reproducible. Compared with alternatives like Jupyter Book or Mk-
Docs, Quarto is lightweight, easier to configure for researchers, and designed for scholarly publish-
ing, with built-in support for citations, cross-references, figure numbering, and multi-format out-
put. Specifically, the multi-language interoperability and automated rendering features are heavily
leveraged in our template to turn static documentation into interactive, living resources.
We leveraged GitHub as both the development platform and the publishing infrastructure.2
Each project’s repository can be based on the template, benefiting from automated version control
and collaboration. GitHub Actions (continuous integration workflows) handle routine tasks such
as building the site, running tests (e.g., linting, validating links, generating changelogs, etc.), and
deploying updates to GitHub Pages for hosting. This means that when contributors push changes
(for example, updating a dataset or its analysis code), the website regenerates automatically, ensur-
ing the latest information is always live without manual intervention. The template also integrates
with Zenodo for long-term archiving: whenever a project using the template is ready to publish
1
The template has evolved through several distinct phases. The project’s foundation was established in early 2023
with the creation of the initial template, core documentation and Zenodo integration for archiving purposes. This was
followed by a phase of enhancements focusing on bug fixes, improving user instructions and managing dependency
updates. From late 2023 to mid-2024, the project underwent a period of major evolution, including renaming, adopting
a dual AGPL-3.0 and CC BY 4.0 licence, and switching to Quarto as the primary documentation system. In early 2025,
DevOps processes were improved with enhanced GitHub Actions workflows for automated linting and deployment.
Most recently, in mid-2025, a modern development phase introduced DevContainer support and GitHub Codespaces
integration to streamline the development environment. The template is now stable, with a v1.0.0 release planned for
the fourth quarter of 2025.
2
A migration to GitLab is technically feasible. Core repository data (files, history, issues, wikis) can be im-
ported with low effort, but continuous integration workflows require a full rewrite of GitHub Actions into GitLab’s
.gitlab-ci.yml. Dependency updates, security scanning, and GitHub Pages equivalents also need reconfiguration.
55
Figure 1: Setup and structure of the Open Research Data Template repository, demonstrating
how to create a new repository, open it in a codespace, follow the setup checklist, and explore the
repository contents.
a snapshot (for instance, alongside a paper or at a project milestone), a Zenodo deposit can be
generated, minting a DOI for that version. This guarantees both accessibility and citability for
the materials, as datasets and documentation snapshots receive persistent identifiers. By combin-
ing static webpages with archival DOIs, the template bridges the gap between ephemeral project
websites and permanent scholarly records.
A key innovation of our approach is treating documentation as a living, executable environ-
ment rather than a static afterthought. Traditionally, projects might release data as supplementary
files and methods as PDF documentation, but our template merges static metadata, narrative de-
scriptions, and executable code into a single integrated and interactive website. This ensures that
data, methods, and results remain interconnected and in context [14]. Anyone revisiting the project
can not only read about what was done but also see (and run) the actual code that produced the re-
sults, all within the documentation. This transparency lowers barriers to reuse: a future researcher
can reproduce or adapt the workflow in their environment, confident that nothing is lost in trans-
lation. In essence, the template turns what would be static data archives into “living, extensible
resources,” continuously usable and updatable beyond the original project.
2.2 Features and Best Practices
The Open Research Data Template comes with a set of best practices built in. It enforces a stan-
dardized, logical repository structure for organizing data, code, and content, building on The Turing
Way handbook on reproducible research [15]. Key features include:
Executable Narratives. Authors can create documents that directly incorporate code outputs (ta-
bles, plots, maps, etc.) into the narrative. Quarto’s support for Jupyter and other kernels means the
documentation itself can regenerate analyses if data or parameters change. This ensures that anal-
ysis results and figures are always in sync with the latest data and code, exemplifying reproducible
research practices.
Automated Deployment and Testing. By using continuous integration, the template reduces the
technical overhead for researchers. For example, when writing documentation in markdown or
Jupyter notebooks, authors simply commit their work; the template’s GitHub Actions workflows
56
then automatically runs any code (in a controlled environment), builds the static site, checks for
issues, and publishes it. This encourages frequent updates and iterative improvement without re-
quiring web development expertise.
Integrated Archiving with DOI. The template streamlines the process of archiving each release
of a project. After connecting Zenodo with GitHub during template initialization, a release triggers
the Zenodo integration to archive the full repository (data, code, and site content) and issue a DOI.
The live site can prominently display these DOIs, signaling to visitors that they can cite a specific
version or access an immutable copy for reference. This was crucial for us in an evolving long-
term project, as it provides snapshots for future historians to cite, even as the live documentation
continues to evolve.
Scalability and Consistency. Because the template is a reusable scaffold, it brings consistency
across projects. Every project site built with it has a similar navigation and structure (with sections
for data, documentation, references, etc.), lowering the learning curve for users. It also makes it
easier to onboard new team members or external collaborators to the project’s workflow. As we and
others have applied the template, we have benefited from community feedback and contributions
(via GitHub) that continue to refine the template’s core. The result is a scalable solution that can
fit small one-off studies as well as large, multi-year collaborative projects.
By adhering to these principles and features, the template provides a practical model for elevating
the standard of open data publication in the Digital Humanities. It helps researchers move beyond
minimal compliance with open data mandates (i.e., just uploading files to a repository) toward cre-
ating genuinely reusable and transparent research outputs [4]. In the next section, we discuss how
deploying this template across diverse use cases has improved it and demonstrated its versatility.
3 Applications and Continuous Improvement Across Use Cases
After developing the Open Research Data Template for our own needs in Stadt.Geschichte.Basel,
we adopted it in a variety of other contexts. Each deployment provided an opportunity to test the
template’s flexibility and to refine features for broader applicability. Below, we describe several
use cases—ranging from documentation portals and research repositories to teaching materials
and digital publications—highlighting the functionality enabled by the template and the specific
purposes each served.
3.1 Project Documentation
At the Stadt.Geschichte.Basel project, we needed a place for documenting our work related to
research data management and public history in addition to the preexisting public history portal
and research data platform that focus on the project content and data itself. To have a repository
for archiving our products and showing them to our peers, including more technical aspects of
the project, we used the template to create a documentation platform [10]. The site thus serves
as an evolving record of how we handle data and digital outputs within the project and how we
discuss it with our scientific peers. It includes sections on data creation, annotation, publication,
and reuse, as well as our efforts in preparing historical content for digital presentation. For instance,
we showcase how our project’s research data platform came to be, including documentation of our
data model and the results of web design performance audits. While our code itself is still available
on GitHub, the documentation platform serves as an enhanced repository where design choices and
programming workflows can be explained in detail. By using our Quarto template, we could also
provide interactive and multiformat versions of our products to make it easier to grasp their main
features, rendering them easily reusable in other projects. During the project, our team participated
in numerous presentations and publications discussing our work within the academic community.
57
Figure 2: Website of Stadt.Geschichte.Basel RDM presenting the team’s work on research data
management, public history, and examples of good-practice products such as guides, workflows,
and talks.
Each talk, paper, poster, etc. is also archived on this platform: abstracts, slides, and literature
references are made available in one place, enabling cross-referencing in the future, with long-
term access ensured by integrating Zenodo in our documentation workflow, including registered
DOIs and external file storage.
For the Stadt.Geschichte.Basel project, we created a research data platform [6] to provide
project-related, annotated research data, including dozens of scientific illustrations created with
ggplot2 in R. The plots are made available on this platform, but we wanted to ensure access to the
underlying R code as well. We could have uploaded the R code to the platform, but we did not want
to push our less tech-savvy main audience (historians) away with uncontextualized source code,
and we wanted the code to be 100% reproducible. To publish the plots including a reproducible
workflow—from raw data to a PDF export of each plot—we created the sgb-figures GitHub repos-
itory [18] with our template. This repository provides a reproducible environment with raw data
and scripts for processing, plotting, annotating, and exporting the available illustrations. Each plot
is linked from our research data platform. With the publication of our data and workflow, we made
it possible for interested users to tweak parameters, add data, or reuse our dataset for other analyses.
3.2 Reproducible Workflows
A similar example is a repository containing voting data of members of the Danish Parliament,
Folketing. The dataset itself is published in the GitHub repository nordatlantisk-ft [17], including
the workflow to scrape the voting data from Folketinget’s API, to combine different variables into
one dataset, and to create a few exploratory visualizations. Using the template, we structured
the repository according to best practices following an advanced structure recommended by The
Turing Way [15], with a clear folder structure for raw data, processed data, analysis scripts, and
documentation, including a codebook for all variables. The site also integrates external resources
like a Zotero bibliography of relevant sources, which demonstrates how contextual information
can be linked to the dataset. The template’s flexibility allows for including a short descriptive
report on the data with self-updating, interactive plots as an integral part of the site, providing an
initial overview of the data without delving into the data structure itself. The GitHub repository
58
Figure 3: Landing page of the sgb-figures repository, presenting code, data, and documentation
for creating plots used in the Stadt.Geschichte.Basel research project.
Figure 4: Data description page of the nordatlantisk-ft project, presenting an overview of the
dataset on North Atlantic MPs in the Danish parliament, including data sources and contextual
information.
enables users to rerun the data scraping workflow themselves by making use of both R and GitHub
features such as reproducible environments with R targets and Codespaces. Using GitHub Actions,
the dataset can be updated at fixed time intervals, including uploads to Zenodo, without the need
for manual intervention. By encapsulating this in the template, such maintenance tasks become
standardized across projects.
Even for projects that do not consist of one executable workflow, the template is useful for
documenting what steps were taken to compile the research data to be published. Quarto’s multi-
language capabilities make it possible to document processing steps in written text, and, using
flowcharts, also in a visually appealing way. Take the data repository maxvogt-analysis [19] for
59
Figure 5: Workflow diagram of the maxvogt-analysis project, showing data sources, software
tools, data storage, and resulting outputs.
example. In this project, spatial data and design attributes of railway station architecture in Switzer-
land were collected to conduct a study in urban design history. While photographs were archived
on Wikimedia Commons, a separate location was needed to also store about fifty geojson files to
provide results of urban morphology analyses. Using the Quarto template, it was not only possible
to check the geodata into version control, but also to provide documentation on the data source
and workflow in Markdown. A notable use of the template here was embedding a Mermaid.js
diagram outlining the analysis workflow from data collection to analysis steps directly in the doc-
umentation. This diagram offers a quick visual understanding of how the research was conducted,
complementing the textual description. By hosting the data and the Python analysis code together,
the site becomes a one-stop resource for others interested in this approach to spatial analysis of
architectural history. They can see the exact steps taken, map outputs, and even use the geodata in
GIS or for interactive online maps using Leaflet.js.
The possibility to add multimedia content to the research data documentation is also part of
the project Modelling Marti [16], in which topic modeling was applied to newspaper articles by
Hans Marti, a pioneer of spatial planning in Switzerland. While the GitHub repository behind the
Quarto website again stores the harvested data consisting of segmented text in txt and csv files,
including metadata, it allows for a publication focused on narrative elements and context as well.
The site reads like an extended article: It lays out the research questions, methods (article scrap-
ing, data cleaning, topic modeling), and the results with exploratory charts and tables. However,
unlike a traditional paper, it includes the underlying code for topic modeling or word frequency
analysis inline using R, which readers can inspect or even replicate with tweaked parameters. By
employing the template, we turned what could have been a static PDF into an interactive publi-
cation. Interactive maps using Leaflet.js and historic photographs embedded from ETH Zürich’s
e-pics catalogue enhance the reading experience by turning the data repository into a narrative,
data-driven publication. It also serves as a proof of concept that academic publications in history
can be made more transparent and reproducible without sacrificing narrative clarity.
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Figure 6: Overview page of the modelling-marti project, presenting planning projects by Hans
Marti and his office, including a map of their geographic distribution.
3.3 Conference and Teaching Platforms
The Open Research Data Template has proven useful beyond traditional research data documen-
tation, notably in academic event and course contexts. We deployed the template for the Digital
History Switzerland 2024 conference [2]. Here, the template was used to publish the book of
abstracts [1] as an interactive digital publication. Each abstract is a short, citable publication with
references, some accompanied by dynamically generated visualizations. The site not only pro-
vided information to conference attendees but now also serves as a preserved record of the event,
with DOIs ensuring each abstract is citable and archived using Zenodo. By utilizing our template,
we ensured that the process of compiling, formatting, and publishing the abstracts was largely au-
tomated and consistent, enabling researchers unfamiliar with Quarto and markdown to contribute
to the book of abstracts. Thanks to the template, we are also independent of the university’s confer-
ence management tools, which are not designed to be a long-term archivable resource. Presenters
submitted their abstracts (some with code snippets, bibliography files, or data links) as Markdown,
which we integrated into the Quarto-based site. The inclusion of executable snippets allowed pre-
senters in computational history to share live examples alongside their abstract text, something not
possible in a static PDF. This use case demonstrated that the template can handle multi-author con-
tent and still maintain overall cohesion and quality control via versioning and automated checks.
In a different vein, the Digital Humanities Bern (DH Bern) website [5] was created with
the template to serve as a hub for the University of Bern’s DH projects and activities. Unlike the
focused research cases above, this website aggregates various content types: blog posts, project
descriptions, and event announcements. The template’s flexibility allowed us to support all these
content types within one site. For example, the portal features an events calendar, and a blog where
each post can include interactive elements (one post visualized the timeline of DH projects at the
university using an embedded chart). By building the site on the template, the DH Bern team
benefits from the same maintainability—any content update triggers a site rebuild, and the site’s
static hosting means it is low maintenance. In addition, the portal harmonizes multiple projects
and methodologies in a single framework. For instance, if one project is an online database and
another is a mapping tool, their documentation on the portal can both use interactive code cells
to show usage examples, providing a unified user experience. The success of this portal indicates
61
Figure 7: Landing page of the DigiHistCH24 conference, introducing the theme “Historical Re-
search, Digital Literacy and Algorithmic Criticism” and inviting participation.
Figure 8: Blog and events page of the Digital Humanities department at the University of Bern,
featuring news updates and upcoming events.
that our template can double as a general-purpose static site generator for academic groups, not
just data-specific projects.
We also created a course website for Decoding Inequality [8], a university course by Rachel
Huber and Moritz Mähr taught at the University of Bern for Digital Humanities students in 2025,
using the template. This site hosted lecture notes, datasets for student exercises, and an interactive
bibliography on machine learning and social inequality. Moreover, the contributions of the students
were uploaded as well, turning the site into a collaborative space. The static nature of the deployed
site means that it was reliable and fast for students to access, and although the course ended, it
remains a publicly accessible resource.
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Figure 9: Course description page for Decoding Inequality 2025, outlining the seminar’s critical
approach to machine learning systems and their societal impacts.
3.4 Living Publications and Handbooks
One of the most significant outcomes of our work has been the creation of a “living handbook” on
Non-discriminatory Metadata [9] for historical collections. This handbook, published in 2024
by Moritz Mähr and Noëlle Schnegg, was built using the template and exemplifies how scholarly
documents can remain dynamic. The handbook provides guidelines and case studies on creating
inclusive, non-discriminatory metadata in cultural heritage and research contexts. Because it is
built with our template, it is not a static PDF but a multiformat publication that can continuously
evolve. In fact, it is explicitly intended as a “Living Document” open to continuous community
development. The site allows readers to not only read the guidelines but also see examples of
metadata records, some of which are interactive (e.g., forms or JSON examples that users can
toggle). We included a discussion forum via the GitHub issues integration, inviting feedback or
contributions from librarians, archivists, and others in the community. Notably, we took advantage
of Quarto’s multi-format output capabilities to release the handbook in multiple formats from the
same source: an HTML website, a downloadable PDF, and even a Word document for those who
prefer or require that format. All of these formats are generated automatically, ensuring consistency
between them. The template’s DOI integration was used to archive a version of the handbook on
Zenodo at the time of official release, giving it a citable reference. However, the online version
continues to be updated with new examples and clarifications as the field evolves. This use case
underlines how the template supports sustainability and accessibility: by making the handbook a
static site, it remains accessible long-term (no dependency on a complex database or CMS), and
by archiving versions, we balance the living nature with scholarly referenceability.
Finally, in a meta-turn, we even used the Open Research Data Template to create the presenta-
tion site [11] for this very paper, One Template to Rule Them All. The talk’s slides were prepared
in Quarto, allowing us to generate a Reveal.js HTML slideshow for live presentation and a Power-
Point deck for backup, all from the same content source. This demonstrated that the template (and
Quarto by extension) can easily switch output formats—in this case, from an interactive website to
presentation slides—a boon for efficiency overall. The presentation site itself is hosted on GitHub
Pages, and it includes live examples of the template’s features in action. In using the template for
the talk, we validated its utility in yet another format and identified a few minor improvements,
63
Figure 10: Handbook page for creating non-discriminatory metadata for historical sources and
research data, developed within the Stadt.Geschichte.Basel project.
Figure 11: Landing page of the One Template to Rule Them All project, presenting a framework
for interactive research data documentation with Quarto.
such as better default slide styles, that we are planning to incorporate into the template for future
users. In other words, we ate our own dog food.
Across all these use cases, a pattern emerges: the Open Research Data Template helped make
sound RDM and open science practices easier to implement by packaging them into a reusable
toolkit. Whether it was a large public history project, a standalone dataset publication, a collabo-
rative handbook, or a course website, the template provided a backbone to ensure that the outputs
were accessible, reproducible, and sustainable. Each deployment also fed back into the project.
For example, the need to support multiple output formats became clear with the handbook and
presentation, which led us to refine how the template’s configuration handled HTML, PDF, and
Word generation as well as slides. In this way, continuous use has been a form of continuous
64
development.
3.5 The Template’s Role in Peer-Reviewed Scholarship
A crucial aspect of the Open Research Data Template is its ability to bridge the gap between dy-
namic, web-based project documentation and formal, peer-reviewed academic outputs. The web-
sites and repositories created with the template are not merely informal supplements; they are
integral components of the scholarly record that can complement, facilitate, or even constitute a
form of peer-reviewed publication.
First, the template provides a robust framework for creating citable supplementary material
that vastly exceed the scope of traditional “supplementary information” files. When a researcher
submits a journal article or book chapter based on data analysis, the corresponding template-based
website can be cited directly in the publication using its Zenodo-minted DOI. This allows readers
to move seamlessly from the static argument in the paper to an interactive environment where they
can explore the data, examine the analysis code, and verify the results. This model of publica-
tion enhances transparency and reproducibility, allowing peer reviewers and future researchers to
engage with the work on a much deeper level than a PDF alone would permit.
Second, the template can facilitate a more transparent and rigorous peer-review process. By
sharing a link to the repository with reviewers, authors can provide access to the entire research
workflow. Reviewers can not only assess the final narrative but also inspect the raw data, run the
code in a reproducible environment like a Codespace, and trace the project’s development through
its version history. This open approach transforms peer review from a simple evaluation of a final
product into a more comprehensive audit of the research process itself, aligning with the growing
demand for accountability in computational research.
Finally, projects built with the template can function as standalone scholarly publications in
their own right, challenging traditional publication models. The “living handbook” on Non-discri-
minatory Metadata [9] serves as a prime example. While it was not subjected to a conventional
double-blind peer-review process, its publication on GitHub invites continuous open community
review through the platform’s issues and pull request features. This model treats scholarship as
an ongoing conversation rather than a finished artifact. Furthermore, the template is ideally suited
for producing data and software papers, a growing genre of peer-reviewed articles focused on
describing a scholarly resource. The structured documentation, embedded code, and contextual
narrative generated by the template provide the exact content required for submission to journals
like the Journal of Open Humanities Data. In this context, the template does not just support
a publication; it helps generate its core substance. By formalizing the connection between data,
process, and narrative, the template helps legitimize these essential research outputs as first-class
academic contributions.
4 Conclusion
Our experience with the Stadt.Geschichte.Basel project and the subsequent development of the
Open Research Data Template highlights the value of making robust, interactive documentation
a standard component of research data management. By lowering technical barriers, we made
it as easy as possible for researchers (and ourselves) to follow best practices in open data: the
template abstracts the complexities of web publishing, reproducibility, and archiving into a user-
friendly workflow. This means historians and humanities scholars, who might not be seasoned
programmers, can still produce state-of-the-art research outputs that are transparent and reusable.
In particular, the use of portable, and static-site technology (Quarto + GitHub Pages) contributes
to sustainability (noting that while we do lock into the Microsoft universe by using GitHub as a
platform, we also help cement its place as a de facto marketplace for open source code). Static sites
65
are lightweight, secure (no moving parts on the server), and likely to remain accessible years into
the future with minimal maintenance. They can be archived in repositories like Zenodo, preserving
not just the data but the complete context needed to understand and reuse that data. For some
researchers, the technical details of working with Git and GitHub will still present a challenge.
But in our experience, the template structure is easy to grasp thanks to comprehensive instructions
and an initialization checklist. The use of partly automated workflows, for example during code
review and site deployment, helped Git newcomers in our team to get used to this workflow and
version control in general.
In sum, good interactive documentation is not an added bonus but a fundamental part of making
research data truly open and useful. Our template empowers projects to create “living” documenta-
tion that keeps data, code, and narrative in sync, which we believe is a key ingredient for impactful
and reproducible Digital Humanities research. The positive reception and diverse adoption of the
template across use cases indicate that this approach resonates with the needs of the community.
We argue that initiatives like ours help shift the culture toward treating research outputs as dy-
namic resources to be explored and built upon, rather than static end products. By combining
modern open-source tools and best practices, and by focusing on ease of use, we hope to see more
researchers embrace these methods. Ultimately, making open research data practices easy and
even automatic frees scholars to focus on the content of their research, while ensuring that their
work can endure, be understood, and inspire future work in the years to come.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the audience for their insightful feedback on our presentation at the Digital
Humanities Tech Symposium (DHTech) on July 14, 2025, at NOVA University Lisbon. We are also
grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which greatly improved
the paper. Finally, we would like to extend special thanks to our colleagues in the research data
management and public history team of the Stadt.Geschichte.Basel project for their continuous
support and collaboration.
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