In April 2026, the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (FWO) awarded funding for the development (2026-2029) of the innovative research infrastructure M-PATCH. Multidisciplinary Platform for Annotating Textual Corpora and Histories - A Reusable Modular Framework for Tracking Patterns and Change in the Living Material Record of Historical Texts Through Linked Data.
M-PATCH is a reusable digital infrastructure for the multidisciplinary annotation of historical texts in all their material manifestations. By combining IIIF manifests, semi-automatic transcriptions, and interlinked rich historical, linguistic, literary, and material annotations in a Linked Data environment, M-PATCH allows researchers to investigate how texts evolve over the course of their material lifecycle, thereby operationalizing the concepts of textual fluidity and plurality. Its modular design enables collaboration across disciplines by linking annotation platforms, unlocking large quantities of data that were previously siloed or inaccessible.
Although it will be tested on a prototype corpus of medieval Latin hagiographies, M-PATCH is intended to be applicable to any body of historical texts regardless of their chronological, geographical, societal, and linguistic origin. As such it will help to transform historical text research into an integrated, data-rich, and globally reusable enterprise—turning the richness of the material record into machine readable Linked Data in an user friendly environment for the Humanities.