We all want our data to be interoperable and compatible, and understood by people in other disciplines. At the same time, we want to use models that are tightly adjusted to our task at hand, which often means using highly-specialized and discipline-specific concepts. In order to achieve genuine transdisciplinary research, this tension needs to be alleviated and ways must be found to allow specialists to keep using approaches that are particular to their needs while maintaining cross-disciplinary understanding.

Abstract reference models have been proposed as a way to alleviate this tension. However, this poses some new challenges, such as the need to find an agreed-upon "universal" conceptual basis and the definition of extension guidelines or principles that allow specialists to create particular versions of the abstract reference model that fit their specific purpose.

Is it possible to find a truly universal abstract reference model for the humanities and social sciences, or even a subset of them? What would it look like? How would it be extended? Would this approach be viable?