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Digital technologies have fundamentally transformed the ways in which Cultural Heritage (CH) collections are accessed and engaged with. Linked Open Usable Data (LOUD) specifications, including the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) Presentation API 3.0, Linked Art, and the Web Annotation Data Model (WADM), have emerged as web standards to facilitate the description and dissemination of these valuable resources. Despite the widespread adoption of IIIF, the implementation of LOUD specifications, especially in combination, remains challenging. This is particularly true in the development and assessment of infrastructures, or sites of assemblage, that support these standards. The research is guided by two perspectives, namely community practices and semantic interoperability. The former aims to assess how organisations, individuals, and apparatuses engage with and contribute to the consensus-making processes surrounding LOUD. By examining community practices, the social fabrics of the LOUD ecosystem can be better understood. The latter perspective explores how data can be made meaningful to machines in a standardised and interoperable approach that promotes the exchange of well-formed information. This work is grounded as part of the SNSF-funded research project Participatory Knowledge Practices in Analogue and Digital Image Archives (PIA) (2021-2025), which aims to develop a citizen science platform around three photographic collections from the Cultural Anthropology Switzerland (CAS) archives. The theoretical framework is firmly rooted in Actor-Network Theory (ANT), as one of the aims of the thesis is to describe the collaborative structures of the LOUD ecosystem and to highlight the importance of non-human actors. Beyond the implementation of LOUD standards within the PIA research project, the empirical research includes an analysis of the social fabrics of the IIIF and Linked Art communities, as well as an investigation of LUX, Yale Collections Discovery platform. The research aims to identify the socio-technical requirements for developing specifications consistent with LOUD design principles. It also seeks to understand how the implementation of LOUD standards within PIA contributes to recognising their potential benefits and limitations in terms of facilitating data reuse and wider participation. The thesis further examines the implementation strategies, challenges, and outcomes of Yale University’s large-scale deployment of LOUD standards, focusing on how ensuring the consistency of Linked Art and IIIF resources within the LUX platform contributes to the CH domain. The core methodology of this thesis is an actor- and practice-centred inquiry, focusing on the detailed examination of specific cosmologies within LOUD-driven communities, PIA, and LUX. This approach aims to unravel the intricate web of cultural processes and constellations through a micro-perspective, rich in empirical evidence. Key empirical findings indicate that LOUD improves the discoverability and integration of data in CH, which requires community-driven consensus on model interoperability. Significant challenges include engaging marginalised groups, sustaining long-term engagement, and balancing technological and social considerations. The strategic use of technology and the capture of digital materiality are critical, yet LOUD presents challenges in terms of resource investment, data consistency, and the wider implementation of complex patterns. LOUD should clearly lead efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of CH data. The community-driven methodology of IIIF and Linked Art inherently promotes collaboration and transparency, making these standards critical tools in the ongoing evolution of data management. Even for projects and institutions that do not adopt these specifications, LOUD's socio-technical practices provide crucial insights into effective digital stewardship and community engagement strategies.

The term Decentralized Finance or DeFi refers to an alternative financial infrastructure built on top of the Ethereum Blockchain. DeFi uses smart contracts to create protocols that replicate existing financial services in a more open, interoperable, and transparent way. In this paper, we highlight opportunities and potential risks of the ecosystem. We propose a multi-layered framework to analyze the implicit architecture and the various DeFi building blocks, including token standards, decentralized exchanges, decentralized debt markets, Blockchain derivatives, and on-chain asset management protocols. We conclude that DeFi still is a niche market with certain risks but also has interesting properties in terms of efficiency, transparency, accessibility, and composability. As such, it may potentially contribute to a more robust and transparent financial infrastructure.

Slowing down climate change is probably the biggest current global challenge for mankind. The two main strategies to achieve this are the development of new sustainable energy sources and new or improved technologies that are less energy consuming. Inorganic transition metal complexes are the basis for two technologies that address both energy production and energy saving: dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs) and light emitting electrochemical cells (LECs). Promising results were obtained for devices based on scarce metal complexes, such as iridium and ruthenium, but the rarity of these metals is a big drawback in terms of their widespread use and commercialisation. Therefore, complexes with more abundant metals, such as zinc and copper, are now being investigated. Since chromium(III) complexes are known to be emitting and kinetically inert, we chose [Cr(2,20-bipyridine)3]3+ as a model for our approach to use chromium(III) complexes as active compounds in LECs. A series of both new and known homoleptic and heteroleptic {Cr(bpy)3}3+ containing complexes were synthesised. However they showed no electroluminescence in the device con guration, even though they exhibited photoluminescence in solution. The synthesis and characterisation of 25 new chromium(III) complexes with polypyridyl ligands have been presented in this PhD-thesis (7 tris(diimine)chromium(III) complexes and 18 bis(terpyridine)chromium(III) complexes). A new three step synthesis route for the preparation of {Cr(tpy)2}3+ complexes was developed. Starting with anhydrous CrCl3, {Cr(tpy)Cl3} was prepared, followed by exchange of the Cl- counter anions to CF3SO3- to yield {Cr(tpy)(CF3SO3)3}. In the last step, the second tpy ligand is added to get {Cr(tpy)2}3+. The successive addition of the two tpy ligands gives the possibility to synthesise heteroleptic {Cr(tpyA)(tpyB)}3+ complexes. These are the first reported examples of heteroleptic bis(terpyridine)chromium(III) complexes. The structures of several heteroleptic complexes could be confirmed with X-ray analysis. Altogether, 17 crystal structures (homoleptic and heteroleptic, 6 tris(diimine)chromium(III) complexes and 12 bis(terpyridine) chromium(III) complexes) could be determined. Despite the fact that the Cr3+ ion (d3) is widely recognised as a kinetically inert metal centre, we observed a sensitive liability of the complexes in the presence of F- or in an alkaline environment. The residues of these decompositions could be confirmed as {Cr(tpy)F3} and {Cr(tpy)(OH)3} respectively. These findings led to an explanation of the photoluminescence observations done previously. It was already known that the photoluminescence properties of {Cr(tpy)2}3+ are quite different from those of {Cr(bpy)3} 3+. We found that the majority of the observed emission could be assigned as deriving from small quantities of neutral or protonated free ligand. The {Cr(tpy)2}3+ complexes containing at least one N,N -diphenylaniline-tpy showed a broad and solvatochromic absorption. Although the broad absorption makes these complexes strong candidates for DSC applications, all trials were unsuccessful. Also, the application of {Cr(bpy)3}3+ complexes in LEC devices was unsuccessful.