In sum, the SDM is a framework for better understanding scholarly research practices and the ways digital working modes might evolve in the future. Despite the fact that the SDM has been devised in the context of applications based on Linked Data, the model is independent from particular representations and meant to be applicable as a reference model for the discussion, evaluation and development of digital research infrastructures and environments for the humanities. The SDM allows to create representations of the workflows of digital humanists and to function as a terminological bridge between the scholarly practices of the humanities and digital applications. The goal is to reflect on the social nature of scientific practice, regardless of its materiality, and, based on such reflections, to receive a stable core for its sustainable representation. Only if we better understand how scholars undertake their research and how their functional framework might be adequately translated to the digital environment, we might actually approach the emergence of new digital modes of working.