Given that the process of "building digital communities", as the central concern of Research Area 5, requires conscious engagement with data models and the transformation of information into "data" (cf. data as "capta") and that the EXC 2020 Temporal Communities core concept of "temporal communities" itself implies rigorous modelling operations, this curated collection examines the role of modelling in humanities research, particularly in literary studies and digital humanities. The contributions critically reflect on the affordances of models, their functions, implications, and limitations in capturing information, heuristics, analysis, criticism, and presentation. In doing so, they revisit the conceptual framework for modelling as a critical practice and explore the workings of models beyond representational claims.