The Database Back End
In our continuing quest to explore what goes on “under the hood” of digital humanities projects, we are moving from the front-end client-side user experience to the database “back end” on the server side, where all the data storage and information retrieval magic happens. In order to perform analysis, or present the results of our research to the public on the web, we first need to collect, categorize and store our data in a way that will give us the best combination of structure and flexibility.
You can use a simple flat spreadsheet to store enough data to power some pretty impressive applications using JavaScript alone, like using the impressive selection of tools The Knight Lab has developed for data journalism, most of which rely on Google Sheets for the backend.
In the past, students in this class used the TimelineJS framework to make a Timeline of Carleton History, and the backend was nothing more than a simple Google Sheet.
This works great for the timeline, but what if we wanted to do different things with the same data? What if we wanted to reorder our data by something other than chronology, or extract all the people or buildings, or add spatial locations? And what if we wanted to model the relationships between those elements? Our spreadsheet is just not flexible enough for this. In order to store complex data sets, we need a more sophisticated way to store it; enter the relational database.
There is a vast amount of literature out there on database design theory and practice, but the articles we read for this week provide a good starting point into the general characteristics of relational databases, and the raging debates over how to move beyond them in the brave new world of ‘big data‘ in humanities research.
The key takeaway from these debates is that “data” are not value free and neutral pieces of information. Any time we break information down and classify it into categories, we are imposing our human world view and experiences on the information, whether consciously or not. This is unavoidable, but the best way to deal with it honestly is to acknowledge our biases, document our decisions and explain our thinking at each step of the process. The resulting metadata (data about the data) are critical for successful scholarly projects, and we will discuss their importance throughout the course.
For today though, we are interested primarily in exploring how relational databases work in a typical DH project, which often shares a lot of similarities with how web applications work in general.
SIDE NOTE: In the past few years, there has been an increasing call to move away from CMSes and database-driven sites and back towards static websites. This is not pining for the bad old days, but instead relying on the increasing number of static site generators like Jekyll that let you build the site locally on your machine and push static HTML to a host rather than reacting to user requests and populating HTML with content as in most database-backed web sites. While there are many benefits to this approach, especially for fairly simple sites like blogs and those without much user interaction, there are some drawbacks to static site generators for DH projects. Knowing how databases interact with client side systems is still a valuable skill, which we will be focusing on in this course.
Setting up your own server environment and WordPress install
For today, we are interested primarily in exploring how relational databases work in a typical DH project, which often shares a lot of similarities with how web applications work in general. So we are going to stick with what we already know and get to know databases by exploring the backend of a WordPress site.
If you were going to do this the old fashioned way, you would need some space on a server running the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) to upload, install and run a fully customizable WordPress site, but we are going to using our cPanel in Reclaim Hosting which takes care of all the system administration work for us.
Hopefully you have already requested a site, and Em Palencia in Academic Technology has set them all up for you.
NB – If you do not have an account, you have to LOGIN to the SITE first and then fill out the form requesting a cPanel for Hacking the Humanities
Exploring the cPanel in class
Most web applications and DH projects consist of two main components: files and a database.
The cPanel gives you access to file servers, database management, and system administration tools like one-click application installers and domain registry.
The main WordPress files you’ll interact with are the PHP template files in the theme layer, which change the look and feel of your site, and the plugins in the plugins directory, which add functionality. Check out the Resources section below for more on how to customize these.
The database can be accessed via phpMyAdmin, a super helpful tool that lets you interrogate and take actions on the database without having to type SQL commands directly into a shell prompt.
- Explore the WordPress db, consulting the diagram at right,
- Can you figure out how the data and metadata of a typical post, page and comment are broken up and stored in the db.
- When you add a new plugin and a new theme to your site, ask.
- Did either change the database?
- Which one?
- Why?
As you work through the homework and get more comfortable with the server, continue to explore the guts of WordPress and ask yourself: how are the data structured, stored, and ultimately rendered in the browser? Do you understand all the component parts?
Lab Assignment – Your own WordPress site (due SuNDAY)
The assignment for this week is to get to know and reflect on your new hosting environment by setting up your own WordPress site with full administrator controls:
- Install WordPress following the cPanel and WordPress Setup Instructions document here
- Spend some time setting up your personal website on your newly installed server. These are the most basic steps you should take to get your site looking like a personalized rather than a generic WordPress blog.
- Delete (or at least unpublish) all default content, e.g. Post, Comments, and Pages you didn’t create
- Create an “About” page (not Post) to let the world know who you are
- Write a brief bio paragraph about your background, what you are studying, your goals, etc. and post it to the site. See mine at meDHieval.com for an example.
- Protect your site from comment spam, by activating the Akismet plugin.
- You can follow these instructions
- Choose a new theme to install and activate it
- Explore the customization options for your theme and use your DevTools skills to change at least one element of your site’s design via CSS code.
- If you choose a more recent them, you may be able to explore the template editor to make changes to patterns that apply across your site.
- You can also add Add and Edit Additional CSS to WordPress sites in a couple of different ways, depending on the theme you chose and version you are running
Finally, write a reflective blog assignment post on THIS COURSE SITE introducing and linking to your new WordPress site and discussing your experience setting up your own WordPress install.
- What might you do with this platform?
- What benefits or drawbacks come with hosting your own website instead of signing up for a service or using a social media platform?
Post the link to your blog post in Moodle
CarlSites/WordPress Resources and Support
If you have any questions as you build your WordPress site in this class or in the future, I encourage you to reach out to Em Palencia in Academic technology. Em has also graciously shared the following resources:
- Support Documentation
- Report a Website Issue
- Meet with Digital Humanities Associates (DHAs)
- Tuesday evening from 7 – 9 p.m
- In-person drop-in at Libe 4th Floor, East Wing
- Contact Em in Academic Technology:
- email at@carleton.edu and ask for Em
- Em’s Office Hours