The Digital Past

Databases

Before Class:

• Sign up for Airtable.
• “Spreadsheet Thinking vs Database Thinking”
• Mark Merry, “Designing Databases for Historical Research,” especially part D.
• Lev Manovich, “Database as a Genre of New Media,” AI & Society 14 (2000)

During Class:

• Resources:
  • Judges Data
  • Freedmen’s Bureau Records
  • AirTable
• Work with a group of no more than 4 people to create a database model in Airtable.
  • Decide on a scheme for the database, i.e. what tables will hold which fields. Enter a few items to make sure the model fits the data.
  • Once you’ve finalized your model, each person should contribute at least 20 records (rows) to the database. Be sure to mark each persons contribution in a column.

After Class:

• Blog #4: Write a blog post that describes the database model you came up with in class today. Explain the decisions you made to normalize the data. How can databases be useful for historical research? Based on your research so far, could a database be useful for your final project?
  • Your blog posts should be at least 350-500 words and should be written in a semi-formal scholarly style (complete thoughts, correct spelling, grammar and syntax.) Please use the Chicago style guide to cite any sources. See the blog post criteria page for more details.