Digital Methods in Chinese Studies

Week 7 (Feb 27, Mar 1):

Tuesday: From Spreadsheets to Relational Databases

• Learning Objectives:
  • Understand the concept, strengths, and structure of relational databases
• Readings:
  • Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, and John Unsworth ed., A Companion to Digital Humanities (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), Ch.15: “Databases” (only the sections before “Schema Design” are required).
  • Michael A. Fuller, The China Biographical Database (CBDB) User’s Guide, Introduction and Chs.1-2.

Study Guide:

Today we look more closely at the data structure of relational databases. Schreibman et al. (2004) discusses the design and implementation of a simple relational database in general terms, and Fuller (2015), one of the designers of CBDB, lays out the rationale for relational databases as a more effective way of organizing data with specific references to CBDB.

Consider the following questions:

• What is a relational database?
• Compared to Excel spreadsheets, what advantages does a relational database have in organizing complex data?
• What issues do we need to consider first when creating a relational database?

Thursday: CBDB and Spatial Visualizations

• Learning Objectives:
  • Building Queries in CBDB
  • Create time-enabled animations to explore historical change
• Readings:
  • Michael A. Fuller, The China Biographical Database (CBDB) User’s Guide, Ch.3.
• Explore:
  • 中國歷代人物傳記資料庫 China Biographical Database Online Querying System: Chinese / English
  • 明清人名權威檔案 / Ming-Qing Persons Authority Database (Chinese only)
  • 佛學規範資料庫/ Buddhist Studies Authority Database Project (Chinese only)
  • China Vitae
  • The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE)
  • Prosopography of the Byzantine World
  • Ming Qing Women’s Writings / 明清婦女著作資料庫

Study Guide:

1. Review the basics of creating a relational database in Microsoft Access and building queries. Watch the following tutorials, if necessary, on the Microsoft website: Access 2013 videos and tutorials. Each video is a few minutes long.
   • On building a relational database: “Design and build tables for a database (Access basics, part 1),” “Create table relationships (Access basics, part 2),” and “Create your first Access 2013 database”
   • On creating queries: “Introduction to queries (Access basics, part 3 )” [The first three videos cover the basics we learned on Tuesday]
   • To review what we learned in class, you may also download the Access database we created. Click here.
2. Explore one or two of the websites listed above. Consider: What data does each site collect and share? How does each site organize its data? What types of queries does it allow? How is it different from CBDB? The following presenters should prepare a 5-minute presentation on the assigned site. In your presentation, introduce briefly what data each website hosts and give one or two demonstrations of how to query data from it. No Powerpoint slides necessary.
   • Rachel: 明清人名權威檔案 / Ming-Qing Persons Authority Database (Chinese only)
   • Ben: China Vitae
   • Khoi: The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE)
   • Eben: Prosopography of the Byzantine World
3. Open the MS Access version of CBDB. Use Chapter 3 in Fuller’s The China Biographical Database (CBDB) User’s Guide as your guide, and try creating a few queries in CBDB. To enter the different “LookAt…” forms, click the querying buttons in the welcome interface (i.e., navigation panel) of the CBDB. For example, click the “Query Office Holding” button to enter the “LookAtOffices” form described in Chapter 3, Section C of the User’s Guide.