History and data management [ LHIST2401 ]

Management and criticism of information are the heart of historical expertise. The ability to make sense of a mass of data using powerful computerized tools is a necessary part of the practice of the historian, and it also contributes to demonstrating the worth of historical expertise in the larger society. It is necessary, before implementing any information-handling system in technical terms, to complete a precise analysis and conceptualization of the intended area for its application. The good use of software, the coherence of the data set, and the precision of the results all depend upon precise performance in this regard. In practical terms the following points are to be covered : description of the Entities-Associations model and its main components (entities, associations, attributes, order relationships, identifying marks, etc.) ; skills needed for operation of software programs that handle those different kinds of systems ; how to make data requests using these software programs.

The course is intended to give students formal training in the analysis and handling of historical data. Upon completion, the student should be able to :
1) represent in formal terms information from various historical sources, both as regards the content and the format of the data. In particular, students learn to make schemas of " entities and associations " that accurately describe the arrangement of data as given, and then indicate the proper questions to be asked or ways in which the corpus of data is to be handled;
2) deduce, based on these schemas, the right information management tool for the job of encoding and handling the data ;
3) carry out the implementation in technical terms of simple schemas; 4) perform, working with a database of simple to medium complexity, analytical operations with the database that make it possible to answer precise questions.