PHP Tango
Oh PHP. How you vex me.
Our assignment this week was to play with PHP, specifically to create a working data entry form using HTML, PHP and MySQL. I can report that, with very generous help from my Clio class, I did all of that.
My simple, but working form is here.
My simple, but functional PHP code is here.
I’m still not sure I totally understand WHY it works. I am told this is natural and to be expected. That with time and increased familiarity, my comprehension will improve. I look forward to that day. I will continue to plug away at it if you promise me you won’t judge or mock me for doing a happy dance every time I can actually make something work.
Deal?
Managing the Uglier Side of Historic Research
Immersing yourself in 19th century crime, death, autopsies, forensics, and executions can make you forget that you’re actually studying people. Who died. Violently. Often painfully. And before they were “supposed” to.
I often liken it to the gallows humor that homicide detectives, FBI agents, medical examiners, and first responders all tend to develop. When you witness the worst of human nature, I’m told you come up with ways to cope. I readily admit, I am neither homicide detective nor medical examiner; I am a historian. And all historians are supposed to keep a healthy distance from our subjects. If we can remain objective, can we also keep the human element? (With all due respect to Peter Novick, I don’t think objectivity is entirely dead.) Can we empathize enough to find the heart–the humans–in the narrative? Can we disassociate ourselves from the nastier side of human history to find a broader meaning in how we got here?
This semester, I’m working on a database project for one of my classes. That database happens to contain all (well, a majority) of the sanctioned executions in the United States. I really just started and until today, the “data” had been a series of meaningless numbers attached to names and dates. Today, I undertook a massive “normalization” project wherein I took those numbers that had no meanings and applied meanings to them. For example, using the data dictionary (the handy document that usually accompanies large data sets,) I changed all the 1’s in the “crime” column to “murder,” as that is the crime that that particular integer represents. I changed all the 1’s in the “method” column to “hanging,” and so on and so forth. My database has all the typical columns one might find in a collection of historic information–names, ages, places, dates, race, sex. It also contains the type of crimes committed by the executees and how they met their demise. And this is where I paused.
I expected to see murder, rape, kidnapping, witchcraft, piracy, even horse thieving. I wasn’t prepared for the other crimes in the database, such as “aiding a runaway slave,” “concealing birth,” or “slave revolt.” I’m not naive. I know these things happened and I know that people were punished for doing them. It’s one thing to know they were punished, it’s quite another to know that the state sanctioned execution for these crimes. When you put these crimes next to someone’s name and realize that helping another human being find freedom cost a man his life. With one click of the mouse, the reality of the sacrifices made by some in the name of others hit me. And I wasn’t prepared for it.
The methods of execution were just as troubling. Integrated among the hangings, lethal injections, and electrocutions were pressing, gibbetting, burning, death by firing squad, and breaking on a wheel. Breaking on a wheel is a particularly horrific brand of torture from the Middle Ages. In this case, between 1712 and 1754, in French-controlled Louisiana and New York, eight African-Americans and four white men were “broken” on the wheel.
History is messy. And often gut-wrenching.
I was told by several of my advisers that undertaking this type of project would be emotionally difficult at times. One told me of a colleague and friend who studies historical cases of suicide and how she manages during those times when she has to record and analyze particularly explicit primary sources. As I dive deeper and deeper into the line of inquiry that I’ve chosen, I’ll have to come up with my own methods to cope with the messiness.
I can only hope that my studies of crime, particularly by women and children, and their resulting acquittals or punishments will help shed some light on our past, on our shifting concepts of “reasonable doubt,” and hopefully, how these concepts affect the issues we face today. That’s my goal. Until then, I’ll endeavor to find that healthy balance of objectivity AND humanity that seems to coexist effortlessly in the professionals I hope to emulate.
Adventures in Programming
My third year as a PhD student began this week and I’m excited to be taking both Feminist Philosophy & Theory and Programming for Historians. (There’s something ironic and fun about reading The Second Sex in the same week that I’m learning how to create my own databases from scratch.)
As part of our assignment for Clio 3, as we’re affectionately calling our programming class, we’ll be creating technical tutorials for programminghistorian.org. There’ll be a wide variety of topics from my classmates including, creating databases, PHP, web scraping and theory modeling, among others. I’m on the hook for mapping and data visualization, so I’ll be sure to post links to those when they go up. In the meantime, I’ll be putting my development successes and failures in Sandbox.. for all to see. God help me.
From The Secretary’s Handbook, 1965
While it’s not my era at all, with the recent popularity of Mad Men, I thought I’d share the Eighteen Rules for the Efficient Secretary so you can see for yourself.
Often these texts illuminate these things more clearly than any historian could.
- She is prompt in all her appointments. She gets to work early and sees that his desk is neatly arranged, all his pencils sharpened and all his pens in good working condition.
- She dresses conservatively and uses makeup sparingly; she does not wear conspicuous jewelry or noticeable perfume in the office.
- She maintains good posture at her work, in order to avoid fatigue and to present a posed appearance to others.
- She plans her work well, so as to avoid hurry and flurry.
- She is courteous and tactful to all callers, even those that are unwelcome.
- She cultivates a pleasing manner and voice and pays attention to her diction.
- She is not abrupt over the telephone nor does she drag out telephone conversations.
- She does not make personal telephone calls.
- She keeps a dictionary, a book of grammar and usage and a word divider on her desk.
- She keeps her office supplies handy and ready for use. She does not take pencils or erasers home for her children to use.
- She keeps her desk tidy. All personal items are kept private.
- She keeps her typewriter clean and in good working condition. She changes the ribbon promptly when necessary and covers her typewriter when not in use.
- She organizes her files methodically, and does her filing carefully.
- She does not turn in a letter that is less than letter perfect.
- She does not smudge her carbon copies.
- She does not gossip.
- She does not bring personal affairs to the office.
- She does not watch the clock. She will inquire if there is any little thing she can do, before saying good-bye for the day.
Death in Diorama
I’ve been poking around the blogs today and I’m really looking forward to the presentations tomorrow.
Thank you to those who have continuously commented here and have given feedback over the course of the semester. Your talents, insight and opinions have been most helpful. Have a great summer everyone!
Comments, Week of May 3
I commented on Kellie’s project, Carrie’s project and Laura’s progress.