Global-Local Database

How the Global-Local Database worksThe basics
For registered users
General matters
For site managers

The Global-Local database adapts the approach of the Globalization and Portal Project (GAPP) organized by the Globalization Research Center at the University of Hawaii. Once fully developed, this massive electronic database will include interpretative overviews, documents, photographs and audio files, and will be made available through the web for all the participants of all the projects conducted within and in collaboration with the Globalism Research Centre.

Each research theme has a separate entry to the database on its website. From the main site we also provide several entries for groups of research collaborators whose work is not specifically related to any one research theme.

Editors of Central Currents in Globalization
Members of the Globalization Studies Network

The public material generated by the thematic research that is entered into the database will remain publicly accessible for all communities and researchers, apart from material that we are ethically prohibited from making public. Culturally or politically sensitive material will remain confidential between individual researchers and the people with whom they are working collaboratively. Otherwise, the Global-Local database is an open-source project.

All materials, including images and stories, are copyright for the purposes of commercial use. For other users we ask only that they formally register their interest and the context in which the material will be used by emailing us, and fully acknowledge the source of the material.

How the Global-Local Database works

Each research location or collaborating group has its own homepage with a tailored entry to the Global-Local Database and these are situated on each of our research web-sites. This contains information for community participants and through the database entry point allows on-site research collaborators and any member of that community participating in the project to contribute material to the database. Each site’s page has an interface to the database that is tailored to that community which brings up the material specific to that research site or collaborating group.

However, researchers and participants are not restricted to searching only their own material, it is also possible to search material contributed at other sites in any general research category. As a registered user, if you submit material to the database you will be required to categorise (tag) the material submitted (an 'asset') according to a set range of options that are based on our life-world and social themes. But, there will be an option to suggest your own category or categories. The database can accept a wide range of 'assets', including image files, text documents, PDF files, film clips, etc.

To submit material to the database via a website people will need:

1. to be associated with one of the projects under the umbrella of one of our research themes or collaborative groups, and,
2. to register through the database as a participant at their site.

Registration can be done by anyone from anywhere in the world but material will not appear on the database until the registration and the content of the material has been approved by a research site manager. This is simply a ‘safety mechanism’ to avoid materials in our database being corrupted by viruses or inappropriate material being loaded to the database.

Below we provide more information on how to use the database, but if you have any queries regarding the Global-Local database or this website, please contact our database manager, Todd Bennet.

Global-Local Database - the basics

The following information is also provided here in a downloadable and printable PDF file.

To enter the database as a guest, simply click on the guest access login button from any Global-Local homepage. Guests can search the database but not upload or download files.

To enter the database as a registered user you need to be associated in some way with one of the projects conducted within our research themes or be associated with one of our collaborative groups. Only people who are approved as participants by a research site manager (for thematic research) or the director of the Centre (for collaborative groups) will have their registrations approved. To express interest in joining a project please go to the “submit to this site” page on the community sustainability website and fill in the form provided there. There you will be asked to read and agree to the ethical considerations we ask participants to follow in using the database. Once you have forwarded this form, a research site manager will then contact you to confirm whether you may proceed to “register an account”.

To register, simply click on “register an account” and fill in the details required details on the registration screen that appears and submit.

If your registration is approved you will receive a confirmation email with a username and password within a few days.

Once you have entered the database, to view the materials for your research location, simply click on the arrow () to the left of the location name.

This will begin expanding out into a tree of subject headings or categories. Click on any () and more categories will appear.

If you then click on an underlined category you will see the materials stored under that heading in the main screen area.

If you are a guest, you will only be able to see records and the thumbnail images of the contents of the collection. If you are a registered user you will be able to upload or download materials.

To view materials collected under the same headings at other research locations, simply click on the arrow () to the left of global.

To log out and return to our research locations page, simply click on the button at the right-hand end of the green bar that runs across the upper part of the screen.

Functions on the Screen

In the green bar across the upper part of the screen there are six functions. The simplest are: search, search result, find all and logout.

Search: all items in the catalogue have a caption, a description, a filename, keywords and categories associated with them (for more on assigning these to files, see below). All the words in those fields are searchable using this function.

Search result: this displays the outcome of a given search.

Find all: if you click find all it will show all the records in the whole database. You can then browse them page by page.

Logout: when you have finished using the database, please click on logout and you will be taken back to the research location main page.

There are two more advanced functions.

Advanced search: this allows you to combine one or more search terms and to search within an existing search.

Collection basket: when you are a registered user this allows you to keep the results of a search as a collection. In details view (see below) if you click on the record name it opens out a menu the last option of which is add to collection basket.

Below this bar there are a series of icons.

The first four give you different views of records in the collection:

Thumbnail view: this shows you a thumbnail image of the record, and is where you can 'download' an item from the database if you are a registered user simply by clicking on download. (Guest users are not able to see the download button.)

Details view: this view gives the filename, file size, date of entry into the database and any subsequent modification of the file

Record information: this view gives you all the information by which an item in the database is searchable (caption, description, keywords) and gives detailed information on the item.

Preview: this function is only available for image files, and gives a preview of the image.

The next three buttons are used to gain a small, medium and large view of the thumbnail images, but the large view is currently unavailable due to the general database settings.

The last two buttons allow you to alter the number of items that appear on the screen in the thumbnail view as you are searching or browsing. The button on the left allows you to increase (+) or decrease (-) the number of columns and the button on the right allows you to increase (+) or decrease (-) the number of rows.

For registered users

The Global-Local Submission forms

Registered users who are logged in can see another button in the upper right-hand corner that guest users cannot-namely submit. When you click on this button it brings up a two-step submission form that allows you to contribute material to the database.

All terms entered into the two steps of the submission forms are searchable so it is very important that the procedures outlined are followed when submitting materials to the database.

Step 1: In Step 1 registered users will see a series of check boxes that repeat the category tree for their site.

When submitting, please make sure you check the box against your location name and at least one box from each of the three main categories. For example,

Location: Braidwoood
Gathering the evidence: photograph
Life-world theme: food and drink
Social theme: past-present

You may check more boxes if they are applicable.

Step 2: In Step 2 you need to fill out each of the following fields. This is to make it possible for people to find your material when they search the database.

File Upload

This is where you select the file for uploading. Before uploading please ensure first that you have named and saved your files in the following format:

1. name it with a one or two word description that is unique to the object

1. use an underscore ( _ ) rather than a space if you want to separate words.

Otherwise, common sense prevails. Please don't make the file names too long and limit image files to around 500kb or less.

Caption

Please enter a brief name for the object being submitted. This should be the title of an article or an image, and consist of no more than five words. These form part of the thumbnail and long titles will clutter up the screen.

Author or Creator

Please enter the name of the person who created the item being submitted or (with consent) the interviewee's name (e.g. Damian Grenfell)

Submitter

If you are not the author or creator please enter your name here.

Country

Please enter the Country that the Location is in (e.g., Cuba).

Date

The database will automatically record the date that you submit an item. Here, please enter the date when the item was originally created, spelt out (e.g., 15 June 2005).

Description

Please enter a brief description for the item. This should consist of a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 150 words that describes the contents of the file. It is important to remember that this is one of the ways that people will be able to search your item, so the more accurate your description, the more likely they are to find it.

Keywords

Please enter around eight words of your choice, making sure that they are representative of and reflect the content of the item.

General matters

Personal names

Be sure to remember that unless you have gained specific permission - particularly in relation to interviews - do not include participants' names in any of these fields. There will be secure areas for the loading of more sensitive material and that material will not be searchable within the main catalogue.

Secure areas

The most secure option for storing sensitive materials is to create personal database catalogues and these will be made available on request to global users. Global user status cannot be registered for and will only be granted to those with significant need: this will involve being approved by the director of the institute, after consultation. Again, common sense prevails and if something is so sensitive it could pose a danger, don't put it in the database.

Location level

At the moment the categories and sub-categories at each of these levels only consists of the first three levels of analysis, with the exception of a dual sub-category under some Locations to account for the translation of the questionnaire.

• Gathering the evidence
• Life-world themes
• Social themes

Each of the categories and the first level of sub-categories for some locations have also been translated so that people entering the database from those sites can submit materials in a searchable way, and do some basic searches. Otherwise, all searching of the database has to be done in English.

Global level

At the moment the categories in this level have all four levels of analysis and an area that houses material for static sites that are not linked to the database but for which there are plans to do so some day. Once they are linked, as sources of insecurity is about to be, if they are not covering multiple sites they will appear with a single entry like the location pages. I have included a section called research notes under which individual's names can appear as a storage space for items that don't belong in a location but which are not so sensitive that they need to be in a personal database catalogue. These may be a useful storage facility for country-related material that should be available for general viewing. For example:

• Analytical method
• Gathering the evidence
• Life-world themes
• Social themes
• Thematic research
• Border knowledges
• Critical and ethical engagement
• Global media
• Research notes
• Chris Scanlon (e.g.)

Research site managers

Research site managers will receive all registrations for their location and should forward those they approve to the web manager (Todd Bennet) for activation.

Research site managers are also responsible for the content loaded to their Location. In the first instance when a registered user submits an item it is visible only to the web manager (who is also the database manager). The web manager will send items 'live' to the database but it is then the responsibility of the location manager to check the content of items and advise the web manager to remove any content that is not suitable. This may include either material that is simply unsuitable but may also include material that has been incorrectly categorised by the submitter, or submitted to the general catalogues in error (i.e., interviews that should only be in a secure area).

The web manager will send out a regular monthly notice to all research site managers to check new content-if there is no new content for a location the research site manager will not receive the email.