The open-source code of the digital platform for research data of Stadt.Geschichte.Basel.
Welcome to Stadt.Geschichte.Basel, a historical research project at the University of Basel in Switzerland, funded with over 9 million Swiss Francs from public and private sources, running from 2017 to 2025. It is a comprehensive digital and print project that aims to present the multifaceted history of Basel from its earliest beginnings to the present day. Visit Stadt.Geschichte.Basel to see how our digital portal brings Basel's history to life.
Stadt.Geschichte.Basel seeks to bridge research gaps and present historical findings in accessible formats. Our project encompasses an extensive nine-volume book series, an overview volume, a digital portal, and a digital platform for research data. Hosted at the University of Basel, this project aims to make historical research and insights accessible to scholars and the public like never before.
This project is the open-source code of the digital platform for research data of Stadt.Geschichte.Basel. It is a static website built with CollectionBuilder-CSV and hosted on GitHub Pages. The research data collection itself is hosted at the University of Bern's instance of Omeka S.
- Fast Static Website: Built with CollectionBuilder-CSV using open source static site generator Jekyll and a modern static web stack.
- Explorative Access to Metadata: Interactive features for exploring collection metadata such as a timeline, filtering and comprehensive annotation.
- Sensitive Content Annotation: Collection items are annotated using the GenderOpen Index, a controlled vocabulary for sensitive content.
- Accessibility-Focused Design: Ensuring inclusivity for all users by complying with WCAG standards and observing neurodiversity design guidelines. More at our accessibility statement.
The technical basis for Stadt.Geschichte.Basel's research data platform is provided by CollectionBuilder, an open source framework for creating metadata-driven digital collections. CollectionBuilder is a project maintained by the University of Idaho Library's Digital Initiatives and the Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning (CDIL) following the Lib-Static methodology.
The basic theme is created using Bootstrap. Metadata visualizations are built using open source libraries such as DataTables, Spotlight gallery, lazysizes, and Lunr.js. Object metadata is exposed using Schema.org and Open Graph protocol standards.
For more information on CollectionBuilder, visit the Docs.
Metadata for items featured on the research data platform is provided according to a data model developed by the Stadt.Geschichte.Basel Research Data Management Team to meet the requirements of the wide range of sources used in the project. The data model (and the subsequent annotation process) follow the Manual for Creating Non-Discriminatory Metadata for Historical Sources and Research Data developed by Stadt.Geschichte.Basel.
The following chart illustrates the data model with metadata fields for a sample metadata object sgb01313 that has one child media object m01313. If a metadata object has more than one child media object, the children ids are numbered consecutively: m01313_1, m01313_2 etc.
classDiagram
class metadata {
id (sgb01313)
title
[subject;subject]
description
temporal
[isPartOf;isPartOf] (Data DOIs)
}
class media {
id (m01313)
title
[subject;subject] (keywords from GenderOpen Index)
description
[creator] (incl. link to Wikidata)
[publisher] (incl. link to Wikidata)
date
temporal
type
format
extent
[source] (Source and catalogue link)
language (ISO 639-2 code)
[relation] (internal links to other items, link to GitHub, further information)
rights
license
}
metadata "n" --> "m" media
Use Bundle to install all dependencies.
bundle installRun the development server.
bundle exec jekyll serveBuild for production.
rake deployThis project is maintained by @Stadt-Geschichte-Basel. Please understand that we won't be able to provide individual support via email. We believe that help is much more valuable if it's shared publicly, so that more people can benefit from it.
| Type | Platforms |
|---|---|
| 🚨 Bug Reports | GitHub Issue Tracker |
| 🎁 Feature Requests | GitHub Issue Tracker |
| 🛡 Report a security vulnerability | GitHub Issue Tracker |
| 💬 General Questions | GitHub Discussions |
Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests to us.
We use SemVer for versioning. For the versions available, see the tags on this repository.
See also the list of contributors who participated in this project.
The code in this repository is licensed under the MIT license. This license does not include external dependencies included in the assets/lib directory, which are covered by their individual licenses.
Any content relating to the items that form the research data collection (e.g. media files, metadata objects) at forschung.stadtgeschichtebasel.ch are NOT covered by this license. Please see the individual rights and license statement in the corresponding metadata for each collection item.