Resource Support

In addition to research data, so-called “living systems” and resources are often developed as part of digital humanities research projects. The term “living systems and resources” refers in particular to dynamic applications, websites, and analytical tools; software of all kinds; as well as access and (re)presentation layers for research data and results. Examples include digital editions, databases accessible via websites in a specific context, data visualizations, and digital tools for the analysis and (further) processing of research data and results.

To this end, the DCH, together with its partner institutions, offers various options for taking over and hosting live systems and resources at the University of Cologne. These services draw on the infrastructure offerings of the University of Cologne’s IT Center (ITCC).
 

Hosting and Deployment

STATIC WEB HOSTING

Static web hosting is suitable as an archiving method for web-based content that is static in any form—that is, content that will remain unchanged in the future. It should be noted that there are indeed methods for “statifying” dynamic web resources—such as WordPress, Typo3, etc.—that is, converting them into a static form, thereby making them suitable for static web hosting. 

DYNAMIC WEB HOSTING

In contrast to static web hosting, its dynamic counterpart allows the use of server-side technologies, although these are limited to Perl, PHP, and Python, as well as the use of MySQL or MariaDB databases. However, dynamic runtime environments and the resulting capabilities for deploying so-called “live systems” come with increased maintenance requirements. In principle, the data center does not agree to bear the ongoing maintenance costs for delivered resources after their successful deployment; however, in individual cases, certain resources may be allocated for the maintenance of specific resources. The availability of a resource can only be guaranteed, however, as long as it does not require manual intervention.

Deployment Strategies

If a research application cannot be implemented within the context of the web hosting services described here due to its complexity or the technologies used, there is also the option to provision this application as a deployment package. Specifically, this involves modeling the entire application—including all dependencies—as a Compose stack, a de facto standard for vendor-neutral, machine-readable descriptions of multiple interrelated software components and their interfaces, etc.