New from BookNet Canada for 2024: Loan Stars - Tech Forum 2024
Mummies on rails
1. Mummies On Rails
A system for recoding mummy data using a modern
development framework.
Ahmad Alam, Ian Dunlop, Robert Stevens, Andrew Brass (Comp. Sci.)
Jenefer Cockitt, Rosalie David, Ryan Metcalfe (KNH)
Bio-Health Informatics Group
2. Objective:
• Develop a system for recoding comprehensive
mummy data
• The system would be on the World Wide Web –
hence sharable
• Use of a modern framework –
Ruby on Rails
3. Why document electronically?
• Access being limited
• Ageing Edwardian Records
• Difficult to analyse on paper
• Very difficult to share
4. The primary dataset
• Dakhleh Mummy Records Selected
• Best example that could be found
• Extremely detailed 13 pages long
• Unique and cannot be re-produced
5.
6. • Ruby on Rails selected as development
framework – Twitter runs on it
• Contemporary evolving framework
• Based on Model–View-Controller approach
• Drives :-
• Reusability – Code re-use
• Modularity
• Modification
• Maintainability
7.
8. • Rails, database agnostic
• Manages own schema and model
• Backend database selection : MySQL
• Open source
• Most widely used (hence best supported)
• Scalable
9. MEPR
• Introducing:
Mummy Electronic Patient Record
• Built using Rails ‘re-use’ philosophy on :-
• Active Admin – Versapay runs on it
• Formtastic
• Devise
• Inherited Resources
10.
11. Mepr
• Benefits:
• Filtered Searches possible, based on
multiple criterion
• Extensible/Modifiable, with relative ease
• Encourages a re-think of the meta-data
being recorded
• Increased longevity – easy to store
backups on media and ‘cloud’
12.
13. Evolving Mepr
• Improving record structure through
feedback from archaeologists
• Improving the query engine to allow for
better ‘reasoning’
• Holy grail : a working Ontology based
system to achieve better data integration
using semantic-web methodologies
14. Challenges
• Ontologies: not yet main stream,
performance issues, languages still
developing, i.e. OWL, Sparqle.
• Open data: too many data ‘silos’ e.g.
Outlook (Hotmail), Google, facebook,
Amazon
• XML for formalising data – some success,
Microsoft Office.
15. Near term Mepr development
• Project to be Open Sourced shortly
• To be placed on a GitHub repository
• Will enable other programmers to work in
collaboration on the project
• Possible inclusion of other mummified
records, i.e. non-Egyptian
16. Mepr
• Available right now:-
http://mepr.herokuapp.com/admin/login
admin@example.com (password:password)
• Current development version:-
http://heroku.cs.man.ac.uk:3000/admin/login
• Contact
ahmad.alam@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
