The Canadian Century Research Infrastructure Project and Computing in the Humanities

Introduction
One of the most comprehensive humanities and social
science research projects in Canadian history, the
Canadian Century Research Infrastructure (CCRI) is a
five-year, pan-Canadian initiative to develop a set of interrelated
databases centered on census records for the 1911-1951 period.
The databases being developed from manuscript census records
for the period 1911 to 1951 form the core of a much larger
research infrastructure, the objective of which is to construct
an evidentiary foundation for research on the transformation
of Canadian society from the late 19th century to the later 20th
century. To construct this evidentiary foundation, the CCRI
will have two major components: primary sources and
secondary sources.
Census microdata from the 1911-1951 enumerations form the
first and the core of the four primary data sources. Other
primary data sources include Statistics Canada documentary
sources concerning the enumeration process; newspaper
evidence about the enumerations at the time of each
enumeration; and House of Commons and Senate debates
related to the enumerations. The goal of this component of the
CCRI is to provide researchers with the contextual evidence
necessary to undertake appropriate analysis of the census
microdata. The secondary data sources are intended to facilitate research
on the primary sources, and are equally varied in nature. They
range from introductory descriptive statements about the census
enumeration process, to highly technical discussions of
data-entry and coding issues, and bibliographies of
census-research publications.
Integral to the entire project is the construction of a geographic
framework for the historical census data, using a Geographic
Information System (GIS). GIS map layers are being created to
enable geographic location, selection, aggregation and analysis
of sample data, as well as some mapping of generalized census
data. This will allow researchers to ask questions of the database
which are much more geographically specific than in the past.
Interface tools to make these geographic queries and analysis
as user-friendly as possible are also being developed.
The CCRI will be structured in terms of five distinct
articulations, each devoted to one of the enumeration years
(1911-1951). The CCRI will include cross-census harmonization
bridges (or crosswalks) that connect each of the five
articulations, to enable comparative analysis. A variety of user
guides will be developed to aid researchers. In addition to a
general introduction to each census enumeration, there will be
user guides for each census variable, as well as a separate guide
detailing the coding scheme for that variable. As it is expected
that some variables (such as occupation) may be coded
according to more than one scheme, each scheme will be
discussed in the guides.
The CCRI databases will be made available through Research
Data Centres across Canada; versions will also be available
through the Data Liberation Initiative at Canadian universities.
Once completed, the CCRI databases will be joined to other
databases that cover the periods from 1871 to 1901 and from
1961 to 2001. The result will be a new foundation for the study
of social, economic, cultural, and political change, as the
Canadian Century Research Infrastructure will include an
extraordinary range of data about the twentieth century.
The proposed panel discussion will focus on the following
related issues:
• Integrating Words and Numbers in Historical Databases;
• Mapping Time: Using GIS to enhance historical
understanding;
• Meta-data, Contextual Data, and User Guides for Historical
Evidence: How much is enough?
• Integrating Primary and Secondary Sources in Historical
Research Infrastructures.