Reading Stephen Ramsay’s article Databases and also the Data + Design book really got me thinking about the way that data is visualized. In both readings, the database, or specifically the computerized database, is described to be a complex system in which to store and sort information. Specifically, Ramsay describes the digital humanities database as a series of relationships. He describes these relationships as being able to “hold out the possibility not merely of an increased ability to store and retrieve information, but of an increased critical and methodological self-awareness.” This got me thinking about different origins for non-digital databases, what kind of relationships were they created to represent?
The quipu (alternate spelling Khipu) is an artifact of the Incan empire (1400-1532 AD). Quipus were used by the Incas to record information. As the Incas did not utilize a written language or numerical system, quipus were used both to document numerical information, historic myths, and imperial decrees. Quipus consisted of several long strings. Each string would hold its own pattern, spacing, and style of knots representing the recorded information. Although, full knowledge of the Quipu system is lost on the modern western world, it is known from contemporary accounts that Quipus were used for highly complex tasks, not unlike modern databases.
This got me thinking about different, or perhaps non-western, ideas for organizing the database. In the Incan context, the quipu relied heavily on the knowledge of the “reader” and also heavily on the notion of relationships. From what little is known about the Quipu, it is clear that information is not recorded in a direct manner. A specific kind of knot does not correspond directly to a letter or a word, it is highly contextual and is perhaps intended as a type of nemonic device for the reader. This to me, seemed exactly what Ramsay was referring to when he said that, for the digital humanist, the real purpose of the database lies in the relations produced. Moreover, the physical structure of the quipu brings up questions of data presentation.
Moreover, I thought that it was an interesting aside that Harvard is now creating its own database about Quipus. The database will function to record all of the data presented on existing Quipus today. Even cooler is the fact that this data base has mirrored its data scheme on the Quipu calling it the “khipu data scheme.” The website for the project explains the data structuring as a “branching network in which the number of branching levels is highly variable, but in which components at every level share certain characteristics.” Moreover, the computer database will look at interpreting the physical nature of the Quipu focusing on: “the interlocking relationships between khipu components, the branching or tree-like structure of khipu, the similarity of certain components, and the multi-dimensionality of khipu variables.” I thought this was a fascinating instance of mediation and also of episteme! The quipu uses its own unique system to address how it structures and presents information. The fact that this system, while seemingly foreign, so easy coordinates into a computer database is fascinating to me. Perhaps this speaks to a universality of databases? I am intrigued and curious if anyone else has instances of early databases!