HTRC Data Capsules are secure computing environments developed to facilitate non-consumptive text analysis research. Each Capsule is a virtual machine (VM) that provides researchers a desktop they can use to perform their investigation of volumes in the HathiTrust Digital Library.
Pre-installed Software, Libraries, and Data
Each Capsule comes pre-loaded with the following software, libraries, and data. For more information, consult the ReadMe file on the desktop of your Capsule for more details about installed packages.
Software
| Name | Version | URL | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
Akka | 2.4.14 | http://akka.io/ | |
| Anaconda 3 | 4.2.0 | https://www.continuum.io/anaconda-overview | Supports both Python 2.X and 3.X. See list below for the Python libraries pre-installed (some via Anaconda) |
Ant | 1.9.7 | http://ant.apache.org/ | |
Hadoop | 2.7.3 | http://hadoop.apache.org/ | |
| InPho Topic Explorer | http://inphodata.cogs.indiana.edu/ | ||
Mallet | 2.0.8 | http://mallet.cs.umass.edu/ | |
R | 3.3.9 | https://www.r-project.org/ | |
Sbt | 0.13.13 | http://www.scala-sbt.org/ | |
Scala | 2.12.1 | https://www.scala-lang.org/ | |
Spark | 2.0.2 | http://spark.apache.org/ | |
| Voyant Tools | https://voyant-tools.org/ |
Python Libraries
HTRC-developed
- htrc-feature-reader
Learn more - htrc workset toolkit
Learn more
General
- csvkit
- dask
- GenSim (currently running with warning)
- nltk
- numpy
- pandas
- pytables
- regex
- scipy
- theano
- toolz
- ujson
Sample data
- 3 sample HTRC worksets of 1000 volumes each: U.S. Government Documents, German language volumes, 19th Century English Literature.
Using an HTRC Data Capsule
Follow a Tutorial
Administering a Capsule
Use the HTRC site to handle administrative tasks for your Capsule:
Create - a Capsule is created, but it is not yet running
Start - turn the Capsule on in maintenance mode
Stop - shutdown a Capsule
Delete - the Capsule is deleted (including its data and settings)
Switch modes - change the Capsule from maintenance to secure mode, or vice-versa (see below)
See status - view your Capsules and their statuses
Interact - use your Capsule either through a desktop view or a terminal (command line) view
Maintenance vs. Secure Mode
The Capsules are configured with special security settings that allow you to interact with them in two modes: maintenance mode and secure mode
- In maintenance mode, you are allowed to access the network freely and install whatever software you want.
- In secure mode, general network access is restricted, but you can access the HTRC corpus repository, which is otherwise blocked. Any changes you make to the Capsule in secure mode will not persist. To save data from your analysis, you'll need to save your results in the secure volume storage on your Capsule. This storage option is not visible in maintenance mode.
Interacting with a Capsule
Access your Capsule in-browser from HTRC Analytics either by viewing the Remote Desktop (both modes available) or the Terminal command line interface (Maintenance Mode only). Earlier versions of the Capsule environment required a VNC viewer and passwords for both the VNC and the Capsule's operating system; those requirements are removed in the web-based version that was implemented in August, 2018. You can also SSH into your Capsule in Maintenance Mode only if you've followed the directions under "Advanced Features" to set-up a public key.
To operate your Capsule, click on the Capsule ID from the Capsule list page. Then choose to either view the remote desktop or the terminal. The terminal will work in Maintenance Mode only.
If you've established a key for SSH access, you can also SSH into your Capsule when it's in Maintenance Mode by using the command viewable under "Advanced Features" on an individual Capsule's status page.
Importing data to a Capsule
Use the HTRC Workset Toolkit to import HathiTrust text data into your Capsule. Any outside data you plan to analyze in conjunction with HathiTrust data can be added to your Capsule from a web-accessible location when your machine is in Maintenance Mode.
Passwords
Earlier versions of the Capsule environment required passwords for both the VNC and the Capsule's operating system; those requirements are removed in the web-based version that was implemented in August, 2018. If you use the included HTRC Workset Toolkit when in your Capsule to import data to your Capsule, you will be prompted for your HTRC Analytics username and password.
Generic Research Workflow
Create and start a Capsule in the HTRC
View your Capsule using the Remote Desktop view or Terminal view.
Configure the software environment of the Capsule as needed. Download the scripts or programs you plan to use in your analysis
Switch Capsule to secure mode through HTRC
Run your against the secure HTRC corpus repository
Move your results to the secure volume storage on the Capsule
Switch Capsule back to maintenance mode to regain normal network access
Non-consumptive Exports from an HTRC Data Capsule
Data and tools can easily enter a user's Capsule, but anything leaving a Capsule must undergo review prior to release to the user. The guidelines used during review of the outputs of a Capsule are as follows:
- Files containing any OCR text or images of pages or volumes will be prohibited from leaving a Capsule.
- Binary files are prohibited from leaving a Capsule
- Encrypted files are prohibited from leaving a Capsule
- PDF files or other format of file that contains images of OCR text or text images are prohibited from leaving a Capsule
- For any Capsule results directory that exceeds 1 MB in total, the collection will not be released pending discussion with the Capsule owner
A release request must be under 67 MB, and any submitted requests over this size will fail due to technical limitations.
Release requests should include a README text file describing the files included in the request and their data structure.