Deccan College Students: A Digital Archive Website as a Full Stack Internship Project

Yes, a digital archive website is a strong full stack internship project for humanities students, because it uses what you already know: records, sources, categories and careful description. In 14 days you can build a searchable collection with tags, a record page for each item and a password-protected admin form for uploads. This guide gives you a day-by-day plan, a metadata design template and an accessibility checklist.

Why an archive project suits humanities students

Most full stack tutorials build a to-do list or a shop. An archive is more interesting, and it rewards the skills a humanities education trains: deciding how to describe an object, being consistent, noting provenance and thinking about who will use the record. The technical parts are standard: a database, a back end that serves data, a front end with search, and a login-protected form.

Think of the project as three layers:

• Data layer: a database table of records, a table of tags, and a link table joining them.
• Server layer: routes to list, search and show records, plus protected routes to add and edit them.
• Interface layer: a search page, a record page, a browse-by-tag page and an admin upload form.

The humanities content can be anything you have legitimate access to and the right to publish: your own photographs of a local monument, transcribed public-domain texts, a list of oral-history interview summaries you recorded with consent, or a fictional sample collection for practice. Never upload material you do not have permission to share.

What the finished project should do

Keep the scope small so you can finish and polish it. A realistic minimum viable archive has:

1. A home page explaining the collection in a short paragraph.
2. A search box that matches title, description and tags.
3. Filters by tag and by date range or period.
4. A record page showing the image or file, all metadata fields and clickable tags.
5. An admin login and an upload form with validation.
6. A basic README documenting setup and your metadata decisions.

Choosing a simple stack for a 14-day build

Pick tools you can finish with. One reasonable combination is HTML, CSS and a little JavaScript on the front end; Node.js with Express on the server; and SQLite or PostgreSQL for data. Python with Flask or Django and SQLite is an equally good route. The framework matters less than keeping each layer clear. SQLite is convenient for a first build because the whole database is one file and needs no separate server.

For file uploads, store images in a folder on the server (or a free object-storage service) and store only the file path in the database. Limit file types and size from the start.

Metadata design template for archive records

Metadata is the heart of an archive. Decide your fields before writing code, because changing them later means rewriting forms, queries and pages. The template below is modelled loosely on the widely used Dublin Core idea of simple descriptive fields; adapt the names to your collection.

Rules for tags that keep search useful

• Use lowercase and singular forms so “Inscription” and “inscriptions” do not become two tags.
• Keep a tag table with a unique name column; the upload form should suggest existing tags before creating new ones.
• Separate tags (subjects) from fields such as place and language, which are better as filters.
• Write a short tag policy in your README: who may add tags and how synonyms are handled.

Database design in plain terms

You need three main tables. The records table holds one row per item with the fields above. The tags table holds an id and a unique name. The record_tags table holds pairs of record id and tag id, so one record can have many tags and one tag can label many records. A fourth table, users, stores admin accounts with hashed passwords, never plain text.

-- Illustrative schema sketch (not tested)
CREATE TABLE records (
  id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
  identifier TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL,
  title TEXT NOT NULL,
  description TEXT NOT NULL,
  year_sort INTEGER,
  place TEXT,
  language TEXT,
  item_type TEXT,
  source TEXT NOT NULL,
  rights TEXT NOT NULL,
  alt_text TEXT,
  file_path TEXT
);
CREATE TABLE tags (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL);
CREATE TABLE record_tags (
  record_id INTEGER REFERENCES records(id),
  tag_id INTEGER REFERENCES tags(id),
  PRIMARY KEY (record_id, tag_id)
);

Fourteen-day plan for the archive build

The free two-week CareerSwami online internship runs for 14 days with a free offer letter and a free completion certificate after successful completion, so this plan is paced to that window. If you fall behind, cut edit and delete or the date-range filter first; keep search, tags and the upload form.

Worked example: one record from upload to search (illustrative)

This example is illustrative and uses invented sample data. Suppose an admin uploads a photograph of a weathered stone slab.

1. The admin logs in and opens the upload form.
2. They enter: identifier SAMPLE-0007; title “Stone inscription, temple wall (sample)”; description of three sentences; creator “Unknown”; date text “c. 1850” and year_sort 1850; place “Pune”; language “Marathi”; item type “image”; source “Photographed by uploader”; rights “Own work; shared with permission”.
3. They write alt text: “Weathered stone slab with lines of carved script.”
4. They type tags: “inscription, temple, script”. The form suggests “inscription” because it already exists, and creates “temple” and “script”.
5. The server checks that required fields are filled, the file is a JPG or PNG under the size limit, and the identifier is unique. If anything fails, the form redisplays with clear error messages next to the fields and keeps what the admin typed.
6. The image is saved, the record row is inserted, and rows are added to record_tags.
7. A visitor searches “script”. The query matches the tag and the description, and SAMPLE-0007 appears in results with a thumbnail, title and tag links.
8. Clicking the record opens the full page with all metadata, and clicking “temple” lists every record carrying that tag.

Notice how much of the quality comes from decisions made on Day 2: required fields, controlled lists and the tag policy.

Accessibility checklist for a public archive website

An archive exists so people can use it. Use this checklist on Day 11, and keep the relevant items in mind from the first template. The standard most commonly referenced is the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Test with a keyboard first, then try a free screen reader such as NVDA on Windows, and run an automated checker. Automated tools catch only some problems, so manual checks still matter.

Deccan College students: planning this project around your own programme

Deccan College of Post-Graduate & Research Institute is described by the third-party portal Careers360 as a deemed-to-be university at Yerawada, Pune, Maharashtra. That is not an official source and has not been confirmed on an official page, so check the institute’s own website or UGC’s list of deemed universities before quoting it anywhere, including in a project report.

What this means for you in practice: no verified information is available here about how the institute treats internships, project work, credits, evaluation or online internships. The institute is generally associated with research subjects such as archaeology, linguistics and languages, but its current programme list needs checking on its official pages. If your department has no technical course, a web project like this is likely to be self-directed, so confirm in writing whether it can be mentioned in your records, and do not assume it carries credit.

The archive idea itself fits humanities research naturally. A project built around a small, properly permitted sample from your own field, such as a few transcribed texts, field photographs or glossary entries, will show your subject knowledge alongside your technical work. Before using any material from a departmental collection, museum or faculty member’s research, get written permission, because rights and sensitivity rules belong to the owner, not to you.

Verification steps for Deccan College students

1. Open the institute’s official website and confirm its status and address; cross-check with UGC’s deemed university list.
2. Email your department office asking whether an online, self-chosen internship may be recorded, and whether any academic credit applies. Keep the reply.
3. Ask your supervisor or head of department for the current rules on internships or project work for your programme and batch, and request the document name or circular number.
4. Ask the faculty member or custodian of any collection you wish to use for written permission to photograph, transcribe or publish it.
5. Ask whether the institute has a training, placement or career cell and, if so, whether it accepts external internship certificates.

Testing and data-quality checks before you submit

• Try searching an empty string, a very long string, and characters such as quotes and percent signs; the site should not crash.
• Upload a wrong file type and an oversized file; confirm clear errors.
• Try to open admin pages while logged out; you should be redirected to the login page.
• Use parameterised queries everywhere to prevent SQL injection, and escape output to prevent script injection.
• Check that every record has source, rights and alt text filled in.
• Click every tag link and confirm the counts make sense.

How to present the project in your portfolio

Include a live link, a repository link, two or three screenshots, and a short note explaining your metadata choices. Employers and admissions readers in humanities and digital humanities fields care about why you chose each field and how you handled permissions, not only that the site works. Describe what you built plainly, without claiming results you cannot show, and state which parts are sample data.

Extensions if you finish early

• Export search results as CSV with the metadata fields.
• Add a simple timeline view using the numeric year field.
• Support Hindi or Marathi interface labels and test your fonts for correct rendering.
• Add pagination and sort options for large result sets.
• Write a short “About this collection” page with credits and a rights statement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need prior coding experience to build a digital archive website?

Basic familiarity with HTML, CSS and one programming language helps. If you are new, simplify: use a framework with built-in admin features, keep the collection to about ten records, and spend the first days on the metadata design, which needs no code.

What kind of material can I put in my archive?

Use only material you own or have written permission to publish: your own photographs, your own transcriptions of public-domain texts, or invented sample records. Record the source and rights status in every entry.

Is SQLite good enough for this project?

Yes, for a small collection and a demonstration. It is simple to set up and fine for hundreds of records. If you later expect many users writing at once, move to PostgreSQL or MySQL.

How should I secure the admin upload form?

Store passwords as hashes, use sessions with protected routes, validate file type and size on the server, rename uploaded files, use parameterised database queries, and never commit passwords or secret keys to a public repository.

Will this project count for academic credit at Deccan College?

That cannot be assumed. No verified information is available about how the institute treats external online internships, so ask your department in writing. CareerSwami’s internship provides a free offer letter and completion certificate, and does not promise credit.

How many tags should each record have?

Three to six well-chosen tags is usually enough. Too many tags dilute search results, and too few make browsing weak. Follow your written tag policy so every record is treated alike.

Why include alt text and transcripts in a small student project?

They make the archive usable by people who rely on screen readers, and they improve search because transcribed text can be indexed. They also show a professional standard that stands out in a portfolio.

What if I cannot finish all features in 14 days?

Protect the core: records, search, tags and the admin upload form. Cut extras such as edit history, date-range filters and extensions. A smaller project that works, is documented and passes the accessibility checklist is better than a large unfinished one.

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