Greek Parliament Speeches: Information Retrieval Project

This project processes and analyzes speeches from the Greek Parliament, focusing on transforming raw data into a PostgreSQL database and providing data management functionality through Python scripts.

---

Prerequisites

Software Requirements

• Python: Version 3.10 - 3.12 (Download Python)
• PostgreSQL: Version 14 or higher, including pgAdmin (Download PostgreSQL)
• Microsoft C++ Build Tools: Required for some Python dependencies (Download Build Tools)

---

Project Setup

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory with the following format:

• DB_USER=your_database_username
• DB_PASSWORD=your_database_password
• DB_HOST=localhost
• DB_PORT=5432
• DB_NAME=greek_parliament

Directory Structure

---

Greek Stemmer Library Modification

For the GreekStemmer library to work properly with the correct encoding, modify the init.py file of the library as follows:

class GreekStemmer:
    def load_settings(self):
        custom_rules = ""
        with open(os.path.join(
                  os.path.dirname(__file__), 'stemmer.yml'), 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
            custom_rules = yaml.load(f.read(), Loader=yaml.FullLoader)
        return custom_rules
        

This ensures that the stemmer.yml file is loaded with the correct encoding.

---

Usage

1. Set Up the Virtual Environment

2. Import the CSV Data

Run the script to import the CSV data into your PostgreSQL database: python modules/import_csv_to_db.py

3. Create the Final Speeches Table

After importing the data, create the final_speeches table: python modules/create_final_speeches.py

4. Clean Up Data

Remove rows with NULL values in the member_name column: python modules/clear_null_values.py

---

Notes

• Ensure PostgreSQL is running before executing the scripts.
• Place the Greek_Parliament_Proceedings_1989_2020.csv file in the data folder.
• The .env file is critical for securely passing database credentials.

---