Week 4 Readings

Wikipedia : Database

While reading this, I tried to think which sorts of models and operations were used by the database I worked with at my old job. I'm not sure, though -- it seems like the interface made everything obscure to the user. I would think it was a network database, but I'm not sure. I definitely remember issues with locking. With the database I used, it seemed to work in the manner than an OS makes a computer usable -- the software's interface made the data easily retrievable without much IT knowledge. Of course, when there were problems, I had to go to a supervisor or IT person.

Interesting that wikipedia notes a bibliographic database (ie library catalogue) as its own type of database. How does it function differently than other kinds?

Gilliland: Metadata

I'm glad this article is giving such specific examples of metadata (library metadata could be Library of Congress subject headings; archival metadata could be a finding aid). Although the term may have been borrowed from geodata specialists, it can be used for information in lots of forms, digital or not.

The issue of standardization is interesting. In the archival preservation course, we've been learning about international standards for microfilming & other materials. Although the guidlelines here aren't as physical; they seem to be organizational/content standards.

So metadata records our interactions with data as well as the information object's content. So it will increase over time as we process/preserve/modify data -- is this part of the information boom or a sort of shadow-boom?

Dublin Core

This deals with the previous question of standardization of metadata. Have these semantic guidelines been widely adopted? By whom? Have they been revised since this was originally published?