Wikipedia: Database
This article was very helpful to me in that it set forth basic principles that I sort of grasped instinctively about databases without having the knowledge to articulate it. For instance, the DBMS ideals of atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability make perfect sense, but I wouldn't have been able to put my finger on them just through observation. Of the three basic database models - hierarchical, network, and relational - I am still having trouble making a solid mental image of a relational model.
Metadata
The concept of "data about data" blew my mind until I read on to some of the examples. It is still a little treacherous that the term has quite different connotations in different times and fields.
Soo...is metadata what is contained within a database? Or is 'metadata' a term interchangeable with 'database'?
Dublin Core Data Model
Ambitious. I may have missed the target, but is the goal here a universally standardized world database? Is this even possible in theory? I guess I never realized how far we are from being able to collaborate worldwide on any topic.
Muddiest Point:
I think I understand a lot more about databases after these readings, but I am still having trouble visualizing the models, or coming up with concrete examples. Do all models fall into one of the three given categories, or are there major variations?
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Melissa,
Were we twins separated at birth?
Just kidding.
Though I was thinking the same things while reading.
I just shortened my conclusion of Dublin Core to that of a HUGE card catalog, b/c that is what I'm familiar with.
Anyone can find anything b/c there are so many fields and links going from one subject to another.
Can it really go world wide and be standardized?, is the question.
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