Help on definition for "database"

[Dwight Hines]

I've made several requests for information about the databases created or maintained by the Maine Medical Examiners Office.  After over a month, the administrator wrote me and told me that they have been very busy and would like to know what I mean by database.

I'm hoping that someone on this list or other lists has a good inclusive definition of a database (one that includes electronic as well as manual systems).

The Medical Examiners Office is not accredited so I can not go by any external agency defintion, although they are a part of the Maine Attorney General Office.

Please let me hear from you.

Dwight Hines

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[john whelan]

My definition would be "a collection of data", by that definition the Oxford English dictionary is a database.  Others might like to say a structured collection of data held on a computer.

When we went looking as part of year 2000 preparations we found a large number of "informal" ones in spreadsheets and even word processor documents that weren't inventoried.

Can you be more precise about what information you are seeking?

Thanks John

On 13 June 2013 06:50, Dwight Hines <[hidden email]> wrote:

I've made several requests for information about the databases created or maintained by the Maine Medical Examiners Office.  After over a month, the administrator wrote me and told me that they have been very busy and would like to know what I mean by database.

I'm hoping that someone on this list or other lists has a good inclusive definition of a database (one that includes electronic as well as manual systems).

The Medical Examiners Office is not accredited so I can not go by any external agency defintion, although they are a part of the Maine Attorney General Office.

Please let me hear from you.

Dwight Hines

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CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
[hidden email]
http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss

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[Kent Mewhort-2]

Creative Commons sets out a definition on one of their info pages that I find very thorough.  It defines a database as consisting of four components (this table is from http://www.creativecommons.ca/faqs/data-licensor-faq, though the original is elsewhere at creativecommons.org):
 

The database model is a specification describing how a database is structured and organized, including database tables, table indexes, and metadata. The selection, coordination, and arrangement of the contents is subject to copyright if it is sufficiently original. In Canada, this threshold of originality turns on whether an author invests a non-trivial amount of “skill and judgment” to create the work. Canadian courts have been clear that this requires more than the mere exertion of labour: in many cases, copyright may not protect the database model.

The data entry and output sheets contain questions, and the answers to these questions are stored in a database. For example, a web page asking a scientist to enter a gene’s name, its pathway information, and its ontology would constitute a data entry sheet. The format and layout of these sheets are protected by copyright according to the same standard of originality used to analyze copyright in the database model.

Field names describe data sets. For example, “address” might be the name of the field for street address information. These are unlikely to be protected by copyright because they often do not typically reflect originality.

The data contained in the database are subject to copyright if they are sufficiently original. Original poems contained in a database would be protected by copyright, but purely factual data (such as gene names without more) contained in a database would not. Facts are not subject to copyright, nor are the ideas underlying copyrighted content.

Kent

On 13-06-13 01:58 PM, john whelan wrote:

My definition would be "a collection of data", by that definition the Oxford English dictionary is a database.  Others might like to say a structured collection of data held on a computer.

When we went looking as part of year 2000 preparations we found a large number of "informal" ones in spreadsheets and even word processor documents that weren't inventoried.

Can you be more precise about what information you are seeking?

Thanks John

On 13 June 2013 06:50, Dwight Hines <[hidden email]> wrote:

I've made several requests for information about the databases created or maintained by the Maine Medical Examiners Office.  After over a month, the administrator wrote me and told me that they have been very busy and would like to know what I mean by database.

I'm hoping that someone on this list or other lists has a good inclusive definition of a database (one that includes electronic as well as manual systems).

The Medical Examiners Office is not accredited so I can not go by any external agency defintion, although they are a part of the Maine Attorney General Office.

Please let me hear from you.

Dwight Hines

_______________________________________________
CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
[hidden email]
http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss

_______________________________________________
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http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss

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[Glen Newton]

Database is used more by the public and the media to describe a collection of data, as opposed to the more technical computer science definition.
In your sort of request i would lean towards asking for the former.

-Glen

On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 9:43 AM, Kent Mewhort <[hidden email]> wrote:

Creative Commons sets out a definition on one of their info pages that I find very thorough.  It defines a database as consisting of four components (this table is from http://www.creativecommons.ca/faqs/data-licensor-faq, though the original is elsewhere at creativecommons.org):
 

The database model is a specification describing how a database is structured and organized, including database tables, table indexes, and metadata. The selection, coordination, and arrangement of the contents is subject to copyright if it is sufficiently original. In Canada, this threshold of originality turns on whether an author invests a non-trivial amount of “skill and judgment” to create the work. Canadian courts have been clear that this requires more than the mere exertion of labour: in many cases, copyright may not protect the database model.

The data entry and output sheets contain questions, and the answers to these questions are stored in a database. For example, a web page asking a scientist to enter a gene’s name, its pathway information, and its ontology would constitute a data entry sheet. The format and layout of these sheets are protected by copyright according to the same standard of originality used to analyze copyright in the database model.

Field names describe data sets. For example, “address” might be the name of the field for street address information. These are unlikely to be protected by copyright because they often do not typically reflect originality.

The data contained in the database are subject to copyright if they are sufficiently original. Original poems contained in a database would be protected by copyright, but purely factual data (such as gene names without more) contained in a database would not. Facts are not subject to copyright, nor are the ideas underlying copyrighted content.

Kent

On 13-06-13 01:58 PM, john whelan wrote:

My definition would be "a collection of data", by that definition the Oxford English dictionary is a database.  Others might like to say a structured collection of data held on a computer.

When we went looking as part of year 2000 preparations we found a large number of "informal" ones in spreadsheets and even word processor documents that weren't inventoried.

Can you be more precise about what information you are seeking?

Thanks John

On 13 June 2013 06:50, Dwight Hines <[hidden email]> wrote:

I've made several requests for information about the databases created or maintained by the Maine Medical Examiners Office.  After over a month, the administrator wrote me and told me that they have been very busy and would like to know what I mean by database.

I'm hoping that someone on this list or other lists has a good inclusive definition of a database (one that includes electronic as well as manual systems).

The Medical Examiners Office is not accredited so I can not go by any external agency defintion, although they are a part of the Maine Attorney General Office.

Please let me hear from you.

Dwight Hines

_______________________________________________
CivicAccess-discuss mailing list
[hidden email]
http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss

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http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss

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