LOCATION: HOME PAGE: WHY DATABASES?

Table of Contents

Why talk about databases?

Modern society, and especially the Penn State community, are full of electronic databases. Databases are used for personnel records, student grades, and the library catalog to name just a few applications. Databases can seem cold and impersonal, but are actually a product of one of the most fundamental human drives - the need to organize, track and sort large collections of arbitrary data so it can be easily accessed and digested.

The purpose of this Web site is to answer the following dilemma - how can you use databases to improve your own research and more efficiently manage your life?

Most people use non-electronic databases like address books, attendance/grading rosters, phone books and encyclopedias. This site will try to apply the same concepts to electronic database then explore some ways databases can be be used.

The Contents

Non-Electronic Databases

A look at basic ways data was organized in the pre-electronic era, some advantages of electronic databases, and some applications in academic research and coursework.

Electronic Databases

Some of the advantages and disadvantages of electronic databases.

Databases in Course Work

Innovative ideas from nutrition, horticulture, linguistics and other disciplines where students use databases or collect data to be archived in a database.

Research Uses

An overview of how researchers different disciplines, including the social sciences and humanities, use databases.

Metadata

Metadata is being able to accurately describe the important information about a digital object such as an image, audio or video file.

Next: Non-Electronic Databases

Top of Page

OTHER SECTIONS: Home Page | Site Map | Glossary | Teaching Ideas

© 2004-2005 The Pennsylvania State University.

This Website is maintained by Elizabeth Pyatt (ejp10@psu.edu) for Teaching and Learning with Technology, a unit of Information Technology Services.

Last Update: August 1, 2005