IFS 106
Favorites
My very favorite database-related links will be posted here.
DB and Access
www.scsite.com/ac2003/more is a site reference in our book for "more" information on Access terms and such. There are some pretty cool online quizzes under the "Learn it online" and then "Who wants to be a computer genius" links. Enjoy.
Here are some relevant Wikipedia links for you:
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Access - "Microsoft Access" page
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_database_management_system - Access is a "relational database management system"
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_F._Codd - "Edgar F. Codd" was a pioneer in relational database technology
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_Query_Language - "SQL" or "Structured Query Language"
www.mysql.com is "the world's most popular open source database" which means 1) it's, pretty popular, 2) it's free, and 3) it's probably a little tougher to learn than Access. If you ever need to do some real database stuff, however, I encourage you to try it out.
Last and probably least, office.microsoft.com/access , is the Microsoft site for Access.
We'll talk about database normalization. It's not directly covered in our text, but it's an important topic:
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_normalization - Wikipedia treatment with clearly defined 1st, 2nd and 3rd normal forms
- dev.mysql.com/tech-resources/articles/intro-to-normalization.html - best intro explanation that I found in a few minutes of surfing... I love his new term: "Spreadsheet Syndrome"
- www.devshed.com/c/a/MySQL/An-Introduction-to-Database-Normalization/ - a nice, quick introduction with a simple example included
DB Ethics and Privacy
We will (briefly) discuss database ethics and privacy issues, mainly by looking cases studies from the recent past. Like:
- www.cio.com/blog_view.html?CID=24106 - AOL accidentally (or not?) made public search records for its users. How might this impact the privacy of AOL users?
- www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1090180335850 - includes examples of use of the I-PASS, cell phone and other databases by law enforcement and attorneys involved in private lawsuits like divorces.
- www.ipass.com/company/company_privacypolicy.html - the I-PASS privacy description... yeah, search on "law enforcement".
- Cameras are now in place in some cities, like Chicago:
www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-061003cameras-story,1,749962.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips are a way to tag or identify objects using radio waves. RFID is rapidly growing in popularity and raises its own set of datbase privacy concerns:
- www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/207 - is a FAQ list for RFID technology, short but informative
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID - is a nice Wikipedia summary, focus on the current uses of RFID that are out there and also the "Controversy" section
- www.verichipcorp.com/ - a company selling human-implantable RFID chips
Etc
We all have web sites here at beautiful North Central College. You can find the list of "published" student web pages here: its.noctrl.edu/help/webpages/student_pages.shtml
My web page is listed in the published faculty section: its.noctrl.edu/help/webpages/faculty_pages.shtml
email: wtkrieger@noctrl.edu
web site: william.krieger.faculty.noctrl.edu/