[Okfn-ca] Fwd: [CivicAccess-discuss] Help on definition for "database"

[Diane Mercier]

Bonjour,

La définition d'une base de données (database) référée par Kent Mewhort 
du CIPPIC et CLIPol
http://cippic.ca
http://clipol.org




-------- Message original --------
Sujet: 	Re: [CivicAccess-discuss] Help on definition for "database"
Date : 	Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:43:56 +0200
De : 	Kent Mewhort <kent at openissues.ca>
Répondre à : 	civicaccess discuss <civicaccess-discuss at civicaccess.ca>
Pour : 	civicaccess discuss <civicaccess-discuss at civicaccess.ca>



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 <dwight.hines at gmail.com 
> <mailto:dwight.hines at gmail.com>> 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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>
>
>
>
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-- Curation par :

Dre Diane Mercier
Ph.D. Sciences de l'information

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« Pas de données ouvertes, sans logiciel libre et sans formats ouverts »


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