[pdb-discuss] Re: updated db plan

Mon Feb 27 16:17:44 UTC 2006

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> I see that genre on pdb_work_data is a varchar(20), should it be a
> reference to a genre table row index?

yeah, thats something Ive been debating over. I was thinking that having the
genre (or any key references) as a VARCHAR. The table is more inteligible to
humans, and more self-sufficient, though if there was a spelling mistake the
point of a relational database is rather defeated.... it probably would be
better as an integer.

Do work data and medium data reflect the copyrighted work of the
> score and the recording respectively? If so is it worth making this
> explicit?

Work data is information on the actual work, medium data  is  information on
the reproduction. ie. a piece of music may have scores, audio recordings,
and possibly also video. You'd expect a digital reproduction of a film, but
you could also have the script.  So medium data is the record of copyright
in the DB..

Im assuming that all copyrights are associated with a medium,   and that
many mediums can relate to a work... and that different mediums can hold
different copyrights. (!!)

Im getting quite confused by this, I don't know if this is the best way of
doing it.

For countries should we use country code or have a list of countries?
> That said, what if a work was composed in Austria-Hungary or
> Yugoslavia? So country names as strings are probably best.

not too sure on the best way  of doing that...  does each country have its
own copyright laws? btw. I guess artist nationality could be included also.
(would that be of consequence to a copyright?)

For artist first and last names we may need to be careful to make
> clear which are given and family names with for example Japanese
> composers :-).

would an additional field facilitate that? any suggestions?

--
Dan Leech
Virtual Art Solutions
www.dantleech.com
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