[pdb-discuss] Re: updated db plan

[Rufus Pollock]

I would like to discuss the whole development plan more generally but 
that will go better in another mail so I will just address the existing 
points below.

~rufus

Dan Leech wrote:
> 
> 
>     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.

I have to say I don't think we need the genre for the time being and it 
could be omitted.

>     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.

The copyright is always associated with the work (and certainly not with 
a particular digital copy of the work). Thus copyright should be 
associated with the work rather than the medium.

>     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?)

IMO we don't need this information in the db. Country of origin does not 
affect the length of the copyright in the UK.

>     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?

I think we are making this too complex. It is better to get something 
wholly working and then refactor otherwise we will get overwhelmed at 
the planning stage.

~rufus