Information Communication technology –
applications
Bibliographic Database : A
collection of bibliographic records in a machine-readable form.
Typical databases include surrogates (i.e. author’s name,
title, abstract, etc) of library holdings or published journal articles.
Bibliographic Record : A
collection of bibliographic data fields treated as one logical entity
that describes a specific bibliographic item.
Database : Refers generally
a machine-readable file of records but may be used more specifically to refer a
shared collection of structured data managed by a set of special software.
Database
Management System : The software used to
manipulate and access data stored in database. A DBMS is generally designed to
provide facilities for the maintenance of and access to structured data. The
characteristics of data can be clearly defined with the help of a DBMS.
Field : Collection of data
elements that together make up a unit of information. A field contains data
elements such as the name of the author, title of the document, imprint, etc.
File : An organised
collection of information and may consist of a set of logical records. It may
be a named collection of computer records, usually with common attributes. A
file may be stored and recalled as one unit by name.
Format : Structuring of
fields in a record.
MARC Format : A
bibliographic record format that has been devised for the MARC
project.
Record : A collection of
fields that form a logically related and discrete unit of information. For
example, information regarding a library user constitutes a personal record.
Cache Memory : A high speed
temporary storage in the CPU for storing parts of a
program or data during processing.
Binary Search : A search
technique for sorted data.
B-tree : An indexed data
storage method that is efficient for a wide range of data access tasks.
B+-tree : A variation on the
B-tree structure that provides sequential access to the data as well as
fast-indexed access.
Hashing : An access
mechanism that transforms the search key into a storage address,thereby
providing very fast access to stored data.
Index : A sorted list of key
values from the original table along with a pointer to the rest of the data in
each row.
Pointer : A logical or
physical address of a piece of data .
RAID : Redundant Array of
Independent Disks. A disk drive system that consists of multiple drives with
independent controllers. The goal is to split the data to provide faster access
and automatic duplication for error recovery.
Sequential Access : Access
that takes records in order, looking at the first, then the next, and so on.
Access Method : The method
used to store, find and retrieve the data from a database.
Artificial Intelligence : A
branch of computer science that is attempting to develop systems to emulate
human-like qualities such as learning, reasoning, communicating, seeing and
hearing.
Data Independence
: Separates the data from the program, which often
enables data definition to be changed without altering the program.
Data Integrity : Keeping
accurate data which means few errors and the data reflect the true state of a
database.
Dependency : A dependency
refers to relationship amongst attributes belonging to the relation or
different relations.
E-R Diagram :
Entity-Relationship Diagram. A diagram that shows associations (relationships)
between entities.
Expert System : A system
with a knowledge base consisting of data and rules that enables users to make
decisions as effectively as an expert.
Foreign Key : A column in
one table that is primary key in a second table. It does not need to be a key
in the first table.
Knowledge Base : A knowledge
base is an expert system’s database of knowledge about a particular subject.
This includes relevant facts, rules and procedures for solving problems. The
basic unit of knowledge is expressed as an IF-THEN- ELSE rule.
Normalisation : The process
of creating a well-behaved set of tables to efficiently store data, minimize
redundancy and ensure data integrity.
Primary Key : A column or a
set of columns that identify a particular row in a table.
Relation : A relation is a
table.
Relationship : An
association between two or more entities.
Schema : An overall conceptual
or logical view of the relationships between the data in a database.
Subschema : A subset or
transformation of the logical view of the database schema that is required by a
particular user application program.
Transparent : In computing,
it pertains to a process or procedure involving a user without the later being
aware of its existence.
Boolean Operators : A system
of three symbolic logical operators to combine search terms to constitute a
search statement, representing ‘logical sum’ (+) (OR), ‘logical product’ (x)
(AND) and ‘logical difference’ (-) (NOT)
Data : Raw numbers or
letters stored in a computer which represent facts about entities
Database : An organised
collection of data that exists for the purpose of providing information
Descriptor : A word / term
taken from a controlled vocabulary – usually a thesaurus – and assigned to a
text to represent, partially or fully, the ‘aboutness’ of the text (see also
Keyword)
Field-Specific search : A
search facility that allows the searcher to specify the field (e.g. Title
field) in which a search term should be present
0 Comments