The document provides an overview of databases and database applications. It discusses what databases are, the basic structure of databases, different types of database software, and common database operations like storing, sorting, updating, querying and summarizing information. The document also addresses both benefits and privacy threats posed by large accessible databases, giving examples of how databases can make lives more convenient but also threaten privacy by collecting and sharing personal information.

1. Slide 1
Database Applications and Implications

2. Slide 2
Chapter 7
Objectives
 Explain what a database is and describe its basic structure
 Identify the kinds of problems that can be best solved with
database software
 Describe different kinds of database software, from simple file
managers to complex relational databases

3. Slide 3
Chapter 7
Objectives (continued)
 Describe database operations for storing, sorting, updating,
querying, and summarizing information
 Give examples of ways in which large, easily accessible
databases make lives safer or more convenient
 Explain the ways databases threaten our privacy

4. Slide 4
Chapter 7
Database Basics
“The most merciful thing in the world, I
think, is the inability of the human mind to
correlate its contents.”
-- H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu,1928

5. Slide 5
Chapter 7
Database Basics
What Good Is a Database?
 A database:
A collection of information
stored on computer disks
 Database software:
Application software
(like word processing and
spreadsheet software)
Designed to maintain databases
(collections of information)

6. Slide 6
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database
Basics
 Advantages offered by computerized databases:
Make it easier to store large quantities of information
Make it easier to retrieve information quickly and flexibly
Make it easy to organize and reorganize information
Make it easy to print and distribute information in a variety of ways

7. Slide 7
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
Database Anatomy
Database program: a software tool for organizing the
storage and retrieval of information
Database: a collection of information stored in an
organized form in a computer
Typically composed of one or more tables
A collection of related information
A collection of records

8. Slide 8
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database
Basics
 A record is the information relating to one person, product, or
event
 Each discrete piece of information in a record is a field
Field
Record
Table

9. Slide 9
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
 The type of information a field can hold is determined by its:
Field type
Sometimes called Data type or Field Data type
Data type can be text or numeric.
Numeric data type: date, GPA, Account balance
Text data type: Name, Major, Outstanding Arrest Warrants
 Database programs provide you with more than one way to
view data:
Form views
 Show one record at a time
List views
 Display several records in lists similar to the way a spreadsheet displays
data

10. Slide 10
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
In any view, fields can be
rearranged without changing
the underlying data
List View
Form View

11. Slide 11
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
Database Operations
 Import: receives data in the form of text files
 Example: Import grade data from Excel spreadsheet into the WebCT
student database.
 Browse: navigates through information
 Example: Display student names in alphabetical order, allowing a
teacher to choose which of the many Smiths he or she is looking for.
 Query: finds records that match specific criteria
 Example: Query all students where Lastname=Smith and
Gender=Female.

12. Slide 12
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
 Sort: rearranges records (alphabetically or numerically)
 Printing reports, labels, and form letters: a report is an
ordered list of selected records and fields in an easy-to-read
format

13. Slide 13
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
 Most modern database management programs support a standard
language for programming complex queries called SQL
(Structured Query Language)
 Available for many database management systems
 Programmers and sophisticated users don’t need to learn
new languages when they work with new systems
 Graphical user interfaces allow point-and-click queries
 Insulates users from the complexities of the query
language

14. Slide 14
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
Screen Test: Querying a Web Search Database
To search for articles
online about a new method
for recycling laser printer
toner cartridges, you can
visit a search engine such
as Google

15. Slide 15
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
When you hit the
“Search” button, the
search engine will return
a list of links, sorted by
relevancy

16. Slide 16
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
Selecting any of the
links will cause the
corresponding page to
load

17. Slide 17
Chapter 7
The Electronic File Cabinet: Database Basics
Special-Purpose Database Programs
 Specialized database software: preprogrammed for specific data
storage and retrieval purposes
 Geographical information systems (GIS): include geographic
and demographic data in map form

18. Slide 18
Other databases:
• eBay:
– Items for sale
– Item descriptions
– Bidding history
– Positive/negative feedback
• Facebook / Tumblr / Reddit
– Personal interests
– Photos
– Forum discussion
• California Sex Offender Registry
– Names
– Photos
– Map information

19. Slide 19
Chapter 7
Beyond the Basics:
Database Management Systems
 Data Mining:
 The discovery and extraction of hidden predictive information from large
databases
 Uses statistical methods and artificial intelligence technology
 Locates trends and patterns in data that would have been overlooked by
normal database queries

20. Slide 20
Chapter 7
No Secrets: Computers and Privacy
Personal Data: All About You
 More than 15,000 specialized
marketing databases contain
2,000,000,000 names
 These databases contain
characteristics like age, income,
religion

21. Slide 21
Information potentially available to a temporary
employee at a college administration office:
Your:
Full name (including name changes)
Full Social Security Number
Full student ID
Date of Birth
Address
Phone number (home, work, cell, etc.)
Race/Ethnicity
Marital Status
Gender
Number of credits earned
Grades (at all schools ever attended)
Every class ever taken at that college
Schedule
login name for all school systems
Email
Password (and the power to change
that password)
Stated educational goals
Country/State of origin
Full transcripts for that college
High school, military, and other
colleges’ transcripts
High school graduate/GED/Neither
Application status
Record of attendance
Priority for enrollment status (and the
power to change it)
Exemption status
Probation or expulsion status
Holds on account
Entrance test scores
ACT/SAT scores
AP scores
Class rosters

22. Slide 22
Personal Information about you
• Your name
• Your religion
• Books you read
• Online sites you visit
• The people you know
• The people you love
• Your fears
• Where you go
• What you do
• What you say
• What you own
• Your income
• Your savings
• Your debt
• Your sexual history
• Your medical history
• Your voting history
• Your criminal history

23. Slide 23
Chapter 7
No Secrets: Computers and Privacy
What is privacy?
 A common theme in privacy is the notion of access
 People tend to desire a certain amount of privacy to maintain
their dignity and freedom
 How much dignity would you have if everyone could read your
mind?
 Information about people can be of value to society
 How do people act? How does this differ from how they say they
act?
 Good information can lead to better public policy.

24. Slide 24
Amendment IV to the Constitution of the
United States
• The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not
be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but
upon probable cause, supported by oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons or things to be
seized.

25. Slide 25
Chapter 7
No Secrets: Computers and Privacy
The Privacy Problem
 Protection against invasion of privacy is not explicitly guaranteed by the
U.S. Constitution
 The right to privacy implied by other constitutional guarantees
 Debates rage about what this means
 Federal and state laws provide some specific forms of privacy protection
 Employee Polygraph Protection Act
 Employers can’t request or require a polygraph test
 Driver’s Privacy Protection Act
 The DMV can’t release or sell your personal information.
 Many European countries have had strong privacy protection laws for years
 Except for the CCtv surveillance throughout the UK, and Denmark, and Berlin…

26. Slide 26
• Voice recording
– In most states, requires consent of anyone recorded
– Became an issue in the Clinton Impeachment
• Linda Tripp recorded a telephone call from Maryland to
Washington DC
– Maryland law requires consent of the recorded
– Washington DC and Federal law do not
• Video recording
– Concealed cameras are legal in most places
• … as long as they don’t record audio.

27. Happy birthday, George Orwell…
Slide 27

28. Blake J. Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA)
• Sophomore disciplined by Vice Principal for
“improper behavior in his home”.
– Student was apparently “popping pills”
• Was really eating “Mike and Ike” candy.
– Used webcam photo as evidence.
• High school students given MacBook
laptops with remote access software
installed.
– Installed for “security purposes”, presumably
to detect theft.
– Letter from superintendant claimed that while
still photos are possible, the software doesn’t
enable full audio or video.
• (So the little green “ON” light will flash, but not
stay on.)
• October 2010: Robbins’ class action suit settled
for $610,000 from School District.

29. Slide 29
The Stalker Formula
• How to prevent stalking behavior? Don’t be one.
• After a breakup, calculate the total number of months
that you dated.
• You may reasonably read your ex’s blog or facebook
page this number of times every five years.
– Exception: yes, you can increase this figure if you have
genuinely remained friends.

30. Slide 30
Chapter 7
No Secrets: Computers and Privacy
Big Brother and Big Business
 Other information technologies amplify the threat to personal privacy, too:
 Networks: make it possible for personal data to be transmitted almost anywhere
instantly
 Microsoft Account (previously Windows LiveID and Passport) can optionally
collect in a central database controlled by Microsoft
 Passwords
 Credit card numbers
 Other consumer information
 Fundamental problem with centralizing information:
 Central repositories can offer strong security measures
 But they’re also a more obvious target

31. Slide 31
Chapter 7
No Secrets: Computers and Privacy
 Workplace monitoring technology: enables managers
to learn more than ever before about the work habits and
patterns of workers
 Surveillance cameras: increasingly used for nabbing
routine traffic violations and detecting security violators,
can be combined with picture databases to locate
criminals—and non-criminals
 Surveillance satellites: can provide permanent peepholes
into our lives for anyone willing to pay the price
 Cell phones: are now required by law to include
technology to determine and transmit their locations to
emergency personnel responding to 911 calls

32. Slide 32
• Any questions?