Databases

While I knew of databases, I had little to no knowledge of what a database really is and what it is they do. I found these articles to be both a little confusing but also informative at the same time.  The idea of relational databases that I got was they are more complex systems that allow for easier and more efficient data manipulation due to reducing the “inefficiencies that often result from redundancies in the underlying data representation.” This, to my best understanding, is done by altering the original design of a data set and isolating the individual entities. I think this is what we were doing in class the other day with the chart of authors and their works, breaking one large chart down into smaller more characterized charts to reduce the amount of reoccurring information or data. These relational databases are used when there is an abundance of data that needs to be stored in the most efficient way possible. Using a relational database with only small amount of data would be excessive and could be done much easier and simpler by using a flat database. Flat databases are extremely easy to use and I’m sure anyone who has tried to use an excel document would agree. But with these flat databases it becomes increasingly difficult and inefficient to use with larger amounts of data. In the DH realm, these relational databases will be much more prominent and useful.