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Jan's Working with Databases

   Intro: Exercise Access 1-2

You use databases all the time without realizing it. Do some thinking, observing, and research to see how many there are that affect you.

Exercise Access 1-2: On Your Own

What you will do: Find databases in your own home.
List databases that have information about you.

Start with:  Notepad or any other text editor or word processor.

  1. Start a new document with your name as the first line.

  2. Physical in your home:
    Inspect your home and make a list of all of the physical databases (not on a computer!) that you find there. Be specific with names or descriptions. (You can stop if you reach 20 different types!)

    Hint: Consider items like recipe books, scrapbooks, photo albums, dictionaries, encyclopedias, address books, phone books, TV listings, course listings from colleges, school yearbooks, calendars.

  3. Icon: Print Print your list.
  4. Icon: Class disk Save your list as homedatabases-Lastname-Firstname.txt to your Class disk in the folder databases project1. Of course you should use your own first name and last name in the file name.
  5. Start another new document with your name as the first line.

  6. In the world:
    Think hard and make a list of databases out in the world that would have information about you. Be as specific as you can be without getting too personal. (You can stop if you can list 30.)

    Hint: Consider web sites that require login (eBay, PayPal, Amazon, news site, game site, store with a rewards card,... I have 218 stored logins at the moment!) and organizations like financial institutions (credit cards, banks, mortgage companies, lenders...), government agencies (auto registration, property tax assessor, driver's license, IRS, FBI crime records, Family and Children's Services,...), schools and colleges, organizations that you belong to (religious group, Red Cross, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H, Rotary, political party, environmental or conservation group, lobbying group, union or other work-related group...), , medical organizations (doctors, hospitals, clinics, health insurance).

    What other groups might have a record about you??

  7. Icon: Print Print your list.
  8. Icon: Class disk Save your list as worlddatabases-Lastname-Firstname.txt to your Class disk in the folder databases project1. (Use your own first name and last name, of course.)

Each of the two lists that you created is a metadatabase, that is, a database consisting of databases.