Beyond the Data Base: Technology for Information Resource Management

摘要

This report is about data in our society. It first discusses values, how people feel about using data. It then discusses how man has used the technology that is available as tools in handling data, and how data handling has changed as technology changes. Information resource management is now changing very rapidly as new technology becomes available. The report argues that the complex programs we call data base management systems (DBMS) are an artifact of monolithic computers with hierarchies of secondary storage managed by complex general purpose operating systems. The next step will take the DBMS apart, distributing the data management functions to provide the same capabilities with less constraints. The report concludes with a discussion of theory regarding computer based data management. It covers the intellectual ferment following the introduction of random access secondary storage, the development of CODASYL, and the relational model. It briefly discusses the familiar arguments regarding the need to separate logical data definition from the physical location of data, stressing different representational requirements. The report concludes with the author's view of what is needed to form an adequate foundation for information resource management system development. (Author)