ONLINE DATABASE

ONLINE DATABASE

The Law dictionary (2012), defines online databases as “A web-based filing

system used to store information or records, accessible by using web scripts.

Use often requires a paid subscription”.

 According to the University Santo Tomas (2008), “Online databases are

collections of computerized information or data such as articles, books,

graphics and multimedia that can be searched to find information. Databases

can be general or subject based in form of abstracts and or full text”.

CHARACTERISTICS

i. Organized Collection

In an online database, contents are arranged logically to facilitate easy access

and retrieval. Documents in such types of systems are organized in a suitable manner for carrying out easy and fast retrieval of information.

ii. Credibility

In online databases, recorded contents of information are reviewed by subject

experts and publishers to maintain credibility and authenticity of the resources. The contents of database are finely evaluated in terms of their accuracy and credibility

iii. Usability

The well defined organization of information contents and search capabilities

of online databases allow users to search and retrieve results more efficiently and

effectively.

iv. Conversational

Searches in online databases are conducted as a two-way communication

between the searcher and the system, in which each get a chance to communicate with each other. Therefore, online databases are referred to as interactive or conversational.

v. Expert System

Online databases are characterized as expert systems that provide information

on specialized areas of knowledge, e.g. a nuclear database gathers specific

information on nuclear sciences from experts or specialized associations and provides particulars of the nuclear sciences.

vi. Controlled Vocabulary

To support searching, online databases usually have their own controlled

vocabulary. Controlled vocabulary is largely used for information presentation and retrieval, though the keyword searching is also supported by almost all the online systems.

vii. Permanence

Published documents, such as journals, reviews and books, etc. in online

databases do not change frequently. These information documents remain in

databases for a long time in the form of archives to again retrieve the information.

viii. Up-to-Date

All the online databases comprise current information on its concerned areas.

Online database providers or publishers are regularly updating their contents by

adding new information to provide current and copyrighted scholarly materials.

ix. Real-time

Real time in online database operations implies that the remote terminals respond

quickly to the user's search processes. Remote terminals receive data, search

the information, and return the results more frequently to be utilized by the users in ongoing activities.

x. Time-sharing

On-line time-sharing implies the sharing of machine processing time among a

number of terminals. It means that the processing time of the computer is equally

shared amongst independent activities. By time sharing many users can search the information simultaneously either from the same place or variant locations.