As I was learning about databases in phase 3 at Flatiron, I started to notice similarities between the way databases (DB's) and society (particularly here in the U.S.) manages data. This really dawned on me when I learned that each table in a DB keeps track of each row/entry with a unique ID. Thinking about your driver's license or personal ID card, you might realize that the unique ID number on the card, which is in the state system, is simply a unique ID on an enormous table of data that contains you as an entry/row. This blew my mind when I thought of it this way, especially when I considered that digital DB's have only been around for around 20-30 years. Before computers, these huge DB's containing all of our identifying information was stored in filing cabinets.
You might imagine what other attributes or columns might be on a given table for a U.S. state's DB. You have your unique ID which is just an integer. But then you also have Boolean data. Has a given entry (person) demonstrated through testing that they are capable of operating a vehicle safely and are over the age of 16? True or false? Has a given entry given consent to donate their organs to medical causes should they meet an untimely demise? True or false? And then our state's DB stays updated with other data like our weight, height (INT's), whether or not we can see well without glasses (Bool), and also a good old JPEG with an image of each entry from the chest up.
It was really interesting to consider how dependent we are on using numerical, text and binary data to organize systems in our societies. So much of our lives revolve around data. Whether it's your lunch number, the unique magnet in your credit card, your Flatiron student ID number or your Facebook account password, you can rest assured that you are an entry in a DB, somewhere.
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