Tute-7
1. Determine if an entry in Wikipedia is an example of transactional
information or analytical information.
Wikipedia is an example for both; transactional or analytical information
because Articles inWikipedia are continually edited and usually improved over
time. In general this results in an upward trend of quality. An entry in Wikipedia
would be transactional information, while the articles which have achieved
certain standards over a period of time would be an example of analytical
information.
2. What is the impact to Wikipedia if the information contained in its
database is of low quality?
It will lose its quality and standard. Most articles are not of encyclopedic
quality from the start. It may take months or years of continuous editing before
an article can reach certain quality or standard
3. Review the five common characteristics of high quality information and
rank them in order ofimportance to Wikipedia.
1. Accuracy: Information needs to be of high quality to be useful and accurate.
2. Completeness: Partial information is incomplete because it is only a small
part of the picture.
3. Consistency: Consistency is the key when entering information into a
database. If a field is set to
accept a ten digit number, entering more or less digits will create inconsistency.
4. Uniqueness: In order to add value to the organization, information must be
unique and distinctive.
5. Timeliness: New and updated data is more valuable than old outdated
information.
4. How is Wikipedia resolving the issue of poor information?
Wikipedia originally allowed unrestricted access so that people could contribute
to the site without undergoing a registration process. As with any database
management system, governance is a key issue. Without governance, there is no
control over how information is published and maintained. But as Websites like
Wikipedia grow in volume, it will be
nearly impossible to govern them. Wikipedia began tightening its rules for
submitting entries following the disclosure that it ran a piece falsely implication
a man in the Kennedy assassination. Wikipedia now requires users to register
before they can create articles.
5. Identify the different types of entities that might be stored in Wikipedia’s
database.
Entities could include:
• SUBJECT AREA
• SEARCH TERM
• WEB PAGE
• RESOURCE EDITOR
6. Why is database technology so important to Wikipedia’s business
model?
Without databases, Wikipedia simply would not exist for two primary reasons.
First, vast amounts of information are at the heart of Wikipedia and without
databases it would be impossible to store and retrieve the information. This is
the information that Wikipedia’s customers are editing and researching. Second,
Wikipedia uses database to store its indexes and to find and retrieve the
information that its customers are looking for. Again, without databases
Wikipedia simply would not exist – its business operates entirely on databases.
7. How could Wikipedia use a data warehouse to improve its business
operations?
Wikipedia could use a data warehouse to build a repository of information from
sources all over the world. The data warehouse could be used to perform
detailed analysis on subject matters ranging from history to medicine.
8. Why must Wikipedia cleanse or scrub the information in its data
warehouse?
Wikipedia must maintain high quality information in its data warehouse.
Information cleansing and scrubbing is a process that weeds out and fixes or
discards inconsistent, incorrect, or incomplete information. Without high quality
information Wikipedia will be unable to offer customers accurate and complete
information.
9. How could a company use information from Wikipedia to gain business
intelligence?
Business intelligence comes from such things as environmental scanning and
market analysis. A company could use information from Wikipedia as external
information in its data warehouse that could help it analyses new trends and
technologies.