Question

Homework Assignment #3: Data Resource Management

Information is not just stored for business related events. Data is created, saved and processed regarding almost every aspect of modern life. This assignment will have 3 sections, the first two will cover your personal experience with information storage and access. The third section will deal with current issues regarding any concerns associated with the amount of information available today. Each section should contain a page of single space text with two pages required for the third section. Cite your sources.

Section #1: Data Storage

Have you ever actively stored information electronically? This does not have to be limited to creating your own database, but could include anything from storing personal files to even creating a list of information. Discuss you experiences with storing information, such as creating a Music Catalog or Database, organization of Expenses or Bills, etc.

           

Section #2: Accessing Data

Where and how do you access information stored in a Database? Discuss how you use information either at work, school or in your personal life. For example: accessing a product inventory, customer account information, checking the balance or making a deposit in your bank account, etc. What application do you use to reference this information, such as using a web interface to access an XML or MySQL database? Further outline your experience with data storage and database management by discussing your experience with common database applications and the programming language behind them, such as using Microsoft Access based on Visual Basic or an Oracle Suite with SQL for performing backend queries.

Section #3: Issues Regarding Data Access

• With the amount of information being stored allowing easier access along with the ability to cross-reference many different sources, do you see any areas needing improvement? This could be achieved either by better organization for easier access or through more regulation on availability. Some examples to consider include the rights for the public to obtain data through the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) after a certain amount of time. Another is the voluntary release of phone records by all major mobile communication carriers. Some recent information privacy laws have been enacted such as the California Consumer Privacy Act CCPA or the GDPR in the European Union.

• What do you think about Government Data Mining and Private Third Party Data Warehousing? Many private sector companies will sell or purchase information mainly for marketing purposes and access to potential customers. This is often general demographic statistics based on home location and average income, but can include personal information such as product preferences based on purchases tracked by use of a preferred customer card. Please find and make recommendations for any existing regulations regarding the collection or sale of this personal customer data. Also outline your experiences with such marketing practices, for example receiving unwanted credit card applications. This ubiquitous marketing method is often based on information sold by your existing bank, school, etc. You may request to be taken off such lists and can often find who sold that company your information, but such laws are often changing and based on public awareness.

Answer 1

Explanation :

Data storage has come a long way since the days of disk systems. Sure, those disk systems might still be used here and there—but now all that data is attached to a network and software-defined.

The simplicity of using a paper punch card to hold data has long gone by the wayside. Today data can be stored not only on hard disks, memory cards, and DVDs but also in the cloud, and on atoms and DNA.

Data Storage :

• Data storage is the recording (storing) of information (data) in a storage medium. DNA and RNA, handwriting, phonographic recording, magnetic tape, and optical discs are all examples of storage media. Recording may be accomplished with virtually any form of energy. Electronic data storage requires electrical power to store and retrieve data.
• Data storage in a digital, machine-readable medium is sometimes called digital data. Computer data storage is one of the core functions of a general purpose computer. Electronic documents can be stored in much less space than paper documents. Barcodes and magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) are two ways of recording machine-readable data on paper.

Electronic Data Storage :

• Electronic Data storage is the collective methods and technologies that capture and retain digital information on electromagnetic, optical or silicon-based storage media. Storage is a key component of digital devices, as consumers and businesses have come to rely on it to preserve information ranging from personal photos to business-critical information.
• Data storage is the collection and retention of digital information—the bits and bytes behind applications, network protocols, documents, media, address books, user preferences, and more. Data storage is a central component of big data.
• Data storage essentially means that files and documents are recorded digitally and saved in a storage system for future use. Storage systems may rely on electromagnetic, optical or other media to preserve and restore the data if needed. Data storage makes it easy to back up files for safekeeping and quick recovery in the event of an unexpected computing crash or cyber-attack.
• Data storage can occur on physical hard drives, disk drives, USB drives or virtually in the cloud. The important thing is that your files are backed up and easily available should your systems ever crash beyond repair. Some of the most important factors to consider in terms of data storage are reliability, how robust the security features tend to be and the cost to implement and maintain the infrastructure. Browsing through different data storage solutions and applications can help you arrive at the choice that is the best fit for your business' needs.
• Data storage describes what type of, where, and how hardware or software holds, deletes, backs up, organizes, and secures information. This includes keeping data in temporary or permanent storage. The digitization of manufacturing, known as Industry 4.0, is a good example of how the enormous volumes of data, real-time analysis, and quickness drive innovation and increase data storage demands.

In the light of the above discussions, an outline of the first question is provided below:

The Solution :

Q. SECTION#1: Data Storage :

Yes indeed I have been actively involved in storing information electronically. On a personal level, the most important data storage activity I need to maintain in my personal laptop is a table containing the various online accounts I need to maintain for my day to day activity and the respective User Identification ( user id ) and the associated passwords thereof. With the advent of Internet, due to our omnipotent presence in the online domain including social networking, in the modern world it is a Herculian task to maintain and remember all the user id and passwords for our several accounts we need to maintain at various websites, web portals, online shopping sites, online study channels and of course, social media accounts. In order to overcome this challenge, I maintain a separate file for storing the account name and its related user id and password in a consolidated Excel sheet and update it whenever I need to create a new account. This even includes the several banking accounts I transact online for which I have been provided the user id and password. Remembering this vast information, and very important ones of course, would be very difficult without a proper catalog of my various accounts. Hence is my active involvement with data storage on my personal device for ease, convenience and time-saving as well.

The technical details of my personal data storage are highlighted as follows:

1. Format :

I store the digital data referred to above in a sheet of Excel file in the hard drive of my personal laptop with separate columns for Serial number, Name of the organisation, associated User Id and corresponding Password.

2. Hardware involved :

I store the above file in the Hard drive of my personal laptop.

3. Software involved :

I store the above file through the application software Microsoft Excel, which is the spreadsheet component of the Microsoft Office Suit installed in my laptop.

3. Indexing the file :

In order to reference the data in the said stored file, it is of immense necessity to be able to fetch the correct data from among the several rows of similar information and therefore, an index of the stored data is of utmost importance which I simply achieve by maintaing a unique serial number for the new record added which keeps on increasing with each new line of information. This is similar to the concept of the Primary key in database design.

4. Data Security :

For obvious reasons, the data that is stored under discussion is very private and confidential and thus, security of the said data is very crucial to me. In addition to providing secure login credentials like user id and password as well as finger-print recognition to access my laptop, I have also made the file where this data is stored password-protected, a feature that comes along with this application software, so that even if the file is hacked from my computer through wither unauthorised access or hacking over Internet, the file can not still be opened without the proper encrypted password.

6. Data Backup :  

Since the data contained in this file is very important to me and it is stored on the hard drive of my laptop, which might crash at any point of time due to either a software or a hardware failure that is often inevitable, I regularly take a back- up of this file in a USB pen drive every week and additionally I update a copy of the file stored at my cloud storage whenever I update or add new data to the file. In this way, I can rest assured in case of the unfortunate event of hardware or software crash, I can still recover the important file either from my cloud or pen drive back-up once the laptop has been recovered and made operational.

This concludes the discussion on my personal experience on data storage as mentioned in the first question of the topic under consideration and the other parts can also be built based on the discussions as above on similar lines.

Since I am authorised to answer only the first question in case of multiple questions as per the answering policy, this concludes my answer. However if you require any further assistance, you may please repos the other questions separately again and I am sure any of our experts will be at your support promptly.

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