Re: What is that "more" that makes E-R model truly independent ?

From: paul c <toledobythesea_at_oohay.ac>
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:02:11 GMT
Message-ID: <DeMpi.5659$fJ5.3382_at_pd7urf1no>


David Cressey wrote:
...
> If you'll grant me one proviso, I'm going to claim that it happens nearly
> always in practice. The proviso I'm asking you to grant is that if a user
> has merely an intuitive grasp of "what the data really means", that means
> that the user has a conceptual model of the data in his/her brain, even if
> it might be at an unconscious or subverbal level.
>
> What happens a great deal in practice, in my experience, is that different
> users (and other stakeholders) have mutually contradictory conceptual models
> of the data, and what it means in the real world. They may or may not be
> aware of these contradictions. And a database cum application that may be
> working "perfectly" from the point of view of abstract mathematics may in
> fact be delivering a great deal of negative value to the enterprise because
> of the misunderstandings between people who affect the data or are affected
> by it.
>

And the majority that operate imperfectly too!

> Most of the regulars in this newsgroup prefer not to deal with such issues.
> That's fine, in theory. In practice, it is not.

Heh, I think that's because there is no theory answer for such issues. In practice, I thought the pink slip worked well.

p Received on Wed Jul 25 2007 - 20:02:11 CEST

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