Mar
12
Where did I get that data from?
Did you ever have data lying around that you couldn't figure out where you got it from?
You downloaded and imported data from an FTP site into your database ages ago and you actually want to use it now. But if different records come from different sources, it can be really challenging to know what data to trust or how to retrieve additional information afterwards. Not keeping track of the source of the data breaks the chain of provenance.
I've seen it happen.
So what do you do? The obvious thing when you're working with a database is to have an additional column for that table where you can store the FTP URL or the people who sent you the data. Easy peasy. Things get a lot more complicated if different cells in a single row can have different sources.
You downloaded and imported data from an FTP site into your database ages ago and you actually want to use it now. But if different records come from different sources, it can be really challenging to know what data to trust or how to retrieve additional information afterwards. Not keeping track of the source of the data breaks the chain of provenance.
I've seen it happen.
So what do you do? The obvious thing when you're working with a database is to have an additional column for that table where you can store the FTP URL or the people who sent you the data. Easy peasy. Things get a lot more complicated if different cells in a single row can have different sources.
