Data system is a term used to refer to an organized collection of
symbols
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
and processes that may be used to operate on such symbols. Any organised collection of symbols and symbol-manipulating operations can be considered a
data
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...
system. Hence, human-speech analysed at the level of
phonemes
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
can be considered a data system as can the
Incan
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...
artefact of the
khipu
''Quipu'' (also spelled ''khipu'') are recording devices fashioned from strings historically used by a number of cultures in the region of Andean South America.
A ''quipu'' usually consisted of cotton or camelid fiber strings. The Inca people ...
and an image stored as
pixels
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the sm ...
. A data system is defined in terms of some
data model
A data model is an abstract model that organizes elements of data and standardizes how they relate to one another and to the properties of real-world entities. For instance, a data model may specify that the data element representing a car be co ...
and bears a resemblance to the idea of a
physical symbol system
A physical symbol system (also called a formal system) takes physical patterns (symbols), combining them into structures (expressions) and manipulating them (using processes) to produce new expressions.
The physical symbol system hypothesis (PSSH ...
.
Symbols within some data systems may be persistent or not. Hence, the sounds of human speech are non-persistent symbols because they decay rapidly in air. In contrast, pixels stored on some peripheral storage device are persistent symbols.
Education
In
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
, a data system is a computer system that aims to provide educators with student data to help solve educational problems. Examples of data systems include
Student Information Systems (SISs), assessment systems, Instructional Management Systems (IMSs), and data-warehousing systems, but distinctions between different types of data systems are blurring as these separate systems begin to serve more of the same functions. Data systems that present data to educators in an
over-the-counter data
Over-the-counter data (OTCD) is a design approach used in data systems, particularly educational technology data systems, in order to increase the accuracy of users' data analyses by better reporting data. The approach involves adhering to stand ...
format embed labels, supplemental documentation, and help system and make key package/display and content decisions to improve the accuracy of data system users’ data analyses.
[Rankin, J. (2013, March 28)]
How data Systems & reports can either fight or propagate the data analysis error epidemic, and how educator leaders can help.
''Presentation conducted from Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership (TICAL) School Leadership Summit.''
See also
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CRUD
In computer programming, create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) are the four basic operations of persistent storage. CRUD is also sometimes used to describe user interface conventions that facilitate viewing, searching, and changing information u ...
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Data processing
Data processing is the collection and manipulation of digital data to produce meaningful information.
Data processing is a form of ''information processing'', which is the modification (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an ...
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Longitudinal data system
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Paul Beynon-Davies
Paul Beynon-Davies (born 1957) is a British academic, author and consultant.
Biography
Born in the Rhondda, Wales, he received his BSc in Economics and Social Science and PhD in Computing from University of Wales College, Cardiff.
Before tak ...
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Persistent data structure
In computing, a persistent data structure or not ephemeral data structure is a data structure that always preserves the previous version of itself when it is modified. Such data structures are effectively immutable, as their operations do not (v ...
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Persistence (computer science)
In computer science, persistence refers to the characteristic of state of a system that outlives (persists more than) the process that created it. This is achieved in practice by storing the state as data in computer data storage. Programs have t ...
References
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Information systems
Databases