USER-DATABASE INTERACTION AT THE KNOWLEDGE LEVEL OF ABSTRACTION

Citation
Hc. Chan et Rc. Goldstein, USER-DATABASE INTERACTION AT THE KNOWLEDGE LEVEL OF ABSTRACTION, Information and software technology, 39(10), 1997, pp. 657-668
Citations number
42
Categorie Soggetti
Computer Sciences","Information Science & Library Science","Computer Science Information Systems","Computer Science Software Graphycs Programming
ISSN journal
09505849
Volume
39
Issue
10
Year of publication
1997
Pages
657 - 668
Database
ISI
SICI code
0950-5849(1997)39:10<657:UIATKL>2.0.ZU;2-H
Abstract
Despite the widespread popularity of relational databases, it is still very difficult for trained users to formulate relational queries. The major cause of this difficulty is the fact that the user and the data base system are forced to communicate using constructs that are not cl osely related to the user's world. This paper proposes and develops a new level of user-database interaction, the knowledge-level (KL) inter face, where the user and the database system exchange only knowledge f rom the user's world. The data structure used in the database is fully hidden from the user. Under the new KL approach, the database system is no longer seen as a store of data. Rather, it is an agent to hold d omain knowledge and provide it upon request. It is shown that the KL i nterface is in many ways better than the relational interface. Users o f the KL interface need to know less and perform fewer data manipulati on operations than users of the relational interface. (C) 1997 Elsevie r Science B.V.