COMP SCI 2208 - Databases and Ethical Data

Databases have come a long way in the past decades and, rather than focusing purely on relational databases and SQL, this course introduces students to contemporary database applications and concepts, to develop a deep and thorough understanding of the principles that underpin all contemporary database systems. Students will be introduced to relational, NoSQL, and distributed database models, with an emphasis on the design, configuration, and ongoing maintenance of these systems. The course will cover consistency models, the evolution of transactional processing, and existing examples of all of the database types. With all of the data that is stored in systems, there are important questions of whether certain data should be collected, how it should be stored, how it should be processed, and whether answers can be shared from this data. Students will cover relevant ethical studies around the use of data, including the impact of local and international legislation such as the Australian Privacy Act and the European General Data Protection Regulation. This course will be assessed through programming assignments, small projects, lecture quizzes, contributions to group discussions, and written assignments. The majority of assessment is individual but some elements are group based to develop non-technical skills.