Database Labels

A more pro-active approach involved several funded research projects and the development of an original idea by Péter Jacsó into 'Database Labelling'. Jacsó conceived of databases being labelled in much the same way as food or drugs are labelled, so that their consumers would know exactly what data they contained. The CIQM implementation required each database provider to develop a purely factual label (what we would now call a set of metadata) describing not only the database content but its updating, record structure and indexing. The label also contained a number of quality statements (e.g. "Data are spell-checked before being added" or "All fields are complete on all records"). For the users, the labels were their guarantee of the extent to which a database could be trusted. Although trialled by a number of information providers (such as Dun & Bradstreet), the idea did not develop into a fully fledged 'kite mark' or quality stamp as CIQM was unable to bring sufficient pressure to bear on the industry in the face of the costs involved for each information provider.

CIQM has also undertaken a small number of consultancy exercises with agencies wishing to approach data gathering and presentation in a responsible, quality-aware way.