Removal of database section from new lesson structure

[jen-thomas]

Thank you for such a well-thought out lesson.

One of the things that caught my attention about the new lesson, was that the section about using databases has been removed. I recognise that this section is often left out of the workshops because there isn't time to cover it, but learning about databases is not often taught to ecologists and this, for me, is a real plus that the Carpentries course offers.

In my experience of helping ecologists with their data management over the past ten years, very few (if any) ever use databases, particularly ones that they create themselves. Yet, the data that are collected are often extremely well-suited to being stored in relational databases. Spreadsheets are often the go-to because everyone is familiar with them, but the use of databases makes data entry and validation much easier, and avoids a lot of data management problems down the line.

I recognise that there is a whole lesson dedicated to SQL and databases, but I think it is vital that we are able to bridge the gap between the database and R/Python by including this section in the relevant lesson. This is key to showing how to being able to use the data and is a brilliant accompaniment to the full SQL lesson.

Overall, I hope that the SQL lesson and the inclusion of how to use data from a database in R/Python with the accompanying lessons would help to promote the use of databases within the world of ecology and make them a tool that people are not afraid to go to.