JFK Time Line

[Peter Lemkin]

Database software is just that - it is designed for input and RETRIEVAL of complex questions / intersections of data / et al. of large amounts of data. These are specialized and the best are usually quite expensive. Some open source ones exist, as well. As mentioned above, it is the data input that takes a LOT of work in a big database. Once it is in, a good database program will allow you to ask complex 'questions' - such as a timeline of a place or person - or comparing two or more people in time and place, etc. Deciding on the fields and how the data is input is also important and needs to be thought out carefully from the beginning. Going back and changing it is about the same as starting all over again. Timelines are powerful tools and many I have constructed by hand or on just a list in a word processor - but if you really want a big one and one you can ask complex and changing questions about, you need database software. Some of these can even draw affinity diagrams [who knows/interacts with whom] and other interesting details and bells and whistles. On such big events as JFK's assassination or 911 et al., the input would likely take many persons several years to have it quite complete. As new information came available, it can always be added to. The 911 database is NOT database software, and is just chronological and separated into a few categories. It is very good, but having it on a database would have been better and made it more flexible. It is a LOT of work and differs from just a chronology - but they too are helpful.