The data in Gombe-MI are stored in tables. Tables can be visualized as grids, with rows and columns. Each row represents a single real-world thing or event, an entity, e.g. a chimpanzee. Each cell in the row contains a single unit of information, e.g. a birth date, a name, and a sex. The row holds the entirety of the information belonging to the entity as an isolated thing, e.g. chimpanzee database entities consist of a birth date, a name, and a sex. Each column contains one and only one kind of information, e.g. birth date.
Table 1.1 is an example of a database table that might be used to represent chimpanzees, one chimpanzee per row. Notice that each cell contains one and exactly one unit of information.
Table 1.1. A Simple Database Table
| Birth | Name | Sex |
|---|---|---|
| May 23, 1707 | Alice | Female |
| February 12, 1809 | Bob | Male |
| July 22, 1822 | Carol | Female |
Anyone working with Gombe-MI will require a familiarity with the database's tables. An understanding of the entity each row represents is critical when working with a table. The remainder of this section provides short definitions of the entities each table holds in its rows.
Some of the tables in Gombe-MI exist to define a vocabulary. These are the support tables. For lack of a better term, the remainder of the tables are labeled “main tables” in the Main Table Overview.