Over the course of the last few years, Microsoft started adding the concept of “data types” to Excel; that is, the ability to pull in geography and real-time stock data from the cloud, for example.

Good software habits apply to databases too. Trust in these little design tips to build a useful, rot-resistant database schema. It is a universal truth that everything in software eventually rots.

Former UN Human Rights Expert and Founder of Bluenumber for Digital Equity and Data Rights. He shapes policy on rights and technology. In the Age of Information, data types are a way to understand ...