[MCN-L] image file names
We name our images by the accession number prefaced by a BRM_, but when I burn them to disk or e-mail them to others, I rename them by the actual title of the works of art. Hope this helps, Ruth Power Brandywine River Museum
[MCN-L] image file names
On 8/6/10 20:30, Fournier, Melissa wrote:
> Nowadays our filenames are based on the underlying object ID assigned to
the object by our collection management system.
On 9/6/10 17:56, Parsell, David wrote:
> The Yale Center for British Art and the Yale University Art Gallery at Yale
University have moved away from using the accession# and its inherent problems
in favor of a naming convention derived from the objectID field in TMS, which
is just the sequential number field assigned by the database each time a new
object record is added to TMS.
On 8/6/10 20:46, Mina, Jannette wrote:
> We recently needed to come up with a naming convention for the images of
> permanent collection objects going up on our website. Working with our
> website developer, we found that for *our* purposes, it was best to use
> dashes in place of the decimals. The program that culls information
> from our collections database reads dashes and underscores differently.
> We use underscores to highlight the unique record ID of the image, and
> dashes are only used in the accession number. For instance:
> 2005-31.1-50 becomes tri_49824_2005-31-1-50.jpg
>
> Dashes also take the place of commas. 2004-37a,b becomes
> tri_49822_2004-37a-b.jpg
Just to clarify, the initial part of that filename is the TMS Rendition ID
("tri") so
tri_49824_2005-31-1-50.jpg
indicates that this exactly corresponds to the Rendition record id 49824 in
TMS, which belongs to the object with accession number 2005-31.1-50.
(I have a personal bugbear with linking images to object ids, if the museum
uses a cms like TMS that also manages metadata on images, as it doesn't help
distinguish multiple images for an object.)
So this system gives an unambigous link to a 'MediaImage' record in the
collections management system, and hence to an object ID in the collections
management system; but also has a more human readable indication of the
accession number. So computers and humans can both recognise immediately what
it is; and there's a bit of redundancy.
The disadvatage is that it's a rather unwieldy filename!
Ben Rubinstein > Technical Director
email: benr at cogapp.comdirect: +44 (0)1273 829972
Cogapp
address: Lees House, 21-33 Dyke Road, Brighton BN1 3FE, England
tel: +44 (0)1273 821600 fax: +44 (0)1273 829988
web: http://www.cogapp.com
blog: http://blog.cogapp.com - "the art and science of engagement"
[MCN-L] image file names
Greetings all, At the Canadian Museum of Civilization, we opted for a numbering system that allow us to regroup images by lot/acquisition. Our numbering system starts with "IMG" which identifies that the image belongs to the Photo archives collection. It is then followed by the "year" and by the "acquisition number" being the specific acquisition lot from that year. And finally the last number identifies the "individual items" within that particular acquisition lot. (ex: IMG2008-0001-0001) An additional portion of the file name refers to the original format - being: IMG2008-0001-0001-D for digital photos, documents, or PDFs IMG2008-0001-0001-S for 35 mm slides IMG2008-0001-0001-K for colour negatives IMG2008-0001-0001-T for transparencies IMG2008-0001-0001-N for b&w negatives IMG2008-0001-0001-G for glass negatives IMG2008-0001-0001-L for lantern slides IMG2008-0001-0001-P for photographic prints And the end portion of the file name reflects the status of the digital file per se. Being: The letter M - to identify the Master file Ex: IMG2008-0001-0001-Dm.tif And the letter P with the version ID - the Processed file whatever it is a portion of the master file (details) or an altered image for a specific use. Ex: IMG2008-0001-0001-Dp1.tif ; IMG2008-0001-0001-Dp2.tif This numbering system has been useful as it has the advantage to reflect our current lot acquisition registration during the course of a single year. It allows us to regroup of all images from a same event together. This without any breach in numbering sequence should an image be added later (and this is a great improvement). We no longer have, for a same event, images no. 120 to 145 + images 243 to 786 + images 882 to 931, etc. All our images have now a common lot ID. This system keeps track of the image format and keeps all similar images from various format sources together - having all the same image number to start with. Finally such system identifies the current status of the digital asset per se - being the Master version or modified copies of the same image. But in the end, whatever system you choose, the key component is that it works for you. I hope that our example will be of assistance. I remain available should you need further details. Simply respond to me individually. Louise Louise Renaud Gestionnaire,? photos et droits d'auteurs Biblioth?que, Archives et Services de documentation (BASD)? Mus?e canadien des civilisations Manager, photos and copyright Library, Archives and Documentation Services (LADS) Canadian Museum of Civilization 100, rue Laurier Street, Gatineau, QC? K1A 0M8 T?l:?819 776-8237??Fax:?819 776-8491 ? -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Daniel T. Brennan Sent: 9 juin 2010 12:42 To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image file names Unique identifiers also make it possible to accommodate instances in which the institution would need to retain multiple similar images of the same object. Even with a suffix-based convention for distinguishing facets such as image source, format, or use, something like y1948-4_GS.jpg (translated: a grayscale jpg of acc. no. y1948-4) can become very unwieldy once the institution starts generating and storing multiple grayscale images of the object in question. The inclination is to identify these types of variants with a number or a letter, say something like y1948-4_GS.1 or y1948-4_GS_a, but this easily runs into some accession number formats for multi-part objects if one is not careful. Not to mention it can be very difficult to read/follow/index. How we name files varies based on the source and purpose of the image. We historically have used the above-referenced format and continue to do so, but are concurrently moving towards something less "object-centric" and closer to a unique identifier. It's also worth adding that this transition is supported by the programmatic use of image metadata to hold the pieces of descriptive information that were previously translated by the filename, and in fact probably would not be possible without it. Dan Brennan -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Light Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 11:42 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image file names In message , Perian Sully writes > >Funnily enough, I was just about to draft up a file naming standards >document and post it online. Other than some of the inherent >difficulties with trying to align the digital filenames with the >accession number (particularly when you don't have an accession number >yet), what are some other arguments in favor of using a unique >identifier instead of the accession number? One obvious argument is that it allows a single image to feature more th
[MCN-L] image file names
Here at the MMA we've also moved away from using accession numbers in image filenames. Instead, new images are assigned a unique integer value and then prefaced with some string to indicate the source / type (ex: DP = digital photography, DT = digital transparency etc). In our experience, using accession numbers as a naming convention, whether with periods or dashes, is problematic. For instance, when we implemented our DAM we ingested legacy image files which had been named using the accession number. But when we tried to do an exact match on these files to the appropriate TMS record, the success rate was around 60-70% (which given the amount of files you have may be acceptable -- in our case it was not). The most common reasons for this mismatch were extra or missing commas, dashes, periods, whitespace, etc in the filename -- in other words, standard parts of an accession number. Shyam Oberoi Sr. Website Technology Manager The Metropolitan Museum of Art -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Parsell, David Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 12:56 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image file names - Yale University The Yale Center for British Art and the Yale University Art Gallery at Yale University have moved away from using the accession# and its inherent problems in favor of a naming convention derived from the objectID field in TMS, which is just the sequential number field assigned by the database each time a new object record is added to TMS. I'm sure all the other collection management systems use a sequential numbering system as well. This number is used by the collection management system to link the appropriate records from other tables to the object record since the number never changes. The beauty of this system is its structure, which allows you to automate file creation and retrieval by other programs other than TMS. Also, it allows you to retain a link to the TMS object even though the accession# may change over time. Besides needing a better image naming convention than the accession#, we developed this structured naming convention for use with a recently installed enterprise level DAM at Yale University. The structured image# allowed us to develop software that automated the TMS and DAM ingest of new images. Here is a breakdown of our image naming convention. I will supply further details on request. Museum - TMS module - objectID - index - image type . suffix ba-obj-60395-0003-pub.tif YCBA example (we like the idea of a 4 digit index) ag-obj-4487-001-mas.tif YUAG example (Art Gallery is happy with a 3 digit index) Museum is ba for YCBA and ag for Art Gallery. TMS module can be obj for object or exb for exhibition module. ObjectID is the sequential record# in the object table. The exhibitionID sequential# is used for exb images. Index allows us to have more than one image for an object using the naming convention. The name is always the same, just the index and image type changes. Image type; we make 3 versions of each image, master (mas), bar (color corrected with bars), pub (color corrected and cropped). Suffix is whatever the file type is. The switch to the structured naming convention has tremendously increased our productivity. Identifying an image is as simple as querying TMS on the objectID carried in the image name. My only regret is that we didn't do this sooner. David Parsell Systems Manager Yale Center for British Art 1080 Chapel Street PO Box 208280 New Haven, CT? 06520-8280 ? 203 432-9603 david.parsell at yale.edu -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Light Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 11:42 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image file names In message , Perian Sully writes > >Funnily enough, I was just about to draft up a file naming standards >document and post it online. Other than some of the inherent >difficulties with trying to align the digital filenames with the >accession number (particularly when you don't have an accession number >yet), what are some other arguments in favor of using a unique >identifier instead of the accession number? One obvious argument is that it allows a single image to feature more than one object. Richard Light >-Original Message- >From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of >Images >Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:03 PM >To: Museum Computer Network Listserv >Subject: [MCN-L] image file names > >We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of >you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our >accession number, however as this contains periods it has been >identified as potentially problematic.
[MCN-L] image file names
Thank you to everyone else on the list who provided such helpful responses. One last question which would strengthen our case for adopting a new naming system - what are the inherent problems with using decimals in a file name? On 6/9/10 9:56 AM, "Parsell, David" wrote: The Yale Center for British Art and the Yale University Art Gallery at Yale University have moved away from using the accession# and its inherent problems in favor of a naming convention derived from the objectID field in TMS, which is just the sequential number field assigned by the database each time a new object record is added to TMS. I'm sure all the other collection management systems use a sequential numbering system as well. This number is used by the collection management system to link the appropriate records from other tables to the object record since the number never changes. The beauty of this system is its structure, which allows you to automate file creation and retrieval by other programs other than TMS. Also, it allows you to retain a link to the TMS object even though the accession# may change over time. Besides needing a better image naming convention than the accession#, we developed this structured naming convention for use with a recently installed enterprise level DAM at Yale University. The structured image# allowed us to develop software that automated the TMS and DAM ingest of new images. Here is a breakdown of our image naming convention. I will supply further details on request. Museum - TMS module - objectID - index - image type . suffix ba-obj-60395-0003-pub.tif YCBA example (we like the idea of a 4 digit index) ag-obj-4487-001-mas.tif YUAG example (Art Gallery is happy with a 3 digit index) Museum is ba for YCBA and ag for Art Gallery. TMS module can be obj for object or exb for exhibition module. ObjectID is the sequential record# in the object table. The exhibitionID sequential# is used for exb images. Index allows us to have more than one image for an object using the naming convention. The name is always the same, just the index and image type changes. Image type; we make 3 versions of each image, master (mas), bar (color corrected with bars), pub (color corrected and cropped). Suffix is whatever the file type is. The switch to the structured naming convention has tremendously increased our productivity. Identifying an image is as simple as querying TMS on the objectID carried in the image name. My only regret is that we didn't do this sooner. David Parsell Systems Manager Yale Center for British Art 1080 Chapel Street PO Box 208280 New Haven, CT 06520-8280 203 432-9603 david.parsell at yale.edu -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Light Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 11:42 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image file names In message , Perian Sully writes > >Funnily enough, I was just about to draft up a file naming standards >document and post it online. Other than some of the inherent >difficulties with trying to align the digital filenames with the >accession number (particularly when you don't have an accession number >yet), what are some other arguments in favor of using a unique >identifier instead of the accession number? One obvious argument is that it allows a single image to feature more than one object. Richard Light >-Original Message- >From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of >Images >Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:03 PM >To: Museum Computer Network Listserv >Subject: [MCN-L] image file names > >We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of >you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our >accession number, however as this contains periods it has been >identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 >= VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but >we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. >Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any >thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! > >thanks very much >Danielle > > >___ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > >To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > >To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > >The MCN-L archives can be found at: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ >___ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >Com
[MCN-L] image file names
In message , Perian Sully writes > >Funnily enough, I was just about to draft up a file naming standards >document and post it online. Other than some of the inherent >difficulties with trying to align the digital filenames with the >accession number (particularly when you don't have an accession number >yet), what are some other arguments in favor of using a unique >identifier instead of the accession number? One obvious argument is that it allows a single image to feature more than one object. Richard Light >-Original Message- >From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of >Images >Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:03 PM >To: Museum Computer Network Listserv >Subject: [MCN-L] image file names > >We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of >you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our >accession number, however as this contains periods it has been >identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 >= VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but >we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. >Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any >thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! > >thanks very much >Danielle > > >___ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > >To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > >To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > >The MCN-L archives can be found at: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ >___ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > >To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > >To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > >The MCN-L archives can be found at: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.829 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2926 - Release Date: >06/08/10 19:35:00 -- Richard Light
[MCN-L] image file names - Yale University
The Yale Center for British Art and the Yale University Art Gallery at Yale University have moved away from using the accession# and its inherent problems in favor of a naming convention derived from the objectID field in TMS, which is just the sequential number field assigned by the database each time a new object record is added to TMS. I'm sure all the other collection management systems use a sequential numbering system as well. This number is used by the collection management system to link the appropriate records from other tables to the object record since the number never changes. The beauty of this system is its structure, which allows you to automate file creation and retrieval by other programs other than TMS. Also, it allows you to retain a link to the TMS object even though the accession# may change over time. Besides needing a better image naming convention than the accession#, we developed this structured naming convention for use with a recently installed enterprise level DAM at Yale University. The structured image# allowed us to develop software that automated the TMS and DAM ingest of new images. Here is a breakdown of our image naming convention. I will supply further details on request. Museum - TMS module - objectID - index - image type . suffix ba-obj-60395-0003-pub.tif YCBA example (we like the idea of a 4 digit index) ag-obj-4487-001-mas.tif YUAG example (Art Gallery is happy with a 3 digit index) Museum is ba for YCBA and ag for Art Gallery. TMS module can be obj for object or exb for exhibition module. ObjectID is the sequential record# in the object table. The exhibitionID sequential# is used for exb images. Index allows us to have more than one image for an object using the naming convention. The name is always the same, just the index and image type changes. Image type; we make 3 versions of each image, master (mas), bar (color corrected with bars), pub (color corrected and cropped). Suffix is whatever the file type is. The switch to the structured naming convention has tremendously increased our productivity. Identifying an image is as simple as querying TMS on the objectID carried in the image name. My only regret is that we didn't do this sooner. David Parsell Systems Manager Yale Center for British Art 1080 Chapel Street PO Box 208280 New Haven, CT? 06520-8280 ? 203 432-9603 david.parsell at yale.edu -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Light Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 11:42 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image file names In message , Perian Sully writes > >Funnily enough, I was just about to draft up a file naming standards >document and post it online. Other than some of the inherent >difficulties with trying to align the digital filenames with the >accession number (particularly when you don't have an accession number >yet), what are some other arguments in favor of using a unique >identifier instead of the accession number? One obvious argument is that it allows a single image to feature more than one object. Richard Light >-Original Message- >From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of >Images >Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:03 PM >To: Museum Computer Network Listserv >Subject: [MCN-L] image file names > >We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of >you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our >accession number, however as this contains periods it has been >identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 >= VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but >we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. >Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any >thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! > >thanks very much >Danielle > > >___ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > >To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > >To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > >The MCN-L archives can be found at: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ >___ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > >To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > >To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > >The MCN-L archives can be found at: >http://toronto.mediatrope.co
[MCN-L] image file names
Unique identifiers also make it possible to accommodate instances in which the institution would need to retain multiple similar images of the same object. Even with a suffix-based convention for distinguishing facets such as image source, format, or use, something like y1948-4_GS.jpg (translated: a grayscale jpg of acc. no. y1948-4) can become very unwieldy once the institution starts generating and storing multiple grayscale images of the object in question. The inclination is to identify these types of variants with a number or a letter, say something like y1948-4_GS.1 or y1948-4_GS_a, but this easily runs into some accession number formats for multi-part objects if one is not careful. Not to mention it can be very difficult to read/follow/index. How we name files varies based on the source and purpose of the image. We historically have used the above-referenced format and continue to do so, but are concurrently moving towards something less "object-centric" and closer to a unique identifier. It's also worth adding that this transition is supported by the programmatic use of image metadata to hold the pieces of descriptive information that were previously translated by the filename, and in fact probably would not be possible without it. Dan Brennan -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Light Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 11:42 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image file names In message , Perian Sully writes > >Funnily enough, I was just about to draft up a file naming standards >document and post it online. Other than some of the inherent >difficulties with trying to align the digital filenames with the >accession number (particularly when you don't have an accession number >yet), what are some other arguments in favor of using a unique >identifier instead of the accession number? One obvious argument is that it allows a single image to feature more than one object. Richard Light >-Original Message- >From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of >Images >Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:03 PM >To: Museum Computer Network Listserv >Subject: [MCN-L] image file names > >We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of >you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our >accession number, however as this contains periods it has been >identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 >= VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but >we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. >Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any >thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! > >thanks very much >Danielle > > >___ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > >To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > >To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > >The MCN-L archives can be found at: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ >___ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > >To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > >To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > >The MCN-L archives can be found at: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 9.0.829 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2926 - Release Date: >06/08/10 19:35:00 -- Richard Light ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] image file names
Yes, please, Perian! Thanks, Judith A. Robins, Collections Supervisor, Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology American Society of Anesthesiologists 520 N. Northwest Hwy Park Ridge, IL 60068 p: (847) 268-9168 f:? (847) 825-2085 e:?j.robins at asahq.org www.woodlibrarymuseum.org Anesthesiologists: Physicians providing the lifeline of modern medicine -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Perian Sully Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 10:34 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image file names Dear Danielle: I have a detailed document for our file naming conventions that I'm happy to send along (I'd post it here, but everything's outlined in table format and won't work for copying and pasting). Likewise, if anyone else is interested in taking a look, I'll gladly forward it to you as well. Please respond to me individually. Funnily enough, I was just about to draft up a file naming standards document and post it online. Other than some of the inherent difficulties with trying to align the digital filenames with the accession number (particularly when you don't have an accession number yet), what are some other arguments in favor of using a unique identifier instead of the accession number? ~P Perian Sully Collections Information Manager Web Programs Strategist The Magnes Berkeley, CA -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Images Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:03 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] image file names We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our accession number, however as this contains periods it has been identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 = VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! thanks very much Danielle ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] image file names
Dear Danielle: I have a detailed document for our file naming conventions that I'm happy to send along (I'd post it here, but everything's outlined in table format and won't work for copying and pasting). Likewise, if anyone else is interested in taking a look, I'll gladly forward it to you as well. Please respond to me individually. Funnily enough, I was just about to draft up a file naming standards document and post it online. Other than some of the inherent difficulties with trying to align the digital filenames with the accession number (particularly when you don't have an accession number yet), what are some other arguments in favor of using a unique identifier instead of the accession number? ~P Perian Sully Collections Information Manager Web Programs Strategist The Magnes Berkeley, CA -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Images Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:03 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] image file names We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our accession number, however as this contains periods it has been identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 = VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! thanks very much Danielle ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] image file names
We use periods, generally not a problem. Sometimes Photoshop will want to drop the last section and replace with file extension, but if you are careful saving the file that is not a problem. Frank Thomson, Curator Asheville Art Museum PO Box 1717 Asheville, NC 28802 828.253.3227 fthomson at ashevilleart.org www.ashevilleart.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Images Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 3:03 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] image file names We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our accession number, however as this contains periods it has been identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 = VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! thanks very much Danielle ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] image file names
We recently needed to come up with a naming convention for the images of permanent collection objects going up on our website. Working with our website developer, we found that for *our* purposes, it was best to use dashes in place of the decimals. The program that culls information from our collections database reads dashes and underscores differently. We use underscores to highlight the unique record ID of the image, and dashes are only used in the accession number. For instance: 2005-31.1-50 becomes tri_49824_2005-31-1-50.jpg Dashes also take the place of commas. 2004-37a,b becomes tri_49822_2004-37a-b.jpg Hope this helps! Jannette --- Jannette Mina Collections Assistant The Jewish Museum 1109 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10021 212.423.4250 [phone] 212.423.3316 [fax] Visit our website at http://www.thejewishmuseum.org! This communication (including any attachments) is intended for the use of the intended recipient(s) only and may contain information that is confidential, privileged or legally protected. Any unauthorized use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender by return e-mail message and delete all copies of the original communication. Thank you for your cooperation.
[MCN-L] image file names
We stumbled across this problem while starting up a digitization project a few years ago, and settled on using underscores. 1999_30_4.jpg It's been working fine, and we've continued to use it for anything that comes along, maps, manuscripts, etc. For objects that have several different views, we just tack 'dt#' at the end for 'detail' - 1999_30_4dt1, 1999_30_4dt2, etc. The only problem I've ever found is that typing the underscore can be a pain when going fast. Possibly a hyphen could work instead? 1999-30-4. Diane. == Diane Lee, Collections Manager ? 860-236-5621 x242 Connecticut Historical Society -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Images Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 3:03 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] image file names We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our accession number, however as this contains periods it has been identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 = VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! thanks very much Danielle ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] image file names
Hi Danielle, At the YCBA we are no longer using an accession-number based filename convention, but when we were using accession numbers as the basis for our filenames, we replaced all periods with dashes instead. I've also seen underscores used in the same fashion. Both the dash and underscore are among several special characters that are generally acceptable in file or folder names. (Nowadays our filenames are based on the underlying object ID assigned to the object by our collection management system. I would be happy to share the documentation on our current filenaming convention if you are interested.) Melissa Melissa Gold Fournier Associate Museum Registrar Imaging / Rights and Reproductions YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART melissa.fournier at yale.edu Mailing: P.O. Box 208280, New Haven, CT 06520 Shipping: 161 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511 Fax: 203 432 6780 Phone: 203 432 2834 -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Images Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 3:03 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] image file names We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our accession number, however as this contains periods it has been identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 = VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! thanks very much Danielle ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] image file names
Apologies, I forget to clarify that we're (the Canadian War Museum) is with the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation. "Our" standards guidelines are posted on the CHIN site. - Genevieve -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of McGovern, Megan H Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 3:07 PM To: 'Museum Computer Network Listserv' Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image file names Hi Danielle, Have you considered swapping the periods for underscores? Then you would have something that looks like this: # 42.3.11 = VAG-42_3_11.jpg It may not be ideal, but it's easier to interpret than zeroes. Megan Megan McGovern Digital Asset Specialist Corning Museum of Glass 607.974.8243 tel mcgovernmh at cmog.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Images Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 3:03 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] image file names We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our accession number, however as this contains periods it has been identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 = VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! thanks very much Danielle ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] image file names
Hello Danielle, Our Digitization Standards guide might have some useful tips. It's available through the CHIN site if you're interested. Regards, Genevieve -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Images Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 3:03 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] image file names We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our accession number, however as this contains periods it has been identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 = VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! thanks very much Danielle ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] image file names
Hi Danielle, Have you considered swapping the periods for underscores? Then you would have something that looks like this: # 42.3.11 = VAG-42_3_11.jpg It may not be ideal, but it's easier to interpret than zeroes. Megan Megan McGovern Digital Asset Specialist Corning Museum of Glass 607.974.8243 tel mcgovernmh at cmog.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Images Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 3:03 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] image file names We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our accession number, however as this contains periods it has been identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 = VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! thanks very much Danielle ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] image file names
We also use underscores for our image file names in place of all periods. Since we upload most of our images through an import utility that uses Excel as its source we are able to use a simple find/replace for creating the file names from the accession numbers. We too have been considering lately what the implications might be to switch from using accession numbers to something that is more generic. Mainly due to the issues around using temporary numbers for objects prior to accessioning and also the occasional accession number change that must occur when we discover objects that were not registered correctly in the distant past. Melissa, I would love to take a look at your documentation. I'm wondering if this change has impacted the identification of files if/when anyone might be looking at them outside of the context of your database? Robyn Sanford Associate Registrar, Database Manager and Special Projects ? LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART 5905 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA 90036 ? T 323 857 4769 F 323 857 6213 E rsanford at lacma.org ? ? ? -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Fournier, Melissa Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:31 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image file names Hi Danielle, At the YCBA we are no longer using an accession-number based filename convention, but when we were using accession numbers as the basis for our filenames, we replaced all periods with dashes instead. I've also seen underscores used in the same fashion. Both the dash and underscore are among several special characters that are generally acceptable in file or folder names. (Nowadays our filenames are based on the underlying object ID assigned to the object by our collection management system. I would be happy to share the documentation on our current filenaming convention if you are interested.) Melissa Melissa Gold Fournier Associate Museum Registrar Imaging / Rights and Reproductions YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART melissa.fournier at yale.edu Mailing: P.O. Box 208280, New Haven, CT 06520 Shipping: 161 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511 Fax: 203 432 6780 Phone: 203 432 2834 -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Images Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 3:03 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] image file names We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our accession number, however as this contains periods it has been identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 = VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! thanks very much Danielle ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] image file names
We're reviewing how we name our image files and I'm hoping that some of you may have worked through this same issue. Currently, we use our accession number, however as this contains periods it has been identified as potentially problematic. For example, accession # 42.3.11 = VAG-42.3.11.jpg. One suggestion is to change the decimals to zeros but we are concerned that this makes the image file name difficult to read. Have any of you found a good solution to a problem like this? Any thoughts or samples of your naming structure would be most appreciated! thanks very much Danielle
