[Sigia-l] Searchable File Names

Sat Sep 14 12:32:58 EDT 2002

Charles,

I use filenames this way, especially for images.

Here's the naming guidelines, from our procedures manual:

************
Raw scan file ultimately gets a name which consists of:

category:what:who:where:prefix:serial#:suffix

If you don't know these things, give it a temporary name which describes
unique features such that Art can uniquely identify it for
renaming, without having to open the file.
Some Categories
TA = toilet alternatives
GW=greywater
ED=ecological design

Each scan gets a unique serial number at the end, which consists of
MEDIA TYPE DESIGNATION
 slide (no prefix) negative (n) flatbed (f) digital camera (d).
write serial number on negative sleeve and file with other negs in
sequential order;
flatbed scans - write number on back and file
slides write serial number on cardboard frame and file in order.
SERIAL NUMBER
check in Scans/Filing folder for the file labeled Update Me!; this will
give the last number used for the different types of media
Use "find" to check HD and confirm this is indeed the last number
Also check in physical scanned photos files if this is really last number
REMEMBER TO UPDATE NUMBERS AT THE END OF THE SESSION.
SUFFIX
"r" indicates raw scan, with histogram during scan itself and accurate
cropping in photoshop as the only standard work.
"s" indicates "source" image with extensive modification
"t" indicates image sized to a "t" for the application
.jpg or .gif indicates web-optimized graphic.

************

Files named this way alpha sort meaningfully by category and version
(beginning and end of file name, respectively).

There are all kinds of ways to search.
Searching on the serial number yields all versions of a scan or graphic,
sometimes including ones which are difficult to identify
visually as having the same origin (for example, if they are cropped to 5%
of the original scan).

I can search by place code, a person's name who's in the picture, etc.

A recorded, controlled vocabulary would help keep this system together for
the distant future when we have tens of thousands of
accumulated images.  This message ends with a list of examples of file
names; you can see the implementation is a bit haphazard.
Even with less than perfect implementation, this system has served
extremely well for locating images both when we
know the image we're looking for but not what it's called, and when we're
searching for an image which we may or may not have.

A final note: When I save an image for uploading to our web site, I
sacrifice quantity and diversity of internally searchable
abbreviations for public web searchability, by switching many abbreviations
to a few keywords. Thus,

gwShowerNatiMar010r

which means, greywater/shower/project owner's name/Location/unique original
image serial number/version

becomes

GreywaterShowerBeach010.jpg

which includes keywords I think people interested in the image or page its
on might search for. The serial number is always in
common, so searching for all instances of an original image on my own hard
drive will turn up the web versions.

Images are especially suited to this naming scheme because they tend to
dumped into single folders which contain all images for a
book or web site thrown together, AND you can't fall back on searching for
unique text strings within the document itself.

The idea of generalizing this approach to all filenames is intriguing, and
we are moving this direction.

Hope this is helpful,

Art

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H&Hbutts
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ItalianStovesF191Greensrc.psd
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-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Art Ludwig
Oasis Design
Ecological Design publishing & consulting
5 San Marcos Trout Club, Santa Barbara, CA 93105-9726, Fax: 805 967-3229
Phone:
967-9956
<http://www.oasisdesign.net/>        <odesign at sprynet.com>
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-