Tech Talk
Explanation of digital jargon
Setting up a Test Image Libraryfor Evaluating
Portfolio and
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In our Gert Says column "How do you evaluate an Digital (Media)(Visual) asset management system?", she stresses the need to test out a program to " evaluate... whether it suits your and your user's purpose and comfort in how it presents information (both visual and text), acquires that information and makes it accessible." The only way to do this is to create a test file in the program that you wish to evaluate. In this lesson we will take you through the basic steps anyone would need to do to create an effective catalog using Extensis' Portfolio and Canto's Cumulus. We have chosen these two softwares because they are the leaders in their level of software and because they encourage you to download demonstration programs from their site. When appropriate we will mention other capabilities, which may be of interest, but not essential. This lesson will focus on the two areas - acquiring and accessing information.
Part 1 - ACQUIRING INFORMATION
When you start either program, you will be asked if you want to open an existing catalog or create a new one. Choose Create New Catalog.
For future reference: when you finalize your program and are ready to roll, you will probably only create one catalog for your image library. You can create several, but if it makes sense to have all your images available to be searched, then only create one. If you need to subdivide your collection into more manageable chunks, you can use "saved Galleries", Portfolio's term for a specific saved selection of image records or "Collections" , the Cumulus term.
Before you can acquire information you must has a place to put it. Now both programs have created places for this information. There is the image file itself from which a thumbnail is made and stored. Then there other information ( usually text) which may be stored as specific fields such as - Project -"X", View - "Exterior", Subject -"Entrance" or as descriptive terms which may or may not be sorted in an hierarchical order, an example of hierarchical terms might be: Project x> Exterior Shot>Entrance. As you can see, most information may be stored in either format. Usually information, which is used to find images is often more easily understood when it is stored as descriptive terms while information which is unique to each image such as: copyright, when published, or file data are best stored in specific fields.
Your new catalog will already have some fields . Most of these fields are for the information that the software automatically extracts from the file when it adds images to your catalog, such as file name, path, file, size & type, Modify date, Create date, Catalog date and update date. Descriptive terms are are also created automatically as you add images by using the folder names in the file path. That way, if your filing system correlates with your method of describing images, you may already have your descriptive terms automatically entered. The software also may provide you with some fields which their developers thought you might want to use, but into which you will have to input the information. Cumulus is very extensive.
Rule Number One of Acquisition
The first information to be acquired then is the image. In both programs you can drag and drop a folder or CD-ROM to the new catalog window. Or you can go to the top menu - CATALOG and select[ in Portfolio] add items [in Cumulus] Catalog Assets.
Right away you see how easy it is and one of the differences between the two programs - language.
Of course some of you may want to create your own fields and descriptive terms. This will introduce you to how each program handles and perceives text information, so we recommend that you do explore it. If, however, you want to skip down to inputting data into the prepared fields, be our guest For those bold souls who want to add their imprint, proceed.
Custom Fields
In PortfolioAs mentioned Portfolio has some already established field which it uses, but are not for your use. To create your own click on the drop down Catalog menu and select Administration. As you can see there are five areas of Catalog Administration. For this exercise select the Custom Fields tab.
Click on the Add button to pop up the dialog box below. Type in a name for field and the maximum length . Checking Multiple Values, means you can enter more than one value. Checking Predefined List means you can create a drop down list of accepted terms to be entered in the field.
Now you must set the type of field. This will establish how the program perceives the data which you enter.
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Cumulus in their latest versions is actually two programs, an image management system blended with a text information management system. It is blended very well, but it is important to keep this in mind as the drop down menu will change depending on the program you are in. In CumulusFor now, click on the drop down Catalog menu and select Properties. In the dialog box click on record fields.
You can see Cumulus has already created several fields to see more click on the Add Field button.
You can create a your own fields by clicking on the Custom button.
You can see that here too you name the field and select the type of field. Cumulus also has similar types : String, Integer, Real ( same as decimal), Date, and String list which is used for a predefined list. It also has two other field types which only it can use: Binary and Picture and a final type; Boolean which creates a checkbox for enabling or disabling a function. For example if you were write a script (Cumulus has set up this one up for you), if box checked, "delete this image" is disabled i.e. no one can delete that image. On the right half of this dialog box is a series of items about linking asset and record fields. Remember, there are really two programs at work here. When the image management program gathers information from the image file (asset), it can be automatically inputted into a record field, if you chose to link the two. You can also just ignore the process. |
Both programs provide you with a similar structure, but Cumulus uses a more orthodox data architecture and gives you more options to customize it. I would say Portfolio's strength here is that it does most of the thinking for you while Cumulus gives you greater control, but sometimes choices can confuse people.Descriptive Terms.Top |
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In PortfolioDescriptive terms are called Keywords, which is conventional. In the Catalog Administration dialog box, click on the Keywording tab. |
In CumulusDescriptive terms are called Categories and are an integral part of the Image management program. They appear in the sidebar of your catalog window where they appear to be a file structure. They are not! They are a hierarchical structure of descriptive terms. To add new terms, click on the drop down Category menu and select New Root Directory. To create a new subdirectory, select the root directory of which it will be the sub and from the Category menu choose New Sub Directory . Also these folders (Categories) can be dragged to new locations if you want to make a change.
If you like categories, never fear Portfolio has them too, but in addition to keywords. Portfolio says it offers the ability to organize groups of records visually, using a folder hierarchy". |
In Descriptive terms it is Portfolio which gives you more control to develop and control the use descriptive terms. On the other hand, Cumulus is always modifiable and expandable and tightly integrated into the program, but it does not provide a means of importing a list of terms.Rule Number Two of Acquisition |
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In PortfolioDescriptive termsPalettes anyone? Select the item or items, that you want to add keywords to, then click on the drop down menu Item and select Item Properties.
You can either type in a Keyword and click on add or select a one from the Master Keyword list to the right. FieldsThis same dialog box also has a Field tab where you can manually enter field data, a record at a time. Also you can import data from a text database and map it to the correct field. You select the file drop down menu, choose import field values and in the dialog box map imported fields to your fields. You can also customize this view, set the size of the thumbnail and select the field which you wish to show. Click on the customize for the View drop down menu. Views are saved with Galleries in this program. More about Galleries later.
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In CumulusDescriptive termsAs we said, Keywords or Categories are an integral part of the image program. To assign the descriptive terms, you can drag folders to an image or an images to a folder. FieldsTo input data into fields, you must access the Asset Information program, which you do by selecting an image, choosing the Asset drop down menu and selecting Information. Now you can manually enter the data. You can not import data. For those people with an established information system, something can be scripted to import information, but it is not part of the basic program.
You will notice that your drop down menu has changed and you have a new program icon, that is because you now are in the other program. You may also notice that you have fields in which you have no interest and don't have fields which you want. Not to fear, after giving you all these options, Cumulus gives you the ability to modify your view, in fact each view. In this Asset information program you can modify the Information view. Select the Edit drop down menu and select Customize.
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When you add, delete and organize the information that you wish to see, you are not deleting any information, just restricting its view from this location. As this is the view in which you will add information, you will naturally add your custom fields. Functionally the programs are quite similar when entering data into fields, though visually there is a difference. HOWEVER, Cumulus lack of a means of importing data from another source, I think is a major problem. I am not comfortable with any system which locks you in.So now that you have created your test image Library lets test drive it and see whether you can easily access your images. Evaluating ACCESSING INFORMATION |
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