Our process at Princeton is like Jeri's except that we use Extensis Portfolio as the intermediate step.  It also extracts image metadata which is then plugged into the medialoader access tables.  One has to be careful about multiple images for the same object (ranking and media view)  The resulting Portfolio catalogues are very useful for managing digital media outside of TMS as well.

Cathryn

-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users on behalf of Moxley, Jeri
Sent: Fri 10/17/2008 11:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: media record creation/automation
 
 
I've been using the Media Loader and Thumbnailer plug-ins in conjunction with iView (now MS Expression Media) for a few years - both at the Guggenheim and here at MoMA. Both plug-ins are free from Gallery Systems. Expression Media is very cheap (something like $45 per license) and very user-friendly. Its purpose in this process is to extract metadata (filename, filesize, pixel height and width, etc.) that can be reviewed/edited in Excel and then dropped into the MS Access table that Media Loader loads into TMS. For the link to objects, the media loader only needs the object number - no need to worry about object id's. It will pick them up automatically.
 
I wrote overly-detailed instructions for inventory project staff at the Guggenheim (see attached document - very specific to institution and project). Other than that project, I don't normally have any user interaction in the process beyond them submitting a folder of images to be batch-loaded. Here at MoMA, we load very little information other than the file metadata and the object linking.
 
Hope this helps! Good luck!
 
Jeri
 
 
Jeri L. Moxley 
Manager, Collection and Exhibition Technologies 
Collection Management and Exhibition Registration 
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART 
11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019 
T:  212.708.9599  I  F: 212.333.1102  I  [log in to unmask] 
PPlease consider the environment before printing this email. 

-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Rob Morgan
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2008 11:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: media record creation/automation



Hello Melissa,

 

I use the media plug-in provided by Gallery Systems.  In addition to the Media plug-in, I've created a list view report that I export out of TMS into Excel, cut and paste it into the plug-in (MS Access), and then re-export it back into TMS.  

 

Here is the script for the list view report:

 

CREATE view MediaAdd as

select Objects.ObjectID AS ID, objects.objectid, objects.objectnumber as ObjectNumber,

RTrim(LTrim(Objects.ObjectNumber)) +'.JPG' as FileName,

'\\tms\images\screen' as Path,

'0' as PixelW,

'0' as PixelH,

'0' as ColorDepth,

'0' as FileSize,

'0' as MemorySize,

'' as FileDate,

'' as ThumbNailName,

'' as ThumbNailPath,

'' as RenditionNumber,

'' as RenditionDate,

'' as Photographer,

'' as Scanby,

'' as Technique,

'' as QuantityMade,

'' as CopyrightInfo,

'Image' as MediaType,

'JPEG' as MediaFormat,

'Front' as MediaView,

'' as Rank,

'' as ArchiveIDNumber,

'' as ArchCatNum,

'' as ArchVolName,

'' as ArchSubDir,

'' as ArchFilename,

'' as Description,

'' as PublicCaption,

'rwm' as Remarks,

'' as PublicAccess

from objects

 

The aforementioned fields in the script are in the media plug-in.  As long as you have a batch of records that will have the same values in the media module, you can populate the fields as a batch by exporting this list view into the plug-in.  For each batch, you may need to change some of the values to reflect your data entry, e.g., change remarks for a specific batch, change the media view for a specific batch, etc., etc.  Or, you can go into the Excel or Access table and change field values one by one (which is still quicker than the GUI of the TMS media module).

 

If anybody has a quicker method that doesn't involve exporting a list view into Excel, cut and pasting the list view into the plug-in, and then running the plug-in, please contact me.  This is the quickest method I could devise.

 

Rob Morgan

Baltimore Museum of Art

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me know if you need the script to create the list view report.  In addition, I can go into further detail at that time.

 

Rob Morgan

Baltimore Museum of Art

 

From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Fournier, Melissa
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2008 10:28 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: media record creation/automation

 

Dear TMS users - 

 

I am interested to hear from any of you that have automated or otherwise developed methods to streamline the creation and population of TMS media records (media type digital images/linked to Objects) as part of your digital imaging workflow.

 

Anyone out there who has done this and wouldn't mind answering a few questions?  Please feel free to contact me directly, unless this is of general interest to the list.

 

Thanks,

 

Melissa

 

 

Melissa Gold Fournier
Associate Museum Registrar
YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART

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