Hi everyone,

We use the Drag and Drop feature quite extensively (+-10,000 media records last year; 5X to 10X more this year) at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.  We also use the Media Loader program to attach digital images for our main image processing work flow (+-50,000 / yr).

We have three different work-flows, depending upon the project and type of media files we are processing.

Media Loader for large-scale digital image processing:
We use the Media Loader for our main digital image processing.  We photograph and/or scan about 50,000 high-resolution (12 MP - 40 MP) per year.  We store the images on an archival image server as unmodified TIFs.  For the deliverable images that we attach to TMS (and eMuseum) we level adjust, reduce the pixel dimensions down to 640 x 640, and convert to JPGs, using batch scripts in PhotoShop.  These images are then imported into TMS using the Media Loader program.  (Note: the small pixel dimension is a legacy from 1997.  We will be increasing this size soon; and re-processing >300,000 images....)

Drag and Drop for specific projects:
For some specific, large projects, we use Drag and Drop. (Especially for images that need to go to other modules than Objects).  For these projects we create a specific folder on our image server and using DB Config we map this location as an approved media path for TMS.  Our users copy the deliverable media files (usually PDFs; occasionally JPGs whose TIF images are also on the server) into the networked folder, AND THEN DRAG AND DROP THE FILE INTO TMS.  Since this network folder is an approved location, TMS doesn't COPY the file over, it just establishes it's path.

Drag and Drop for ad hoc work:
We are striving to become 100% electronic with our records (all paper records -past, present, future- are scanned as PDFs and attached to TMS records).  Most of our users (Curation, Registration, Conservation, Archives, Coll Mngmt, Imaging Services) have PDF scanners, and we are now constantly Drag and Dropping these files into TMS.  Through DB Config, we set up a network folder (that we create every year, so that we won't have -literally- hundreds of thousands of files in one single folder) for all these ad hoc Drag and Drops.  When our users Drag and Drop from their desktop, TMS copies the file over into this one, catch-all folder.  (We could change every month or quarter, but we choose to just lump everything annually; TMS is recording the links.)  Most (99.9%) of these Drag and Drop files are simple PDFs.  An occasional sound or video or text file may find its way in, but our JPGS and TIFFs are usually processed through the Media Loader program.


In all three work-flows, the files have specific naming conventions.  For the large scale image processing and the project-based Drag and Drop, we have very specific naming conventions.  For the ad hoc work, we are much more flexible and we tailor the file-naming to the logic and needs of the task.  In most cases we have a department prefix (to help immediately understand what the file is about, and so that the files can be sorted easily if need be), descriptive text, and then the date a/o date-time stamp (in order to insure that the file name is unique).  For example: REG_Acc2012_1_DeedOfGift_05103012.pdf

Whew.  Anyone still with me?

If you are interested and if you'll be at Gallery's Collective Imagination conference later this month, I'll be presenting on this: Wednesday, May 23rd, 12:00 - 12:45 pm

If anyone would like additional info, please feel free to contact me.

Happy TMSing,
David


David K. DeBono Schafer, Senior Collections Manager
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
11 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138
617-496-5748  (f) 617-495-7535




________________________________
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chrisy Tselentakis
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 6:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: TMS2010 - Drag and drop workflow
Hi all,

This is a question for anyone who has switched to using the drag and drop feature rather than linking manually in TMS. Have you had to change your conversion workflow so that users are still saving images in a standard file format and compression level before they drag and drop? I would be interested to hear any workflow solutions you have come up with.

Thanks,

Chrisy

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