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Tool suggestions for Art History Database?
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Posted by Susanne
Jan 3, 2013 at 10:13 AM
(sorry, long question)
For about a year now, I’ve been putting up daily art posts onto Google+. Now I find that I no longer have control over the masses of data and images and don’t really want to repeat myself too often. Though I have most of the information in Evernote, I need more structure and would appreciate any suggestions. The current setup is:
- posts on Google+
- jpg images with date of post, artist and work as file name
- evernote notes about artists, styles, periods, works, etc.
My ideal setup would be to enter an artists name and see:
- any material I have already posted
- information I have about the artist
- other artists and works of around the same period (timeline !?!)
or enter a date, Jan. 4th and see:
- what I posted a Jan. 4th
- any artists who were either born or died on a Jan. 4th
I need:
- Chrome both on a netbook and a pc
- something that stores and displays images well
- something that handles large amounts of data well - probably many hundreds of mb.
- something that will let me quickly capture/enter information (mostly from the web)
Evernote is too unstructured, though I like the ability to have my information available wherever I am, but I am finding that some form of structure is a must. And I would really like something similar to a timeline.
I have already considered/played with:
1) TheBrain: no timeline, no structured info, but linking info as thoughts might work.
Drawback: getting information (mostly from web) into thoughts is cumbersome, not sure about how it handles database size.
2) Connected Text: Wiki aspect might be nice, though getting information in is even worse than TheBrain and also no timeline - not sure about how it handles database size.
3) UltraRecall: getting information in is fairly good (except for from Chrome), structure should be possible, good display of images, Drawbacks: no timeline, linking items is cumbersome
4) Zoot: structure and getting information in is good, Drawbacks: saved searches? Database size? No timeline, images are displayed original size, which is a problem with large dpis, and importing from evernote doesn’t work for me - also Zoot crashes fairly regularly on my machines.
5) InfoQube: Has timeline (Gantt) but have not found a way to enter January 3rd, 1543, or gantt view decades or centuries. This would probably do best with the types of searching I want to do (grids). Drawbacks: database size? learning curve, limitations of timeline view.
Many mindmapping tools have gantt possibilities, but those are meant for tasks, not centuries and the size is not manageable in a map. Cloud won’t work because of performance and size, Portability/Synch is nice but not a must.
Any thoughts, and especially your experiences with large dbs in any of the tools would be much appreciated!
Many thanks and a very Happy New Year,
Susanne
Posted by Dr Andus
Jan 3, 2013 at 11:33 AM
Susanne wrote:
>2) Connected Text: Wiki aspect might be nice, though getting information
>in is even worse than TheBrain and also no timeline - not sure about how
>it handles database size.
Re “getting info in”, CT has automatic paste for text (Clipboard catcher), so that can’t get any quicker, and once you have an appropriate folder directory system set up, adding images and other files in is a matter of drag and drop from a Windows Explorer window. There are also dedicated “date topics” with calendar view.
As for timelines, you may want to check the CT forum, as this issue has been discussed there and there are a few others using CT for historical research: http://connectedtext.com/forum/
Another option might be to use a specialist software for the timelines only. See examples here:
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/2503/20
Other options:
1) Mindsystems Amode V2: https://portal.mindsystems.com.au/downloads/7/Mindsystems-Amode
It has a hierarchical tree, a Gantt chart and a calendar view. You can attach notes, images, files, tasks, concept maps to each node and even link nodes to each other. Multiple databases can be open in tabs and compared using the Briefcase feature. Not sure how it would work with large amount of data. Can export/import into Word, Excel, MS Project, Outlook.
2) MS Access. Here is a case study (compared with CT):
http://jostwald.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/to-tweak-or-to-chuck-that-is-the-question/
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Jan 3, 2013 at 12:40 PM
Hi, Susanne,
That’s a tall order. Sounds like you’d be pushing the best of these apps to their limits, but I hope someone here will be able to offer you a solution.
Just want to clarify one (I think) misconception you have about Zoot: Saved searches are very easy in Zoot. In fact, that’s one of Zoot’s strongest points. You just create a smart folder with the conditions you want searched for.
Steve Z.
Posted by Susanne
Jan 3, 2013 at 12:47 PM
Thanks for your suggestions Dr Andus.
the problem with connected text is that most of the web clippings are not just text, but contain images. The solution I am looking for needs to be able to have all of the data/images embedded so that I don’t have to worry about links etc. when moving between machines.
Amode sounded nice as well, and I liked the idea of all the various information, notes, even drawings, etc. but a) getting information in is just as tedious, and b) the calendar/gantt will also not let me add dates so far in the past or even so long.
Thank you also for the link to the comparison of ACCESS (it´s been so many years!) and CT - I can quite sympathise with the author and may yet see what has been added to it, I used to quite like ACCESS.
I am even looking at possibly using MyInfo or Surfulater - but will need to make a decision soon, before the quantity of information makes assimilating it all too boring to contemplate ;-)
Dr Andus wrote:
Susanne wrote:
>>2) Connected Text: Wiki aspect might be nice, though getting
>information
>>in is even worse than TheBrain and also no timeline - not sure about
>how
>>it handles database size.
>
>Re “getting info in”, CT has automatic paste for text (Clipboard
>catcher), so that can’t get any quicker, and once you have an
>appropriate folder directory system set up, adding images and other
>files in is a matter of drag and drop from a Windows Explorer window.
>There are also dedicated “date topics” with calendar view.
>
>As for timelines, you may want to check the CT forum, as this issue has
>been discussed there and there are a few others using CT for historical
>research: http://connectedtext.com/forum/
>
>Another option might be to use a specialist software for the timelines
>only. See examples here:
>http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/2503/20
>
>Other options:
>
>1) Mindsystems Amode V2:
>https://portal.mindsystems.com.au/downloads/7/Mindsystems-Amode
>
>It has a hierarchical tree, a Gantt chart and a calendar view. You can
>attach notes, images, files, tasks, concept maps to each node and even
>link nodes to each other. Multiple databases can be open in tabs and
>compared using the Briefcase feature. Not sure how it would work with
>large amount of data. Can export/import into Word, Excel, MS Project,
>Outlook.
>
>2) MS Access. Here is a case study (compared with CT):
>http://jostwald.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/to-tweak-or-to-chuck-that-is-the-question/
Posted by Susanne
Jan 3, 2013 at 01:20 PM
Hi Steve,
yes I know, these requirements ask for what we used to call (in german) the search for the “Eierlegende-Woll-Milch-Sau” (Egg-laying-wool-and-milk-giving-sow) back when I worked for vendors and SW companies ;-)
Actually, I am just about giving up the timeline aspect - I believe that if I can get the rest set up and have the information structured somehow, then I will probably be able to export information into some other package for the timeline. But, as the interest in art implies, I’m a very visual person. That’s why I was originally thinking of using TheBrain.
I appreciate that Zoot could probably do most of what I want, the smart folders are enticing. My reluctance about Zoot is based on it not working properly on my machines, I lost about 100mb of data a year ago and the problems with Evernote and crashing just have me concerned.
Ah well, now I know what it feels like on the other end of the stick!