(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

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/

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.

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/

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!

Susanne wrote:

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 ;-)

Surfulater is pretty good with clippings from both web (though I haven't tried with Chrome), screen(shots) and other docs, and you can attach additional files. Items can be linked to from other apps. And there is the chronological view, which is a timeline.

Susanne, along with my best wishes for 2013, let me first say that I very much enjoy your daily art posts and appreciate the work that goes in them :-)

I see several complementary solutions to your issue, none all-encompassing but I believe that you won't be sacrificing too much whichever root you take.

First of all, I would suggest that you create a Google+ contact with your Evernote mail address and include it in the circles with which you share your daily posts. I have found no easier way to keep track of my G+ posts. You can of course do the same with the Zoot mail address (if you have linked a Gmail account to Zoot).

The above solution will not copy the full postings to email, just the first teaser lines, as Google only sends a notification to mail accounts. That is not a huge problem, as I believe that the name and years of each artist are usually at the top of your posts. The notification will keep the link to the original post so you can click back to it at any time for full details.

To maintain and organise the full posts, my alternative suggestions would be:

- Evernote: I believe that it is the tool that will cope best with the growth in database size. The sync works great and acts as an excellent backup. You can create any hierarchical structure with tags and it could help you organise artists in complementary taxonomies, e.g. movements, techniques, special characteristics etc. There is a free plugin that shows entries on a calendar http://www.moreproductivenow.com/evernote.html Main disadvantage of Evernote: chronology will be limited to the posting date.

- MyInfo: main advantage over Evernote, the custom metadata colums which should make it easy to organise chronologies etc. Main disadvantage: capture might not be as convenient.

- Surfulater: grabbing material from your browsers, including Chrome, should be a piece of cake and its tagging is powerful. However, it has no quantitative fields so your chronology will be limited to the posting date.

- Zoot: I have not worked extensively with the most recent version so I have no idea about its user-friendliness. That said, its metadata/search capabilities should be unmatched.

- Last but not least, if you are considering a DIY solution (as Access was mentioned), you might want to take a look at Brliiant Database http://www.brilliantdatabase.com/ discussed here in the past.

Hi,
maybe you want to have look at http://dirt.projectbamboo.org (Digital Research Tools).
There you can find tools like Omeka, http://omeka.org , or Exhibit, http://www.simile-widgets.org/exhibit3/ , which might be helpful for your project.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

- Surfulater: grabbing material from your browsers, including Chrome,
should be a piece of cake and its tagging is powerful. However, it has
no quantitative fields so your chronology will be limited to the posting
date.

Sorry to have to correct you Alexander, as I'm sure you know a lot more about Surfulater as I do, but just today I've discovered that you can change the posting date to any date you like in Surfulater, so the chronological tree can be used for creating a timeline.

Recently I've decided that I will start reading the help files of my favourite applications from cover-to-cover, as so many times I discover some fab features like this one for software that I've been using for years... While at it, I learned something else about Surfulater today that I'm too embarrassed to even mention... :)

Dr Andus wrote:

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
However, it has no quantitative fields so your chronology will be limited to the
posting date.

Sorry to have to correct you Alexander, as I'm sure you know a lot more
about Surfulater as I do, but just today I've discovered that you can
change the posting date to any date you like in Surfulater, so the
chronological tree can be used for creating a timeline.

True, I should rephrase my point: "your chronology will be limited to one date per item". I understand that Susanne wanted to keep both the chronology of the artist's activity/birth/whatever, and of her own posting. So one can have any of the these, but not all. In a tool with custom fields, one could have several dates per item.

Thanks Alexander, Steve, Dr Andus and Patrick, for your replies and suggestions.

I think for now I will focus on playing with MyInfo, and if that doesnt work then give Zoot another try.
Mainly because MyInfo has such a nice, clean interface (ok, I'm shallow, but I'm a visual person). It also offers fields, saved searches (filters) that include grouping information and will let me export information once/if I decide to really attempt the visual timeline.
I'm making Zoot my second choice because those things that really set it above MyInfo - feeds, Evernote, mail, are not working correctly and I prefer to spend time with the content and not the tool.
That's also the reason I am not looking into Omeka or Exhibit 3 right now, even though both sound fascinating in their abilities. But I don't have a server and no real intention to get into all that. Though I am keeping the links! Particularly the SIMILE Timeline Project looks very interesting. But I don't want my tendency to CRIMP go into technical stuff too much, especially as I am so far behind on all these things. ;-)

Anyway, thanks again, and I will let you know the outcome,
Susanne