Image Organizers and Databases
From Acorn
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Image organizers
(For local computer use)- For the PC: Picasa (Free)
- For the Mac iPhoto (Bundled free with Macs)
- Bridge, an application included with Photoshop CS2 and CS3, and Photoshop Elements 4 and 5, called File Browser in Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements 3. (Mac and PC)
- At least one of our faculty likes acdseepro, Free Trial, $129 list. There is a "non-pro" version for $39.99 list. (PC) There may be educational discounts.
- Some faculty at other institutions are using iView Media $ 25 educational cost. However, Microsoft recently purchased the company, and has eliminated iView Media. They have released Expression Media, listed in Image Databases, below. This replaces iView Media Pro, the higher-end version of iView Media. iVew Media Pro is still available, as of Dec. 07, for $99.
- We have not evaluated it, but the open-source, cross-platform Album Shaper seems interesting.
- Other software: QPict (Mac)
- Higher-end photo-editing software also has image organizing and cataloging features. To be investigated:
- Apple Aperture
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On-Line Web-Based Image Organizers
- Flickr is free, for limited use, and is one of the more popular. It is described in Social Software
- Picasa Web Album. Image uploader for Mac, for PC uploader use Picasa link above.
- Adobe Photoshop Express also allows on-line image editing
- Snapmania seems worth investigating
The college subscribes to ARTstor, an on-line repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images and related data, with the tools to actively use them and present them. It is also possible to create personal collections. ARTstor provides free Offline Image Viewers that can be used either with or without ARTstor images.
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Image databases
(if you need more extensive cataloging features than the above provide):
- We usually recommend, for single individual users, Portfolio $200 list, $100 Educational Cost, there is a free 30-day trial available. (Mac and PC). Portfolio also offers a server version.
- Portfolio Instructions (to be written)
- Microsoft purchased iView, and has replaced iVew Media Pro with several versions of Expression Media in 2007. List prices start at $300.
- For metadata only, without images or thumbnails, Filemaker Pro is very good (Mac and PC). Filemaker can incorporate images or thumbnails, but this can be time-consuming. Microsoft Access can also be used for metadata, (PC only), but can be harder to learn.
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Campus-wide image database to meet Instruction and Archives requirements
- We are evaluating ContentDM, MDID2, Luna Imaging Insight, Almagest and DSpace for "enterprise level" solutions. ARTstor is also offering a hosted solution which we are piloting at this time.
- MDID papers and presentations in the MDID wiki.
- A study of “Using Digital Images in Teaching and Learning,” was commissioned by Wesleyan University in collaboration with the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE). The final report can be found here. Look for the link to the one page of Recommendations.
- To investigate: OpenCollection, can also handle video and audio.
- To investigate: Ex Libris DigiTool
- To investigate: Imagefolio
- Johns Hopkins University uses ClearStory
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Image Cataloging
Cataloging software does a good job of describing metatada. It can usually only shows a thumbnail of the image, not a large view, sometimes not even a thumbnail is used.
- VCat (used to be VireoCat)
- Dublin Core metadata elements
- VRA Core 4.0 metadata elements
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Presentation Software
- Much of the above software can also create image presentations.
- In addition, we have an entire wiki page on Presentation tools and tips
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Other
Conferences, and Image Database Projects at other Institutions
- Good information from Jeff Klee in here, especially the use of IPTC, which embeds metadata with the image itself.
- Are Digital Images Changing Teaching in Liberal Arts Colleges?, check the Media Archives for some of the presentations.
- Additonal information on image management can be found at the Visual Resources Association web site
- vraweb comparison of Filemaker Image Databases
Open Source Web Image Galleries and Organizers
On-Line Photo Sharing and Printing
- A big one is Kodak EasyShare Gallery
- One of our student assistants likes Snapfish She claims that usually digital camera's aspect ratio of 4:3 is cropped to 3:2 when prints are made at other services, and she loses a bit of the top and bottom of each image.
Imaging Guidelines and References
Please contact Mark Braunstein, x2729, mmbra@conncoll.edu, or Frank Fulchiero, x5006, fful@conncoll.edu, if you need assistance with any of the above.
