What is this about?

File naming
Organizing files
Describing files

File naming

File naming

Untitled1.mkv
video.mkv
my_great_recording_2019_day1.mkv
My great recording 2019: Day 1.mkv
April 2019 - Großartige Aufnahme Tag 1 [FFV1,PCM,1080p].mkv
>>>GREAT<<< Recording!❤️! feat. Péri Änders, Sœkůr T. in กรุงเทพมหานคร.mkv
mgrd1.mkv
VX-00815.mkv
19530103/2.mkv
de305d5475b4431badb2eb6b9e54601.mkv
…

Filenames Matter

Source: A catalogue for bad file naming (2015)

File naming

What to look out for (=avoid) when naming files?

non-alphanumeric / non-ASCII
Spaces!
< > " / \ ? % : | * :
(total) string length

Why?

Modifiying filenames to make them work more smoothly for computers can be a very emotional thing: Invisible Defaults and Perceived Limitations: Processing the Juan Gelman Files (by Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez, 2016)

I find it good that she highlights that lanuguage and expression is a very personal thing and represents cultural codings - and that it’s our duty as archivists to safeguard what is handed over to us as original as we can.

She also stumbles over incompatibilites between computer (operating) systems.

When reading the article I felt that she was putting blame on the Linux system for not treating certain encodings well, when in fact it’s the other way around: Windows introduced its own codepages, and also they didn’t configure their Linux system correctly so it would read these characters properly.

I want to add though, that actually it’s open source systems that support the biggest number of languages and encodings that exist worldwide: Especially the ones that are not as “commercially interesting” for other systems to really put effort it.

Keep and guard the materials handed over to you as best as you can, yet be aware that computers that use filesystems have a hard time dealing with certain characters in filenames. Preserve the text of the original filenames, but maybe not necessarily in the filename, but rather as metadata somewhere where it doesn’t cause machines to freak out.

A filename is not a catalogue. Information that goes beyond the usage as a human+machine filename handle, but causes problems is IMO better put somewhere where special characters are kept and treated properly - like a database, or inside the file as embedded metadata.

“Stabilizing” Filenames

A filename is not a catalogue. Replacing (or removing) potentially “problematic” characters from file- and foldernames makes sense.

…but document it!

File naming your personal stuff?

Sortable timestamp
20190618_103918-awesome_friends.jpg (so alphabetical = chronological)
Consistent naming per folder? IMG_0801.JPG, SL740465.jpg, DSCN7717.JPG, …
Folders = groups, collections
Hierarchical folders:
2021/05-EQZE/slides (=year / event / record_source)

Organizing Files

Establish file and folder naming conventions, identifiers, and storage locations

Exercise

Organizing Files

Copies: Original, Access
Media types: AV, audio, images?
Sidecar / Metadata files?
Stabilize original names?
Does it scale?
Uniqueness?

Describing files

Which fields/data to gather for…?

Collection level
Item level
- Preservation files
- Access files
Content level

For preservation, it is common (and necessary) to distinguish between different levels of description. They are related to each other, and the boundaries may sometimes be fuzzy, but important to draw them.

Examples:

Collection level

ID
Title
Description
Genre
Rights
Which recordings exist
Meta-Metadata:
- Cataloger
- Entry Date

Item level

Describing the physical item or digital file.

ID
Which Collection? (=Collection ID)
Title
Duration
File name / location
File format
Hashcode
Filesize
Time in/out
Recording details (date, engineer, location, etc)
Meta-Metadata:
- Cataloger
- Entry Date

Content level

Describing what’s inside the recording. The content. The subject focus and level of detail may vary greatly - depending on intention and capabilities.

Examples:

Abstract
Synopsis
Naming people, objects, etc.
Historical details
…

Exercise

Creating a Catalog

We will be creating a catalog for the collection using a simple data model. During this segment, you will be building out this model in a spreadsheet.

Create tabs for Collection and Item Set all worksheets to Text format (walk through how to do this together) Create an identifier scheme (hint: make it sequential and use pull down method) Create at least one controlled vocabulary and implement it (walk through how to do this together) Create a set of guidelines that document what information to enter in each field, and in what format. Document specifically your entry formats for: Dates Technical information (e.g., bitrate, file size)

Once you are finished, Swap your Catalog form and guidelines with another team. You will be using the other team’s Catalog form for cataloging in the next activity. Review your new Catalog form and guidelines.

Do you have any questions for the other group?

Topic 6 - File Management Practice

What is this about?

File naming

File naming

Filenames Matter

File naming

“Stabilizing” Filenames

File naming your personal stuff?

Organizing Files

Exercise

Organizing Files

Describing files

Exercise

Creating a Catalog

Comments?

Questions?

Links: