Re: [ARSCLIST] File naming for digital audio and associated files

["Steven C. Barr" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Hooyenga" <susan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

> Many thanks to you and to Steven Barr for your suggestions!
> Susan
> Quoting Steve Green <sgreen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> > I think Steven Barr's comments and my own earlier ones were both
> > addressing mainly the issue of assigning "call numbers" to physical
> > items, in this case tapes. Susan has now clarified that she and her
> > colleague are dealing with computer-based file naming issues rather
> > than  tape numbering and labeling, so I apologize if I misunderstood
> > the original question and started drifting off on a tangent. I continue
> > to think that simplicity is best in any numbering or filing scheme,
> > whether on the shelf on on a computer, but I'll let someone else take a
> > stab at offering specific suggestions regarding the digital ID numbers
> > and keeping the audio files linked to the transcripts.
> >
> > Susan, thanks for explaining further what you are working on there.
> > Good luck and best wishes,

Now that I'm clear on what you are doing...it is important that some sort
of I.D., probably an arbitrary number or alphanumeric combination, be
assigned to both the tape and the related sound file. However, this can
be for internal use! The important thing is to use this as the primary
key field in a data table which contains the main data about the
recording (additional tables can hold further data in related data
records, linked to the main table by one-to-many relationships).

Thus, you could have a table, RECORDINGS:

ID_NO         A0001
CONTENT       Moose Hunting
DATE          6/30/1988
REMARKS       <stuff about the tape>

and then related tables:

ID_NO         A0001
SPEAKER       xxx
REMARKS       <stuff about the interview>

as well as other related tables. Note that all the entries concerning
that tape conain the ID_NO field with the same content. As well, the
original tape (and any dubs taken from it) will carry this number.
Of course, you can assign different prefixes to different sets of
tapes (i.e. different locations, tribes, etc.) but that isn't
necessary, since the only function of this identifier will be\
to link the tape with its digital version, and all the entries in
that database that concern it.

You don't need a complicated ID number (or filename) to tell you
what it contains...that will all be in the data tables, which can
be queried. You could, for example, create a query asking for
all CONTENT = "Moose Hunting" or SPEAKER = "xxx" and the data
records for which that applied would be listed!

If you have someone setting up your database, he/she/it will know
what I'm talking about!

Steven C. Barr