Message-Id: <mailto:199607251715.MAA23150@library.wustl.edu> Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 12:24:42 -0400 From: Chris Orr <mailto:chriso@AW.COM> Subject: Re: Database To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
>>Has anyone had any experience with a database called "Cumulus"? If so,
>>please let me know about the good and the bad of it.--Ruth Spencer<<
I've been using Cumulus with much success for a little over a year now. It's ideal for me in my publishing production and pre-press setting where I have many types of digital images and other digital assets (text, sounds, animations) to manage. I find that I can train clients relatively quickly on how to search and I can set up different levels of access and security through Appleshare. It has some good Web possibilities which I haven't yet explored for "intranets" as well as for public Web sites.
The good: it is client/server architecture & relatively easy on network traffic; its searches are fast (all words in notes field are indexed, for example); it has a flexible keyword structure that can be set up hierarchically by the administrator; it handles a wide range of file formats (JPEG; TIFF; EPS etc) by using filters which exist separately from the application itself (this makes adding filters a snap---no need to wait for the next upgrade to incorporate a new format. My collection includes computer-generated art as well as digital photos so this feature is very important); images can be online or offline---Cumulus records their location clearly & accurately; it's Apple-scriptable and so can interact with our FileMaker Pro databases; it's easy to learn, teach, set up; lots of drag-and-drop features.
Some drawbacks: for now, it's only Mac-based for the server end (though clients apparently can be non-Mac; and "soon" Canto will offer a Unix version for servers); it's not possible to readily create database sets of selected images from your searches (Digital Collections' EmbARK, for instance, allows a user to "mark" given records from searches and display the marked records); it has a very limited number of fields so I end up "dumping" a lot of info into the notes field---Apparently Canto figures that you will use keywords for this kind of info, but with something like photographers names, this would make the keyword list itself unwieldy; it's not SQL-compliant which may limit how your enterprise as a whole relates to it; the manuals are a bit minimal and some documentation is rather thin.
You might ask yourself some questions like: do you use MARC for cataloging your images? (Cumulus not geared for this.) Do you need to protect your high-resolution images for copyright or other reasons? (Cumulus allows this, but clients will only be able to view the small thumbnail-size records). Are you looking for a work-in-progress management system or a final archive display system? (Cumulus handles both with ease.)
Feel free to give me a call if you want to know a little more. Every site uses a tool like an image database slightly differently and there are lots of vendors to consider these days!
Chris Orr Information Specialist Addison Wesley Longman Higher Education Publishing Group 2725 Sand Hill Road Menlo Park, CA 94025 ------------------------------------------------------- mailto:chriso@bc.aw.com ------------------------------------------------------- 415/854-0300 x2706 Fax ô15/614-2925