Last changed 18 May 2008

Media databases

This page focusses on media database software for the maintenance and presentation of a collection of photographs and images, at the "consumer" and small institutional level.  Some software also handles text files, audio files, and video files.  More powerful versions known as DAMS are used by institutions such as libraries, galleries, and archives.

comparison of features of some media database software
software: iPhoto AraIrititja FileMakerPro¨ Mukurtu Memory Place Tools for Indigenous Knowledge Management Flickr (Yahoo) Picasa (Google)
user registration?
 System login
 Y?
 possible
 Y
Y
 Y, optional
 Y, optional
user profile ~ access?
 N
 Y?
 possible
 Y
Y
 limited
user comments?
 N
 Y
 possible
 Y

Y
 Y
auto thumbnails?
 Y
 ?
 N
 Y

Y
 Y?
video?
 N
 Y
 Y
 Y
Y
 N
 Y
Boolean search? N? ? possible N

limited N?
proprietary? Y Y Y open source GPL open source GPL open source; Windows installer Y Y
networked? LAN N possible LAN

Internet
 Internet
user interface specific specific specific browser
 OS-independent (in an interpreted language); currently an installer only for Mac OS X 10.4
 XSBR (XML Search, Browse & Retrieval) browser interface to XMEG (XML Metadata Editor/Generator)
 browser browser
custom albums?
 Y
 ?
 possible Y

Y
 Y
tags?
 N
 ?
 possible N

Y
 Y
geo-tagging?
 N
 N
 possible
 N

Y
 Y
export?
 presentation
JPG TIF PNG HTML
 N?
 possible
 SQL dump

presentation only
 presentation only?
auto-import EXIF data?
 Y
 ?
 N?
 N

N?
batch import/upload?
 Y
 ?
 ?
 Y (files), & metadata where constant across batch

Y
 Y;
Picasa Web Albums Exporter uploads directly from iPhoto

Notes:
  1. "Ara Irititja" covers Ara Winki and other derived shells which are based on FileMakerPro¨, and was reviewed by Kimberly Christen in Museum Anthropology 29.1(2006),56-60.  A derived version, Our Story, was implemented in 2004 by the NT Library Service's Knowledge Centres, and Our Story v2, drawing also on Memory Place, is in development in 2008 (with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates FoundationÕs Access to Learning Award).
  2. For bare FileMakerPro¨, "possible" above means that the function could be added given effort and expertise with scripting and possibly calling on other software.
  3. The Kuku Thaypan Elders' Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways project has developed the TKRP database with UTS.  Whether the software is available to others is not stated.
Comments welcome: david.nash AT anu.edu.au

© 2008 David Nash
Created 6 October 2007
Last changed 18 May 2008
URL http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/mediabases.html