How to index your own digitalized records?

Question

I recently started to digitalize some church records. A photo of each double page, each double page between 5 and 15 entries. I got over 1000 photos which I renamed (church - running number - year - type of event.jpg).

Now I want to do some basic indexing:

• mark an individual’s entry in a file
• enter a name
• access this entry in this particular file from a database that covers all the names from all photos

Are there any tools available to accomplish a task like this on your own computer? I am running Mac OS X.

Answer 1

If I understand correctly, you have around 10,000 church records in 1,000 images. You want to be able to enter a name that is on one of the records and then find the image it is on. Ideally you would also want to indicate which of the 5-15 entries per page is the correct entry, but for such a small number of images per page that seems optional.

Transcription

One approach is to use transcription software like FromThePage, Scripto and others (see list at Bamboo Digital Research Tools), however few of these run on OS/X and they are overkill if the result is intended for your own use.

The advantage of a full transcription is you can search it for something other than names, such as places, or notes.

Spreadsheet

Assuming you do just want to do this offline on your machine, and just need a name index, then building a simple list in a spreadsheet is one approach.

Columns for last name, first names, image name. So you can just search or sort the spreadsheet to find a name. Open Office is good enough for such a small table like this (but it will take a long time to enter!).

That will give you the image name to open for a particular person name. You could go one step further and use a formula to create a new column that takes the image name and adds the path on your machine to make a clickable link that will open the image for you.

A database would also work, but data entry on a spreadsheet is perhaps easier. The result (when exported as a csv) can be used for many purposes later.

Tagging

A different approach is to tag (add keywords to) the images by their contents. So, for each image, list the 5-30+ names on that image as tags ("Hans Schmidt", "Ulrike Fisher") etc.

The tagging can be done with software on your own machine, such as Picasa and iPhoto.

You could also use a cloud based service like flickr. For any cloud-based service, be sure the sharing options have been set to what you want and expect.

Both on your own machine and/or using a cloud based service, test with a few images first. Experiment with entering tags or keyword phrases (the names of people) using different programs and services, see how easy (or not) they are to enter. Try the search tools, make sure you can retrieve images by the names you have entered. Make sure there is a way to export your list of tags into another format such as CSV, in case you ever change program or service.

One disadvantage of tags could be poor search and sort tools (such as all entries for one last name sorted by first name). On the other hand, it's more flexible than rigid columns in a spreadsheet, and provides a more integrated way to search and view.

Answer 2

I would create a database using a package like OpenOffice or LibreOffice. These are available for Mac, Windows & Linux and are free. This is similar to Access in Microsoft Office or to the much larger MySQL.

Create a data table for your images, which can be imported from a CSV file, which also contains the image name and location. Create another table for your relatives which contains links to the image table. The two tables coexist in the same database file.

Creating a database takes a bit of planning to ensure you have the right connections between tables plumbed in from the start. However, you can change your data structure if you need to at a later date.

This is something I keep meaning to do with my data, which at the moment is indexed by an OpenOffice spreadsheet. The spreadsheet approach works well for smaller numbers of people & images but has become unwieldy.

Answer 3

GenScriber does allow linking to media, and multiple hyperlinks can be used in a single cell. You can link to multiple images for a single record. GenScriber will also export nicely formatted html complete with links.

Also, the sort in genscriber will never trash your data. It always sorts across all columns. It also has multiple column sort.

I am working on a Mac version, but I do not have a release date.

Answer 4

I am one of the cofounders of ENISoftware, which just released ENIndexer. I don't believe our software would be right for your needs, as it is primarily a solution for creating "back of the book" every name indexes.

Based on your original post, it sounds to me like Genscriber in its wine wrapped version is the clsoest thing available to what you are trying to do. If it can't do everything, perhaps Les would be willing to add some of your additional requests into a future release.

Answer 5

I just saw the announcement of ENIndexer (Mac, Windows). It helps to create name indexes for books and similar documents. There is however no linking to source files. There is a trial available, the price tag is 74,95 USD.