Exercise 5
Think about a file naming convention for your files. Work on only one of the following variants.
Variant 1: Your Own Files
Look at your own files. Do you already use a systematic file naming convention? What could be optimized? Develop a convention or adjust your existing one and document it in writing.
Variant 2: Predefined Scenario
You spent two weeks „in the field“ and collected a lot of data for your research project: various digital field notes in text form and analog field notes in the form of sketches, as well as photos, audio recordings, and some videos. Develop conventions for clear file naming of the different file formats, ensuring that the creation date and possibly the content are apparent.
Variant 3: Predefined Files
Take another look at the files you downloaded from the internet for your research project on data protection.
Source: Downloaded files, Anne Voigt, licensed under CC BY SA 4.0
Reflective Questions and Task for Variant 3:
- What differences do you notice in the file names?
- Which file names allow you to deduce the content?
- Which file names do you consider suitable, and which are rather unsuitable and why?
Develop a file naming convention for the files that will help you identify the file’s origin and content even after some time has passed.
Note:
There are no legal issues with renaming files for personal storage and organization. However, when renaming external files, it is important to first document the sources, including the URLs and the date of access, in case the works need to be cited in scientific papers or articles in a bibliography.
Variant 2:
- Digital Notes: Date_Affiliation_notes0X_v01.FileExtension
- Analog Field Notes (Drawings, Sketches): Date_Affiliation_sketch0X_v01.FileExtension
- Image Files: Date_Affiliation_pic0X-ShortTitle_v01.FileExtension
- Audio Files: Date_Affiliation_aud0X-Lowercase-ShortTitle_v01.FileExtension
- Video Files: Date_Affiliation_vid0X-ShortTitle_v01.FileExtension
Variante 3:
- What differences do you notice?
- Some files have the date placed at the beginning of the filename in different formats, others have a short title, some contain sequential numbering of different editions in a series, while others likely include the name of the author(s) or the issuing institution.
- Which file names allow you to deduce the content?
- The names of files 2, 3, 6, 9, 15 and 16 indicate their content.
- Which filenames do you consider suitable, and which are rather unsuitable, and why?
- The filenames of files 2 and 3 are suitable because they include the creation date and a title. However, both are somewhat long. File No. 7 is also a good filename.
- The ISBN in the filename of the scientific article in file No. 1 is rather unsuitable from a user’s perspective, as are filenames 10-14 and No. 5, since they neither provide information about the content nor indicate the year or date of publication.
Possible File Naming Convention:
YearOfPublication_Content_Author/Institution