On Mon, 04 May , John Baird <jbaird@fgi.net> wrote: > It's a .dbf file that can be imported to all kinds of >programs like MS Access, File Maker Pro, etc. Question: How many in the >general membership know how to use a database? Maybe Bill Ballard is >right that most people would be happy enough doing text searches with a >word processor. Depends on the word processor. Mine is of the lean&mean variety. Unfortunately its search/find capability is lean, ie. limited to simple (not compound) finds, with no search filtering, sorting or grouping of records. That's why I put it immediately into a database (and also becasue databases are my Leggo set). It took me about two hours of data clean&preen, but half of that was writing macros (always a chance to explore the vast functtionality of this particluar database). It could well be that the 18-wheeler word processors can do all of this in their table mode. But looking at the finished product last night, I had to conclude that the value of anything beyond a simple find was greatly dependant on the available supply of keywords. Ted Simmons' field for "Title" was not always the literal article title. When looking over the oeuvre of the writer most familiar to me (namely, myself), I found one or more records issuing from a single article and those titles coming from the subheadings of section in which Ted found useful material. Frank Emerson's rules and srtucture were more rigorous. But even with the addition of a keyword field, it is only as good as the number of available keywords. The number of keywords is a function of how closely you sift through the article for them, and the general pool of them across the database is only as good as the consistency with which you sifted, down through every last article. It may sound as though Ted's file is of lower quality than Frank's. But that's a very "quick&dirty" reading of these remarks. Ted put many days worth of hours into his file. He also did this as a personal project, never considering that it would be out among his peers for everyone to poke at and criticze. Bravo. Ted. My nomination still stands >These recent omissions may not matter as much when we have the complete 16 >years of Journals on a searchable CD. On the other hand, I don't know >yet if the search and report functions of the PDF file on a CD-ROM are >as flexible as what you can do with a database file. The search/report capability in PDF format makes me ache for a database. I wouldn't ask PDF to do anything more than draw the page once it's been called up. I'm not a member of the committee but I'm assuming that whatever's on the CD-ROM would have what any brick-walled library has, one area for index cards in file drawers and another for all those books. That way each half of the job (querying and displaying) can be given to the app that does it best. Ted's file could very well be a test market of what the ECC committee is working on, as people on this list report on how they are using it. I didn't stop at the "ptg.org" page to see whether Ted's document could be searched online. If so, any survey would have to come from those who have downloaded it. Who is using it in what app? I've got mine in a database. which has expanded its original file size from 232 to 307K . Bill Ballard, RPT New Hampshire Chapter, PTG ".......true more in general than specifically" Lenny Bruce, spoofing a radio discussion of the Hebrew roots of Calypso music
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