Re: Iris Database II

Actually the first transmission of this message wasnt' lost in cyberspace,
it has been sitting in my 'IN' box until I got around to answering it.

For the past year I have been volunteering at the Roosevelt Library helping
them put their Collections List into a database that can be accessed from
the Web. I suspect an iris database would dwarf that effort, but I can
safely say that a list of everything at the library is not small. I think
we are up to about 50,000 records so far.

The data was input one finding aid at a time. These were about 1000 records
long. A volunteer typed each one onto a floppy disk. When the data was
input and proofread, it was added to the main database. Most of them took
about 10 hours for a good typist to finish, so the job seemed manageable.
Proofreading was a major problem, however, and there are still a lot of
typos in the data.

The general purpose of this database is simply to find information on a
given subject. There are no cross links.

Kay Cangemi
Cangemi@mhv.net
New York USDA zone 5


>At 12:41 PM 3/28/96 MST, Craig Hughes wrote:
>>
>FYIO a fellow Canadian, Mike Homick, has put the Lilium Registry (all vols)
>onto a CD using Microsoft "ACCESS" as the database.  It works great for
>tracing geneology.  The only thing he left out was the photos (which I am
>trying to correct).  How would your relational database differ and what
>advantages/benefits would it provide over using an established database?
>
>Excluding the database used and taking into consideration the enormous
>amount of data involved, not to mention the size of each file with a photo,
>I would like to make the following suggestions:
>
>1.  Use a seperate CD for each type of iris, i.e., TB, Sib, JI, ect.
>Smaller DB's could be combined on one CD until they got larger in years to
>come.
>2.  Divide the work.  Ask for volunteers to enter the data.  Each person or
>a team of persons could work on a section.  This would have to be a labor of
>love!
>3.  Have a project manager who would be responsible for answering questions,
>coordinating the work, setting deadlines and establishing the data format.
>4.  Ask the AIS to underwrite the project (a grant).  They could release the
>CD's at cost or at a small profit.  The information could also be placed on
>the WWW at one of the Botanical Gardens or College's for research use.
>Imagine having all that data & pictures at the fingertips of a show
>classification chairperson when the judges have an ID question.
>5.  Ask all the related societies for donations of money and pictures.
>6.  Ask the hybridizers, when applicable, to provide photos.
>
>
>I have found that Delria "CommSuite" has an OCR reader that I have used to
>scan material in and then manipulate it in a word processor.
>
>Chris have you looked at the Home Page For Irises @
>http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/iris/  yet.
>
>David Payne-Joyce has done a fantastic job of charting 'Conjuration'.  The
>file is 180 Kb's because it traces the geneology all the irises that went
>into that final cross that produced 'Conjuration'.  He has also included
>their ploid, some genetic traits, a short synopsis of the hybridizer, and
>the registry description.  All the entries have embedded links (pointers).
>
>I also like the format.  It allows me at a glance to see what the geneology
>of an iris is.  I believe that this format would be the most convienent form
>for a hybridizer to use.  Especially if the dominate genetic traits for each
>iris was graphically displayed.
>Good work David.  I believe that there is a need for both formats are needed
>
>
>    Monty Byers (d. 1992) California
>
>        Conjuration  (Byers 1989)
>              Byers seedling B-37-10
>                   Sky Hooks  (Osborne 1980)
>                   Condottiere  (Cayeux 1978)
>              Alpine Castle  (Blyth 1979)
>
>
>I hope this thread is reexamined and my suggestions commented on.  Feel free
>to E-Mail me with any questions Chris.  What do you think Clarence?  Do you
>think the AIS Board might provide a grant?  Thanks, Craig Hughes, St. Louis,
>Zone 5, chughes @ inlink.com
>
>This is a retransmission.  The original was mailed 6/24/96 and lost is
>cyberspace.
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