Re: AIS: John's database/CD questions
- Subject: Re: AIS: John's database/CD questions
- From: Linda Mann l*@volfirst.net
- Date: Wed, 09 Oct 2002 18:48:31 -0400
John Jones, listowner, Director, AIS Chairman, AIS Committee for
Electronic Member Services said:
<What would you use the information for?>
Pedigree searches, finding names of irises introduced by particular
hybridizers, <maybe> cutting and pasting info into my own garden files
(but probably not - too much work), finding irises with similar
pedigrees/ancestors/descendants of 'tough' irises I've grown, maybe
searching for traits (pattern, color, height, bloom season) in pedigrees
some day if it becomes something I want to learn more about re:
hybridizing
< How would you access the information?>
Probably with Corel Word Perfect, maybe with Quattro Pro or Excel
<How would you search the information?>
Probably with whatever software I was using - Corel has had pretty good
search capability within their word processing software - seems like the
older version was more capable than the newer, but I'm not sure.
<How would you conduct boolean searches?>
Mostly likely manually using nested sorts - more forgiving of errors in
the database than strict boolean searches (i.e., if the search doesn't
produce quite what I meant it to do, I can more easily figure out why &
how to fix it, or find what I'm looking for anyway)
<If the CD did have a search program associated
with it:
What platforms would it run on? (PC, Mac, Unix)
What operating systems and what versions?>
That's why I'd rather not have the CD provide the search program, at
least not in preliminary editions. Too limiting. Requires knowing
ahead of time what I will want to search for, which I don't know myself?
< I don't know things like:
If it had a search engine would the results of a
search be downloadable
to the host machine in text format? Is that
necessary? Is all the data
made resident on the host machine or does the
search engine only access
data on the CD? (Is that a requirement of the
license for the search engine).>
I don't know - but I would sometimes like to be able to print some parts
of sorts and searches.
<Don't get too excited here, my immediate goal is to get the '69 thru
'99
Checklists on line, followed by updating the Namelist database. Then
decide how to go about getting the current R&Is on line.>
< I think those items are all more important that worrying the CD
problems
right now.>
Sigh. I disagree. I wish I could have whatever error riddled version
of whatever years currently exist, with or without the post 2000 data,
<without> a search engine.
<I am not opposed to CDs, it is just that getting the data
online solves a lot of people's needs faster.>
Probably true - but I want MY needs & wants met! <g>
<(and until we get the
electronic data, we can't make the cd anyway)>
Well, you have <some> of the data.....
More of what John said in case you forgot....
<The CD issue raises a lot of questions. I would like to hear how people
would use a CD given the following:
That a CD would contain just the data in text form of the registrations.
It would be broken into several fields (somewhere from 3 to 7)
It would not have a search engine associated with it.
The data could be imported to any program capable of resolving "tabbed
text">
--
Baby cranes scheduled to lift off to head south following ultralights
from Wisconsin to Florida tomorrow, weather permitting.
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
Tennessee Whooping Crane Walkathon:
<http://www.whoopingcranesovertn.org>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
iris-talk/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
iris-photos/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
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