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Hello everyone,
Does anyone has experience with managing or making exhibition
databases? My job at NorthernLight (exhibition design), Amsterdam
used to involve mainly 'content development', but I'm starting to be
more and more involved into 'content management'.
I have once made a proposal to do this with Filemaker Pro, but I have
no idea if this could work and how (we are currently only using it to
keep track of our hours, planning, expenses, and personnel). Are
there any other (easier) ways of doing it as well?
When developing exhibitions we normally list all exhibition items
(such as text panels, exhibits, objects, multimedia) in one or more
(depending on the size of the project) Excel sheet(s). In these
sheets we then keep track of all data, such as: status, remarks,
texts, materials, production methods, dimensions, etcetera.
Unfortunately this method has some disadvantages:
- Excel is 'too clever' and auto-correct or auto-fill can result in
mistakes.
- Several people at several institutions or companies are working in
the excel-documents by downloading them from an FTP-server and
uploading it again. Without notification of all participants, there
is always the risk to overwrite newer versions.
- With projects becoming bigger and increasingly more complex Excel
is just not good enough anymore. There must be better, easier ways to
manage data.
So, I'm looking for ways to developing databases that can be used by
every participant of the project:
- Because they are and stay online (such as with Google-docs)
- Because they are easy to use and to set up.
I want to be able to make lists, but also to use it for data-mining
and to call up for all information of one (type of) exhibit, or one
subject, etcetera.
I'm eager to finding out what your experiences are.
Thanks a lot,
Esther Hamstra
Content Developer
NorthernLight
_______________________
Grasweg 77
1031 HX Amsterdam
The Netherlands
T +31 20 5353737
F +31 20 4235054
M +31 6 17580355
E [log in to unmask]
_______________________
www.northernlight.nl
www.exhibits.nl
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