Folders for browsing, tags for search (or just search?)

It seems there is a debate about tags vs folders.  They are not mutually exclusive.  Here is a principle I adhered to for years:

Folders for browsing, tags for search.

So what really is the difference between the two?

Physical libraries have shelves and things are grouped (like folders).  Tags are really not possible.  So it might be good to brows the theatre section if you are into theatre.

Digitally the same applies you can’t browse one big pile, so put stuff into folders, but not too many (at least at the top level). Folders are there to facilitate browsing.  The Dewey decimal classification has 10 top levels, and that is about right.  They are rather beautiful:

000 – Computer science, information & general works
100 – Philosophy & psychology
200 – Religion
300 – Social sciences
400 – Language
500 – Pure Science
600 – Technology
700 – Arts & recreation
800 – Literature
900 – History & geography

But what about ‘Karl Marx’?  Browse in Social sciences. But there would be stuff about him or by him in probably everyone of those groups!  Hard for librarians who are forced to chose one shelf for something like: Sociometry, Experimental Method and the Science of Society, An Approach to a New Political Orientation by J.L. Moreno, which also has a chapter on Marx.  Digitally it could be in many at once i.e. in three folders: Moreno, social science and politics. That is worth doing. Some one browsing might like finding it there.  But consider the power of tags.

Tagging that book with: Moreno, politics, social science would be useful, but imagine adding sociometry, Marx, psychodrama group work, philosophy, religion.

It would come up in a fairly short list with any two of those tags. Also be easy to see what other books come up with a search on any two of those tags.

*

But what the hell!  Functionality for tags is lousy in most apps. They take time to add. Maybe search has outsmarted tags. Google does it all.

In Google Drive a file can be in many folders, that’s an an aid to browsing. No tags, and search works well.

 

Tools, iPad anticipation

I wrote a bit on my Psyberspace blog after I did the last three sketches. Here is a quote:

Tools evolve, and the best use of any given tool is of value. I have done a lot of sketching on my Palm PDAs – tool I’ll never use again – but therein lies something of value. The lead pencil has no colour. But look what has been done over the centuries with the humble pencil, and it lives. The current – no pressure iPad will die and be gone, but I look forward to making use of it, while it is in its first iteration. What can the finger do on that thing?

Here are some examples, some good stuff there.

Out Walking (then) Tweeting (now)

I am tweeting pictures. I am waltzzz on twitter

But really, my main photo page is in Flickr

I must say I am enjoying my Yoono sidebar in Firefox – I am suddenly integrating twits with fotos & facebook. It makes such a difference to me that I can see the pix in the sidebar.

Newsletter June 2009

Walter’s Art News June 2009 Hello Everyone Welcome to the my Art News, first one for the year! Note that I have changed the way I send these. Please let me know how it looks on your computer or phone.

Painting day – a question about acrylic technique.

I worked hard today painting in acrylics. Not much to show for it, nothing to post here in real media, (still waiting for my camera, it arrived from Hong Kong but its at the airport till Monday, but there is nothing to photograph anyway.) I was trying to translate a #0736 Trees from the Thousand Sketches and it was hard. This sort of digital to physical is a challenge.

One thing I did, in a moment of frustration with real paint, was a new digital. It just flew out. It is like the one I was using for a reference, with a subtly different feel.

Bush
Larger Image.

It is now obvious why I found it hard. The mottled effect is done digitally by setting the paper to very rough on those layers. The light spots are pits in the “paper”. Maybe I need to forget about being too true to my digital version & go with the medium? Or maybe persist?

How would you do this in acrylic?

International Klein Blue

 

 

I thought that Yves Klein’s Blue must have been the purest blue #0000ff, all the blues and nothing else.

But not so. I discovered that IKB is in fact #002FA7

I have just made all the un-clicked links on this blog IKB. The visited ones are light blue.

	#0000ff – Mathematially pure blue?
	#002FA7 – International Klein Blue
	#8B8BFF – mid-point light blue

No Tablet! No Pen.

My Toshiba M200, which has been the took for most of my work in the last few yours suddenly won’t work as a Tablet. No pen. Hope it is a quick fix but I can’t see how to do it. It is Queens Birthday here, so I can’t even take it in to be fixed. Any ideas?

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Digital Art Studio – adventures in Ink

I am reading a book, Digital art Studio, about print making using digital images and ink jet printers. Lots of info & ideas for using more traditional media in combination.

To get an idea check out the websites of the three authors:

Bonny Lhotka

Dorothy Simpson Krause

Karin Schminke

I am busy gathering material, bought some “Rabbit Skin Glue” today, and InkAID.

Some images follow:

Landscape

I have these in mind to experiment with in the printing. These are about how I want them to look, but I will try different plain paper, wartercolour etc, and use “vivid” versions to compensate for the absobtion. I might also try over printing.

And these might end up in my landscape presentation of prints in the usual way.

Landscape Pond
Larger Image.

Landscape Pond
Larger Image.

Leaves

Leaves
Larger Image.

Now this one grew out of the last one. One thing leads to another. But the process is not done. I can see this leading to more “design” style images, I am getting the hang of it and using a few new functions I am learning in the software (like copying a layer and then moving it slightly etc)

But what do I do, work on the bush or play more with designs? So this is what happens… a myriad of scrappy projects that I love doing… To be honest I think I will get there. Sooner or later I’ll get a series done and they will a unified life.
Earth Crosses got there, though there is a printing job to finalise there.

Next post, more moves into different directions.

hcard and linking stuff

I am still mucking around with Microformats, Id do it on my Psyberspace blog but it is harder to fiddle there on WordPress.com (must change it over to my own server. some time)

Have added a hCard to the bottom of the sidebar in the main view.

Some software will show up what is there eg Operator, Firefox add-on.

~

It is not nothing to do with art. Here is a hCard for example for Andy Warhol. It is part of wanting to make maps of connections between paintings, art networks as net artworks. So I am exploring these Microformats and FOAF and JSON all things Google are getting into.

~

Making links between painting and so on is definitely art for me, and it is very psyber. I will be blogging and linking these discussions in the Psyberspace blog.

Andy Warhol
Born: August 6, 1928
Died: February 22, 1987

New York
U.S.A.

artist

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Paint? More from the workshop…

Close
Larger Image.

Here is another cross. This one is a hybrid. The back-ground is paint and the verticals are digital. There is no original either, the base image was from a shot I took of part of the canvas, resized from landscape to square, beefed up the image in post-production. I think it will make a good print.

I still have the 600×600 mm original acrylic but it got tortured out of recognition! A lot of agony & ecstasy.
This one shows a some of what I learned over the three days. Layers. Removing paint in a variety of ways. I will keep going with this. More hybrids, and perhaps the other way around too! I could print the vertical on the texture.

My goal is to make a set of physical ones.

~

Some more from the workshop soon, I still have the photos to take.

Later: Saturday, 5 July, 2008

This image is now featured in the Gallery

full size

In the thick of it

Photo of the view, first night on the workshop:

The next day I learned a lot about paint. My first real go at real-media in a long time, decades!

The focus and the exercises were great.

One small bit of real paint from my exercise sheet.

~

I finished up doing some acrylic seed heads, but they are gone, apart from a digital sketch I made on the Tablet at the end of the day: the usual digital follows.

Poppy Seed
Larger Image.

Gessoing Boards

Here is another shot of preparations for the wkshop.

Software for drawing on the Tablet PC

I get asked from time to time what software I use. So here is a post to sum that up, I have done it before but it is out of date. Starting with what I use most. I can take images from one program to another, either whole or as layers.

ArtRage 2.5

It is my favorite because it has a good interface, and it can do a lot really well. It has some features no other programs have, or if they have them they are too hard to find or use.

ACDsee 4.

For some “post production” such as lightening or darkening images, changing the hue.

Corel Paint X

Very versatile, I can usually get the exact pen I want, and love discovering new ones.

Picasa

Other post-production. It can do some nice things like straighten & tilt.

Photoshop

It can do everything, I use it for printing.

Paint

This is the MS free one that comes with Windows. It is quick for text, and bucket fill.

~

I have tried lots of others but these ones are the most stable. ArtRage has never crashed my machine, and all the others have. I have spent a lot on software, but the $25 for ArtRage 2 was the best value for money by a long shot.

Of course it is all personal preference, it depends on what you know and what you do.