Naming Scheme for Files

Because the Eartha M.M. White project involves numerous documents, each encoded as an individual XML file, along with page images for all documents, the systematic and consistent naming of XML and images files is essential. In designing such an approach, we have followed the conventions with which the materials are cataloged in the archive. The Eartha M.M. White Collection is organized into boxes, with each box containing folders and each folder containing items. To identify an item, however, only the designations for folder and item are necessary. This is because the box numbers consist of folder numbers (Box A-A5, for instance, contains folders A1-A5) running sequentially across the collection (not starting over within each new box). For this reason, the box numbers are not meaningful. They are, in fact, omitted on the archive’s container list, and we consequently have not included them in our filenames. For the item catalogued as Box A-A5, Folder A1, Item 342, therefore, we create an XML file named ew is the collection, a1 is the folder and 342 is the item. When working with an excerpt from a larger document contained in its entirety in the archive, such as a magazine or newspaper, we indicate the inclusive page numbers of the selection in the filename. For instance ew_d1_330_29-30.xml would contain the transcription of just pages 29 and 30 of the article labeled Folder D1, Item 330. All XML file names in the project are entirely lower case.

We follow the same protocol as above for naming image files, adding an additional node, preceded by an underscore, and containing three consecutive digits indicating the numbering of the images. For example, if the document referenced above consisted of three pages, we would name the corresponding images ew_a1_342_001.jpg, ew_a1_342_002.jpg, and ew_a1_342_003.jpg. When we are cropping a selection (such as a graphic) out of a larger file, we add an additional node. For example, ew_w2_648_002_001.jpg would be the first graphic taken from Folder W2, Item 684, image 2. As with XML files, the names of image files contain no upper-case letters.