How to sort and label large image libraries?

[grayestofghosts]

Hi, I've been hoarding images and other data for a while but this is the first time I've gotten around to really trying to organize them and am looking for some help. I've been working on a library/archive/time capsule project that includes a large amount of images and I feel like some of them need context to understand and want to preserve that information for possible future users. I have a Mac computer so I've started labeling things with tags but I understand that this feature doesn't transfer across file systems. While poking around I found that .jpegs have a comments field in their metadata but this isn't reliably preserved, even on the same Mac it seems -- if I put a comment on a .jpeg on a flash drive, disconnect the drive and reattach it, I can't see it anymore. It seems like the only reliable method of attaching data would be through the directory tree and file name, and maybe a text document in the folder explaining some things that need more explanation cross referencing by the file name? Are there any methods I'm missing that aren't too fragile/unreliable/non-transferrable? Thanks.

Comments

[doranwen]

Recently I heard about something called TagStudio for dealing with large image libraries. It's not exactly transferable, but as the developer points out in an intro video, all it takes is for the metadata "carrier" file to become separated from the actual image, and suddenly you've lost the info you were depending on. An open library format along with the pictures is possibly more useful in the long run. May not fit your situation, but I thought I'd mention it since I just saw the intro video this past week.

[grayestofghosts]

I'm not familiar with an "open library format". It looks like a JSON file?

[doranwen]

Right, all I meant by "open" is "not proprietary". Like, anyone can edit or read a JSON file. Wording is hard sometimes, lol.

[grayestofghosts]

Oh, so not from the Open Library organization but just like a database file, or even like a csv or xml.

[doranwen]

Right. Then you can always find a program to open or work with it, or code one later if need be. But again, I have never used the program, so this isn't a plug for it, lol. I was just impressed by the video that I saw and thought it looked really useful, so when I saw this post it came to mind and I figured I'd mention it.