Image organizer

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An image organizer or image management application is application software focused on organizing digital images.[1][2] Image organizers represent one kind of desktop organizer software applications.

Contents

[edit] Common image organizers features

  • Multiple thumbnail previews are viewable on a single screen and printable on a single page.
  • Images can be tagged.
  • Pictures can be organized into albums.
  • Albums can be organized into collections.
  • Pictures can be rearranged in albums by drag and drop.
  • Images can be resized and exported for external use, be e-mailed or printed.

[edit] Two categories of image organizers

  • Automatic image organizers. These are software packages that read data present in digital pictures and use this data to automatically create an organization structure. Each digital picture contains information about the date when the picture was taken. It is this piece of information that serves as the basis for automatic picture organization. The user usually has little or no control over the automatically created organization structure. Some tools create this structure on the hard drive (physical structure), while other tools create a virtual structure (it exists only within the tool).
  • Manual image organizers. This kind of software provides a direct view of the folders present on a user's hard disk. Sometimes referred to as image viewers, they only allow the user to see the pictures but do not provide any automatic organization features. They give maximum flexibility to a user and show exactly what the user has created on his hard drive. While they provide maximum flexibility, manual organizers rely on the user to have his/her own method to organize their pictures. Currently there are two main methods for organizing pictures manually: tag and folder based methods. While not mutually exclusive, these methods are different in their methodology, outcome and purpose.

Presently, many commercial image organizers offer both automatic and manual image organization features. A comparison of image viewers reveals that many free software packages are available that offer most of the organization features available in commercial software.

[edit] Common image organizers

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cynthia Baron and Daniel Peck, The Little Digital Camera Book, July 1, 2002 pp:93
  2. ^ Julie Adair King, Shoot Like a Pro! Digital Photography July 28, 2003 pp:21-23

[edit] Additional reading

  • Multimedia Information Retrieval and Management: Technological Fundamentals and Applications by David Feng, W.C. Siu, Hong J. Zhang
  • Multimedia Networking: Technology, Management, and Applications by Syed Mahbubur Rahman
  • Multimedia and Image Management by Susan Lake, Karen Bean

[edit] External links

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