How can I usefully organize my files for sharing?

June 6, 2006 1:56 PM

I have lots of educational content that I need to organize in a systematic way. What is your most helpful naming convention for files and folders?

I have read so many ways of organizing files some with a meaningful numbering system, some with none. We are also trying to make them SCORM compliant, which gives some suggestions as well.

Should I use folders or have everything in one big directory (science > syllabus; science > glossary; science > assessment > pre-test, quiz, post-test; science > anatomy > content, cases) or with a descriptive file name (such as science_syllabus.doc or science_assessment_pre-test.doc and science_content_anatomy.pdf)?

Does anyone use something like Extensis Portfolio (which is cross plaform and has document support)?

Anything else?

posted by _zed_ to computers & internet (5 comments total)

It's a cliche, but man, wikis are great. Mediawiki has good template and category support.

You can put EVERYTHING in a wiki, and organize it however you please, and the structure is malleable.
posted by phrontist at 3:09 PM on June 6, 2006

You also might look into working with Edubuntu as the OS for it. It is built specificially for this type of usage.
posted by slavlin at 3:24 PM on June 6, 2006

Wikify whatever you can.

I think it's best to use some folders, but don't make the folder hierarchy too deep.

You also add tags/keywords in the filenames so you can easy find them e.g. science_syllabus (anatomy, 3rdyear, medicine, exam).doc . Then you'll be able to find documents some desktop search software, such as Google Desktop Search.
posted by Sharcho at 4:50 AM on June 7, 2006

Wikimedia does not seem to support doc or pdf uploading.
posted by _zed_ at 12:15 PM on June 7, 2006

Ha...forget it...had to change something in the config...Thanks for the media wiki suggestion its mind boggling at first, but seems to have what and more of what I want.
posted by _zed_ at 12:32 PM on June 7, 2006