I’m thinking through how best to set up my Tropy collection to allow students to collaborate. With students working remotely and schedules being hectic I think it’s unrealistic to aim for fully asynchronous editing, so working on a single shared database seems impracticable. Here is what I’m thinking:
- Create a backup of the database.
- Create a student data template with key fields set to “read only.”
- For each student, export a unique set of records in json format. Each file is saved with an identifier unique to the student.
- Each student opens Tropy, creates a new database (unique to the student), imports the unique record set, and imports (and sets as default) the student template
- Students read the files and add tags and notes etc. to each record.
- After reviewing/editing the student work, I export from the unique student databases and import into the working database.
In the interim, I would avoid any edits to the records in question in the working database, so as to avoid losing data when I re-import the student work.
Thoughts? Do you see any problems with this procedure? Anything I could do more simply, or pitfalls to avoid? Thank you.
Yes, I think this sounds like a good workflow.
One problem occurs to me: much duplication of image files. If each student has their own standard project, the files will get copied several extra times (the original files, my working tropy project files, the files attached to the json export, and the files created in the new student database. So this approach would end up requiring a lot of extra disk space. Would this be a case for creating advanced projects, with multiple projects referring to a common directory of original files?
Another possible approach: could multiple standard projects use files kept in a single assets folder? If I understand things correctly Tropy does not do much (or anything?) to edit the files after it puts them in the Assets folder, so you wouldn’t run into the conflicting versions problem that happens with synchronous sharing of the database itself.
That’s a good point, yes. I think this depends a little bit on your setup: if everybody works on their own computer it becomes a question how the files are shared (just sharing the JSON export is not enough). One way to do this would be the Archive plugin: it basically creates the JSON export and all the files in a ZIP file that can be transferred.
But if there’s a shared folder or network drive involved that all students have access to (and where the original project is available), you’re right that the sharing could be done more efficiently utilizing advanced projects. Tropy will not alter the original files in the asset folder, so each student could create an advanced project and configure it to use paths relative to the project file. This way you would only need to pass the JSON files to them. For the import to work on the student’s computer the paths in the JSON file would need to be adjusted based on where the network share is located on their computer (but this would be a single find and replace query in a text editor).