File Naming Conventions
So this semester I’m working at the BC Legal Assistance Bureau. The file management system here is very basic: a shared server, via Samba (luckily, so my Mac can connect), and a client documents folder, with sub-folders organized by client name.
This seems to work. But a standardized file-naming convention could help. For example, I was looking for introductory letters for my clients–y’know, “Hi, my name’s Paul, and I’m the student attorney transfered to your case.” I’d go into a random client’s case folder and see files like “Letter.doc” or “Letter July 2.doc” or “Welcome.doc”–you get the picture. It’s hard to find the proper document.
I wish things were easier to find. I have a crappy file-naming convention, but it works well enough for me:
[Client last name].[Client first initial].[File description].[mmddyy].doc.
Smith.J.welcomeLetter.011907.doc
So the first two parts defeat a bit of the purpose of the folders. You’re in the “Smith, John” folder, so putting “Smith.J” is redundant. But if you were to e-mail it to someone, they’d know where to put it.
The description is fairly fluid, which is bad, but as long as you put good faith in trying to communicate to the next user the contents, then it’s OK. Better yet if you can standardize it, so that you can sort alphabetically and the most recent letter (by month in our American convention) would be first. (So, actually, the better way to do it would be [yymmdd], but who am I to buck macro-social conventions?)
Whatever. I think that people should think more about how they name files because those are the primary “tags” that people use to discover or find documents. I don’t think there should be a global standard, but I think that at least people should think about how they name files just a few beats more so that it’s easier for people to find what they might need.