Hi everyone,
I was looking around the BLP site, and on google searching, and I noticed there doesn't appear to be any tools for helping to organise our own libraries of photos. I am a Lightroom user, so thought I would have a crack at making something to fill that gap. Here below I present a Lightroom Keywork list that is based on the Birdife Australia Working List of Australian Birds, version 2.1 as published here: http://birdlife.org.au/conservation/science/taxonomy
!!! Before you proceed with steps below, please ensure you have backed up your Lightroom catalogues - the chance of something wrong is very slim, but I would hate to be the cause of messing up your photos !!!
With that out of the way, if you upload the attached keyword file text file into LR, you should see a new keyword hierarchy list similar to the screenshot attached.
There are two keyword list versions, one with bird subspecies, and one without (the one ending "no_spp.txt")
I'm still learning myself how best to make use of the keywords feature, plus how to generate a Lightroom compatible keyword list file.
Currently on release3, the functionality I have implemented is as follows:
- all the species and sub-species keywords do not export their name, instead their name is included as a synonym . This is due technical differences in how LR manages synonyms and keywords. This approach means that all keywords in this hierarchy are configured consistently.
- If using the subspecies keyword list, the subspecies names have been normalised to their "parent's" species name with their subtype listed on the end. Again this is due to technical reasons - a lack of sorting and ordering currently available in LR keywords. The screenshot should help explain this better
- each species and subspecies has its scientific name included as a synonym
- each species and subspecies has its TaxonID number (as assigned by Birdlife Australia) included as a synonym. This can be used as a reference in case you spot a bug with the keyword list, compared with the Birdlife Australia v2.1 spreadsheet.
- Species that were marked extinct have been filtered out of both keyword lists.
I'd love to hear if anyone has feedback on this, what works, and what doesn't, and I'll incorporate any suggestions into the next release.
Note: the upstream spreadsheet on Birdlife Australia's site v2.1 does have a couple of oddities in it. For example, there are a few subspecies with no 'parent' species, eg Spotted Nightjar. But with that in mind, please reply with any feedback.
cheers,
Des