[vox-tech] collaborative data storage (of excel files)

[Dylan Beaudette]

On Tuesday 15 January 2008 09:57:57 pm Jeff Newmiller wrote:
> Dylan Beaudette wrote:
> > On Tuesday 15 January 2008, Henry House wrote:
> >> On 2008-01-15, wrote Dylan Beaudette:
> >> [...]
> >>
> >>> YES - this is how I would approach this problem if I were in a position
> >>> to babysit their data. I have put together several LAPP
> >>> (linux-apache-postgres-php) projects- but only for things I was
> >>> directly working on. I was searching for some kind of compromise
> >>> between doing it correctly (i.e. a database) and doing it less
> >>> incorrectly via SVN or the like.
> >>
> >> Well the good thing about using SVN is that at least no data will be
> >> lost once it is committed. So even if person A overwrites person B's
> >> work, the data can be recovered (albeit with manual intervention). And
> >> if this happens it just might demonstrate the need for a proper
> >> RDBMS-base solution to those in charge.
> >
> > Yeah... It looks like they will be resorting to their old system of
> > personal communication mitigated data disaster prevention (PCMDDP)....
> > When it crashes and burns I think that I will have them go with an SVN +
> > CSV file setup.
> >
> > Thanks for all of the great ideas!
> >
> > Dylan
>
> I highly recommend using a real database with ODBC client access.
> Microsoft Access is quite easy for Microsofties to get used to,
> and has already been mentioned can serve as a front-end for connecting
> to the shared data. OpenOffice can also present a tabular user interface
> with no programming.  No programming means practically no maintenance on
> your part.  They can use a query builder to get subsets of
> the data, copy it into Excel, and analyze it to their hearts
> content.  Another advantage of this is that it is easy to copy/paste
> large blocks of data around (including appending their data to the table)
> which is not so easy with a web interface.

Jeff,

Sounds like a great idea. Want to implement it as a donation? I am working 
with others who do not have the training or time to be interested in such 
things. I advocated something like this last year, but they went with 
the 'email a spreadsheet around' approach. 

When they asked me to host the file on a machine I manage for the lab I got 
roped into looking out for their data. I will keep all of the suggestions 
around for when their approach leaves them in a world of data pain.

Thanks again,

Dylan