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Help Finding Media in the ToL Database to Use in Your Treehouse

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Find media on the ToL

Using the Treehouse Editor you can find media in the ToL database to add to your treehouse page. The rule of thumb for searching is that the less search criteria you enter into the search fields, the more likely you are to get a lot of results. For examples of what to do and what not to do when searching for media on the ToL see:

Examples of How to Search for Media on the ToL

The Basics

The number one mistake in searching is typing in a misspelled word or other typo!
media search Attached to Group

To look for the maximum number of results try typing search criteria into either the "Attached to Group" or "Text in Any Image Data Field."

Why? The less search criteria you type in, the wider the search for results will be and the more likely you will get results from you search.

media search many categories

To look for a very specific result type search criteria into several fields.

Why? The more fields you fill out the more specific your search criteria becomes and the less likely you are to get a result. However, if you do get a result it will most likely be exactly what you want.

What Not To Do When Searching for Media in the ToL Database

Search Results

Type search criteria with multiple spaces.

The search below shows "habitat in cities" written in the "Text in Any Image Data Field".

Do not type in whole sentences when searching for media in the ToL database

Not a successful search.

Results: This search yields no results.

Why?

  • Don't type in whole sentences. In general, do not search with spaces between words. The exception is if you are typing in a scientific name or the name of a contributor (still, it is better to initially try only one word of that name).

 

Type search criteria in multiple fields

The search below shows "Pieris rapae" in the "Scientific Name" field (a very specific search criteria), "butterfly" in the "Text in Any Image Data Field", and "Lepidoptera" in the "Attached to Group of Organisms" field.

media search many categories

Not a successful search.

Results: This search yields no results.

Why?

  • Don't search with text written in many different fields. In general this will yield little or no results. Of course, you can try to narrow down your search by typing in text in different fields, but you may not be successful.

Successful Searches For Media in the ToL Database

When searching for media that you did not contribute try the following:

 
Search Results

Type search criteria in the "Text in Any Image Data Field"

The example below shows a search for "butterfly" in the "Text in Any Image Data Field". This will find any images that have the word butterfly written somewhere in their image data.

media search, text in any image data field

A successful search!

Results: This search yields 2 pages of images.

Type search criteria in the "Attached to Group of Organisms" field using the scientific name of the group.

The example below shows a search for "Lepidoptera" in the "Attached to Group of Organisms" field. This will search for any image attached to the group Lepidoptera (common name, butterflies).

media search Attached to Group

A successful search!

Results: This search yields 5 pages of images.

 

Type search criteria in the "Attached to Group of Organisms" field using the common name of the group. For example, using the common name butterflies rather than Lepidoptera, the scientific name for butterflies, or the common name ants rather than Formicidae, the scientific name for ants).

The example below shows a search for "butterflies" in the "Attached to Group of Organisms" field. This will search for any image attached to the group butterflies (the common name for Lepidoptera). Note, that a search for "butterfly" in the Attach to Group field yields no results, thus you should try both the singular and plural forms of the group you are looking for (e.g. wolf and wolves).

media search, attached to group

A successful search!

Results: This search yields 5 pages of images.

 

When searching for media that you have contributed try the following:

Search Results

Type search criteria in the "File Name" field. If you submit an image and know the image's name, you can find its ID by searching on the file name.

The example below shows a search for "cabbagewhite04.jpg" in the "File Name" field. This will search for any image with the name cabbagewhite04.jpg

media search image name

A successful search!

Results: This search will find an image with this name.

Type search criteria in the "Copyright Owner" Field. You can find the ID number of a media file that you have contributed and are the copyright owner of by putting your name in the "Copyright Owner" field. You can also search for media with other copyright owners if you know you would like to use something that they have contributed.

The search below shows Petra Pollinovich looking for media that she has contributed to the ToL by searching for her name in the "Copyright Owner" field.

Media Search Copyright Owner

A successful search!

Results: This search will find all media files for which Petra Pollinovich is the Copyright Owner.

Using the ToL Advanced Image Search

If you search the ToL by doing an advanced image search (a search that is not performed within the treehouse building form), your results will return images that you may use in your treehouse as well as images that are restricted by the copyright owner and that you may not use on your page. However, because there are a greater number of criteria that you can search on with the ToL advanced image search you may occasionally want to use this search to look for images and other media to use in your treehouse or another class project. Also, if you attempt to use a restricted image on your treehouse page you will get an error message and you will not be able to preview your page.

When you search for images using the ToL advanced image search you do so by typing in criteria for the search in one of the fields, such as "Any Text in Image Data", much like you do from within the Treehouse Editing form. The search will then look through the ToL database to find matches for what you are looking for. The rule of thumb for searching is that the less search criteria you enter into the search fields, the more likely you are to get a lot of results. For example, you are more likely to get results from entering text into one of the search fields (see below top), such as "Group of Organisms", than if you type in search criteria in many of the fields (see below bottom).

Looking for the maximum number of results:

advanced image search one search criteria

The less search criteria you type in, the wider the search for results will be and the more likely you will get results from you search.

 

Looking for a very specific result:

image advnaced search many criteria

The more fields you fill out the more specific your search criteria becomes and the less likely you are to get a result. However, if you do get a result it will most likely be exactly what you want.

 

Quick Tips for Searching for Media on the ToL

The Tree of Life provides you with quite a few options to search on. See above for examples. The following tips will help you find the maximum number of results and/or complete a successful search.

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