Descriptive file names are an important part of organizing, sharing, and keeping track of data files. Develop a naming convention based on elements that are important to the project.
File naming best practices:
- Files should be named consistently
- File names should be short but descriptive (<25 characters) (Briney, 2015)
- Avoid special characters or spaces in a file name
- Use capitals and underscores instead of periods or spaces or slashes
- Use date format ISO 8601: YYYYMMDD
- Include a version number (Creamer et al. 2014)
- Write down naming convention in data management plan
Elements to consider using in a naming convention are:
- Date of creation (putting the date in the front will facilitate computer aided date sorting)
- Short Description
- Work
- Location
- Project name or number
- Sample
- Analysis
- Version number
Example
YYYYMMDD_Image_Modification
20130420_tina_original.tiff
20130420_tina_cropped.jpeg
20130420_tina_mustache.jpeg
LocationAnalysisVersion
CarnegieLakeWordCloudV1
CarnegieLakeMapV1
CarnegieLakeMapV2