And that can certainly price it out of the range of schoolchildren, looking for illustrations for their classroom projects. But there's a solution on the web, thanks to FileMaker Pro, the award winning database software application from FileMaker Inc.

Business Challenge

It's called Pics4Learning and it's a partnership of San Diego–based Tech4Learning and the Orange County Public Schools Technology Development Unit of Orlando, Florida, evolving from the award–winning PhotoShare program which drew raves from Florida students and teachers a few years ago.

How it works is the picture of simplicity. Students and teachers from around the nation and across the world take pictures of their environment — scenes of daily life, landscapes, people at work or at play, everyday objects. Those images are digitized and uploaded via the web to the Pics4Learning database — and are then available for download, on copyright–friendly terms, by any student or teacher who wants to use them.

Successful Solution

FileMaker Pro is the very heart of the system, says Pics4Learning Vice President Melinda Kolk. 'The images are uploaded by the donors to a FileMaker Pro database,' she explains, 'and using the Troi File plug–in are automatically placed in a pending folder for review by a team of moderators, who make sure the pictures are appropriate. Then, the moderators edit and resize the images as necessary, assign them search keywords, and place them in the proper category. All this is done very efficiently from the single FileMaker Pro administrative screen. 'It's been fantastic,' affirms Melinda. 'The administrators love FileMaker — there's an average of sixty new images coming in every day, and FileMaker really helps them get the job done!'

It's been fantastic. The administrators love FileMaker — there's an average of sixty new images coming in every day, and FileMaker really helps them get the job done!

— Melinda Kolk, Vice President, Pics4Learning