What is Tropy?
Tropy is an open-source research photo management software designed for researchers in the humanities and social sciences. It allows researchers to easily import, organize, analyze and share photographic materials from their analog and digital research.
Some key features of Tropy include:
- Import photos from file folders or directly from cameras and mobile devices
- Add metadata like titles, descriptions, tags to photos
- Organize photos into collections and sub-collections
- Draw connections between photos using a linking tool
- View photos in grid, column or gallery layouts
- Search and filter photos by text, color tags, links etc.
- Export photo catalogues and metadata to CSV/JSON files
- Integration with note-taking tools like Zotero for referencing
An important advantage of Tropy over general photo management software is it being designed specifically for academic researchers involved in ethnographic, archaeological and historical research. The metadata support, linking tool and ability to categorize, tag and export research images makes it valuable for qualititative analysis.