Hi Cathy
Many thanks for your email
I did once try to put my data base on-line using i-cloud but it turns out that it's very difficult to do unless one uses Windows 8 ( I use W7) because the DB is a system of files within files within files within files until one gets down to the final items ( jpgs, pdf, word.doc)
Also even to upload it would take an age : even now when copying my DB between my two home computers ( X201S and X240S) via my home 4 x TB HD back-up box takes several hours because the DB is now about 12 GB and some file name extensions are so long they fail in copying
Also, although I gave away a few early copies of the DB to collector friends I got back not
one single helpful feedback like : " Many thanks for the DB - here's the pics of all my bottles all neatly photographed and titled for you to include in the next version"
So I started to sell the DB @ US$500 per copy ("Cast not thy pearls among swine")
Even at $500 the DB is a give-away because there's about US$2,000 worth of books included in it plus 2 years (4,000 hours) of work . It's back-breaking work to scan a book and then crop, title and file every pic - about one week even with a high quality office-standard scanner .
Even when I gave the keynote speech at the 2014 ICSBS Convention in Xian I got not a single note of interest ( see the Forum side-bar "Contemporary Schools of Inside Painting")
But the simple answer is "YES" it should go on-line eventually, otherwise all my work will be wasted, but if so it should be put on-line in way that users have to pay .... somehow, either per view or per download ( and if download it should be in a way that prevents the user re-selling the DB himself)
Over to you !
If you don't mind, could we please correspond off-line by email?
You can find my private email on the Forum registry
Cheers
Peter