Item: Airtable
Rating: 10
Author: Ed Triplett

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Airtable is being used as part of a historical research project, and as the backend for the project website: www.bookoffortresses.org. I know of several other users at the university, but I am not sure if they have purchased the software, or if they are just using the free account.

Pros and Cons

A simple relational database builder
Easy to teach and learn

A zoomable image viewer is needed.
The ability to import .csv files should not be a "pro" feature - this is a core use of any software like this.
Please add a map function that will let you search to find the location of a feature in the database (dropping a pushpin and saving Lat-Long)

Return on Investment

I don't have business objectives, but from a pedagogical standpoint, it has helped my students learn how to structure data.

Alternatives Considered

Google Forms and Omeka

The main thing that Airtable seems to do that Google Sheets and Forms do not is handle relational data. Creating a few linked tables is all I normally need to do with humanities-based research, other than visualize the results in different ways at the end - especially with mapping. Omeka is a larger content management system that focuses on more interoperable metadata schemas and usually operates under the idea that users will create collections of objects, then build exhibits from that collection. This is not dissimilar from filtering or creating new views in Airtable, but it has a more handpicked quality. Ideally, my thought was to use the free version of Airtable for student projects, but because I work in Art History, they fill up the minimum space requirements for storage of images long before they fill the number of rows. It would be great if there was some way to visualize links that are added to airtable without giving them the data directly, but I understand that this likely doesn't work with their business model.

Other Software Used

Fusion 360, ArcGIS

Likelihood to Recommend

The software worked well with smaller data sets, and ones that required images. I have not been able to test out how well it works with larger data sets.
Unfortunately, when you move to a pay plan, the use case for even a small team entering data becomes cost prohibitive. I have had to move to a single login for my research project. This means my students can not enter data into the base simultaneously, or make proper use of the ability to "check out" rows of the database by adding their user IDs in a collaborator field.

Basic Review of Airtable for Humanities Research

Overall Satisfaction with Airtable