What is MDID?
MDID or Madison Digital Image Database is a type of free software wherein people can manage a library of digital images and use them as part of his/her learning or teaching activities. This particular software was developed in the year 2000 at the Center for Instructional Technology of the James Madison University. The MDID web-based software allows for digital image storage, organization, and presentation to various users in the web community.

Aside from being an online database of digital images from users, MDID also provides a multimedia teaching system or web-based classes with the use of contributed digital pictures. So if a particular instructor intends to share a PowerPoint presentation for his/her students, he/she may have this presentation posted online for free and easy access by his/her students. Using MDID, the instructors will have options and tools to make notes on his/her posted lesson plans online. With these notes and comments by the instructors, students will be able to take advantage of the software features to speed up the learning process.

A software upgrade was done with the release of MDID 2. This version can still be downloaded free by interested users anywhere in the world. And another good thing about this software is that it is “open-sourced”. This means that developers and programmers are allowed to modify codes of the software for easy and efficient customization. MDID 2 is able to support Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and MySQL version 4.1. In terms of webpage browsers, this software will run on Internet Explorer (at least version 6), Safari, and Mozilla Firefox. MDID 2 allows flexibility in terms of file storage since the images and database may be saved on a different server from the application itself. This particular software does not also use up much of the computer’s resources so it can be installed and will run smoothly along with other programs and applications.