How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
Can you explain the difference between semantics, taxonomy, ontology and metadata?
What advice would you like to share with DAM Professionals and people aspiring to become DAM Professionals?
Transcript:
Henrik de Gyor: [0:00] This is Another DAM Podcast about Digital Asset
Management. I’m Henrik de Gyor. Today I’m speaking with Sarah Berndt. Sarah,
how are you? Sarah Berndt: [0:09] Hi. Good afternoon, Henrik. I’m great, thank you. Henrik: [0:11] Sarah, how are you involved with Digital Asset Management? Sarah: [0:15] Well, I work on the ITAMS contract, specifically for an employer,
DB Consulting. My task is to provide a controlled vocabulary, or a taxonomy,
for the Johnson Space Center, accurately representing over 50 years in manned
space flight. Henrik: [0:31] Can you explain the difference between semantics, taxonomy,
ontology, and metadata? Sarah: [0:39] All of these are relative definitions, but within the semantics system
that I use, and within my own environment, the taxonomy, of course, is a hierarchical
system, a controlled vocabulary with a treelike structure. It’s agreed upon
overarching definitions for classes and concepts. [0:57] Ontology, then, is really
referring to the relationships between those classes and concepts, so we can
see that STS135 is related to a particular vehicle, it’s related to Launch Pad 39A,
it was crewed by these folks, it carried this payload. That type of information is
the ontology.
[1:21] Metadata, the most overused term of the century, is definitely relative, but
in my environment, I use a term “metadata library,” and what these are, specific
fields that have been set up to convey to the end-user, through the interface,
things like a Best Bet URL, a decided upon definition, an official definition, an
official image that might be relative to a specific mission patch or expedition,
for example.
[1:53] These components of the semantic system can be taken on whole and
conveyed to the end-user, or divided apart and plugged into different applications,
so that we have multiple uses throughout the organization. Henrik: [2:09] That makes sense, so you can have multiple metadata
fields. Sarah: [2:12] I think that is absolutely essential to decide on what your definitions
are right from the get-go. You need to decide, is your ontology actually
metadata to your taxonomy, or is it the term “metadata” that’s going to be
making the big influence? All of these things definitely need to be defined,
and shouldn’t be assumed or taken for granted. [2:36] When you start from the
ground up, sometimes you wish you’d had known what to do first, but it’s definitely
better or more advisable to plan the structure from the beginning. The
taxonomy, the basic structure, to have that from the beginning and to build the
ontology from the point and the term metadata from that point.
[2:57] The structure then provides a foundation for all that unstructured content
and data that you’re actually, that’s your angle that you’re actually trying to
represent. Henrik: [3:09] And hopefully find again. Sarah: [3:11] Yes, again, the end goal. We want to find it. We want to reuse it.
We want to improve the end-user search experience. Henrik: [3:19] That totally makes sense. What advice would you
like to share with DAM professionals and people aspiring to become DAM
professionals? Sarah: [3:24] It’s a good thing. [laughter] Sarah: [3:28] No, seriously, I would say don’t pigeonhole yourself. My title is JSC
taxonomist. I’m a contractor. JSC taxonomist, it’s great to have a title, but if that
were all I had to do, that would be quite a pigeonhole. [3:45] To really reach out
and take a look at the interoperability between your systems, between your file
formats, between your duties, you can be one day searching for more subject
matter expert participation, and the next day reporting off to management
about the ROI, and the next day, trying to win funding for a cost benefit analysis
study.
[4:08] There are an endless array of hats that can be worn. I would say definitely
be careful about how you pigeonhole yourself and take advantage of the multiple
definitions that can occur in the workplace. Henrik: [4:24] Great point. Thank you so much, Sarah.
How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
How does a media company use Digital Asset Management?
Do you use specific standards and do you feel there are enough in Digital Asset Management?
What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and people aspiring to become DAM professionals?
Transcript:
Henrik de Gyor: [0:01] This is Another DAM Podcast about Digital Asset
Management. I’m Henrik de Gyor. Today I’m speaking with Richard Buchanan.
Richard, how are you? Richard Buchanan: [0:10] I’m fine today. How are you? Henrik: [0:12] Good. Richard, how are you involved with Digital Asset
Management? Richard: [0:15] I work with the Comcast Media Center in Denver, Colorado. We
are a technical facility that supports Comcast and NBCUniversal and commercial
clients throughout North America. We specialize in delivery of file assets, such
as video on demand. We do live events. We do content aggregation and distribution.
We do channel origination, and we do production and post-production. Henrik: [0:45] Excellent. Richard, how does a media company use Digital Asset
Management? Richard: [0:52] A media company like ours has a huge inventory of assets with
multiple platforms and routes for delivery. To keep track of all that and be able
to do it efficiently, with high quality, and consistently deliver the customer experience
that’s expected, you have to be able to find your assets and deploy them
in a very rapid turn time. [1:17] For example, we pitch about 10,000 video on
demand assets every 30 days. This comes in from 297 different sources and is
delivered in Canada and the US to 97 percent of the VOD enabled households
available. Henrik: [1:38] VOD, video on demand. Richard: [1:40] Video on demand. That’s correct. Henrik: [1:42] Excellent. Do you use specific standards, and do you feel there
are enough in Digital Asset Management? Richard: [1:47] In the case of video on demand, we use specific standards that
have been exacted by what’s called CableLabs. A consortium of cable companies
came together about 20 years ago and established a group to test, analyze,
and publish standards so that the industry could share content more easily.
[2:10] This specifically affected how set top boxes were developed, how VOIP
was rolled out over cable MSOs, and now how video on demand is delivered
and managed. There are specifications not only for the file type and the signal
quality, but also the metadata that goes with it.
[2:30] In the Digital Asset Management field, this is a wide open opportunity for
someone to take the reins and form a group to start to define what the standards
are in order to create more interoperability among vendors and more
efficiency for users. Henrik: [2:52] We would hope that some of those entities may possibly be in
existence such as the DAM Foundation, which was started a few months ago.
Time will tell, for sure. Richard: [3:02] Yeah. Henrik: [3:04] Let me finish with the last question I ask individuals that I interview.
What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and people
aspiring to become DAM professionals? Richard: [3:12] I would say focus on one of three areas. You can be a technologist,
you can be a leader, or you can be a designer. I think that all three of those
disciplines are very important if you can learn more than one or all three. But I
think the important message is it’s not just technology. Henrik: [3:39] True. Richard: [3:40] There has to be some creative thinking, especially around defining
problems, being able to decide what it is you can solve and how you
can solve it and prevent scope creep. So that you know how you’re going to
deliver what, and what it’s going to cost. [3:56] So the benefit to the company
is well demonstrated at the end of the project, and the leaders who are able
to manage these different disciplines and apply the traditional thinking that’s
necessary to deal with legacy libraries and bring them into contemporary digital
multi-platform distribution environments.
[4:19] I think that what I would say is be clear on what your objectives are, define
the problem you’re trying to solve and don’t get distracted from that. Henrik: [4:29] Great advice. Thanks, Richard. Richard: [4:32] You’re welcome. Henrik: [4:35] For more on Digital Asset Management, log on to AnotherDAMblog.com. Another DAM Podcast is also available on Audioboom, Blubrry, iTunes and the Tech Podcast Network. Thanks again.
How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
How does a broadcast media organization use Digital Asset Management?
You are going to be a graduate of the MADAM program at King’s College of London. Is this Master’s Program preparing you for the working world of Digital Asset Management?
What advice would you like to share with DAM Professionals and people aspiring to become DAM Professionals?
Transcript:
Henrik de Gyor: [0:01] This is Another DAM Podcast about Digital Asset
Management. I’m Henrik de Gyor. Today I’m speaking with Romney Whitehead.
Romney, how are you? Romney Whitehead: [0:10] I’m very well, thank you, and thank you for
inviting me. Henrik: [0:12] No problem. Romney, how are you involved with Digital Asset
Management? Romney: [0:17] I began in Digital Asset Management about 10 years ago at
BBC Worldwide. Within there, I was working in the magazines division, focused
on brand management and distribution of magazines globally. My team was
involved in uploading of the assets, rights management, metadata management,
and then distribution of the assets within BBC Worldwide itself, and then
globally out to 53 territories to our licensees and syndication partners. [0:48]
Recently, in the last month, in fact, I’ve joined NET-A-PORTER GROUP. That’s
made up of NET-A-PORTER , MR PORTER , and THE OUTNET. They’re an online
luxury fashion retailer. We’re at the stage there where we’re choosing a solution,
at the moment, to manage a very extensive range of assets, from product photography
to video to print and online magazines, and TV outputs as well. Very
interesting times. Henrik: [1:22] Excellent. How does a broadcast media organization use Digital
Asset Management? Romney: [1:29] In my experience, probably looking at it in two ways, one from
the comment workflows, and then probably from a preservation point of view.
From the workflow perspective, what a DAM solution offers a media company
is the ability to manage the content from the point that it’s created to the point
where it goes out to the consumer. [1:55] You could have the ingestion of content
immediately into a system. You could have multiple editing suites dealing
with that content. You can then have the input of the photography unit, if they’re
sending out stills or they’re sending out merchandise related to a particular
show or a product. Then moving through the life cycle through to the points
where that content goes out to a third party broadcaster or to a consumer.
[2:23] Then from the preservation point of view, especially from the point of view
of public broadcasting, what DAM offers is the ability to preserve their content
but also go back through their archives, perhaps finding a back catalogue of
content there. Some of it may be in technology which is obsolete if it’s been
produced over a very, very long period of time.
[2:50] If they’ve got a DAM system, then they’ve got the ability to go back and
retrieve that content. Preserve it at the same time, and then offer new outputs
to consumers. And also, historical value, massive historical value, especially for
broadcasters that have been running for 60 or 70 years.
[3:12] I think a DAM solution, in that sense, means that they never need to lose
material ever again. Whereas in the past it’s, obviously, been stored in dusty
cupboards and left to really not be looked after, unfortunately. Henrik: [3:27] Romney, you were going to be a graduate of the MADAM
Program, if I understand correctly, at King’s College of London. Is this Master’s
program helping you to prepare for the working world of Digital Asset
Management? Romney: [3:40] I have to say I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything
goes well for September when I finish my dissertation. Working in the world
of DAM for so many years, you could almost have that thought, “What else is
there to learn?” [3:55] But I’m a great believer in that there’s always something to
learn, especially if you’re approaching a subject from a particular point of view. If
you’re in the commercial world or if you’re in preservation or library or cultural or
heritage, there’s always something to learn from another area.
[4:12] Where this course has been very beneficial, I have to say, is I’ve come
from a commercial background. What I’ve learned from it is the best practices
that certain other areas have, areas like archive or societies, are really very, very
useful for the commercial world.
[4:31] Things like having extremely in-depth metadata, something which isn’t just
focused on your business but is actually focused on a larger scale to allow an
interoperability between what you have and what other libraries have, or what
other institutions have. Things like Linked Data for, first of all, the semantic web,
which has been a long time coming but is really starting to accelerate now.
[4:57] Preservation strategies, which in the commercial world, I feel preservation
is a bit of an afterthought. But actually, it can prove hugely valuable because
you may have content which is sitting in your archives, or sitting in your DAM
system. Nobody knows what somebody is going to want in 20 or 30 years’ time. Henrik: [5:20] True. Romney: [5:21] Rather than just ignoring it, as I feel some commercial institutions
may well do, because it’s costly to keep all that data and to manage all
that data, there needs to be some kind of preservation strategy there which will
allow that content to be opened up in the future if it needs to be, if somebody
wants it. [5:42] I think during the degree, I’ve been very reassured that with every
class and module that I’ve taken, there really was a direct link with what I did on
a day-to-day basis, and what I do on a day-to-day basis. It’s certainly refreshed
my view of the DAM world, and it’s given me some good ideas to take forward.
[6:02] It’s very nice also to have a recognized qualification within DAM, because
I’ve not really seen something out there. You can have people who’ve worked in
this field for a long time, and I can say to people what I do when they look at me
as though I have two heads. Henrik: [chuckles] [6:17] Romney: [6:19] So, it’s nice to be able to say, “Oh, there is this here.” But the
fact that my mother will tease me for being a MADAM, and perhaps I will be at
the end. And that’s perhaps illegal in some countries. Henrik: [laughs] [6:30] Romney: [6:32] But I would most certainly recommend the course, and the
college and the staff have been wonderful. I think it’s really opened my eyes, I’d
have to say. It’s been very, very good. Henrik: [6:43] Excellent. And, just to clarify, we’re speaking of the MADAM
program, which stands for the Master in the Arts of Digital Asset Management
Program at King’s College of London, correct? Romney: [6:50] Yes. [laughs] That’s great, please. Henrik: [6:55] Not any other madams, necessarily. Romney: [6:56] Yes, it doesn’t lead to anything else. Henrik: [laughs] [6:58] Best of luck with that. Romney: [7:01] Thank you. Henrik: [7:02] Let me ask you the last question, of course. What advice would
you like to give to DAM professionals and people aspiring to become DAM
professionals? Romney: [7:10] Well, one would hope that current DAM professionals know
what they’re doing, so I would not profess to be so omnipotent to be able to
give advice to them. But I think people who want to get into the field perhaps
don’t understand what it’s about. It’s a great field to be in, because it involves
a massive range of knowledge and lots of challenges as well. [7:34] As a DAM
manager, I think you need to know what every department in the company
that you’re working in is doing, because DAM will touch every department in
some way. Maybe extensively, it may be very small. Because of that, I think
the key part of DAM is not necessarily the technical solution, but the ability to
communicate.
[7:57] You need to empathize with people. You need to be able to sit down with
an individual and ask them what their pain points are, and understand them. Be
able to reassure them that you know what they’re talking about, and that whatever
solution you’re putting in place is actually going to help them.
[8:15] You have to give people something tangible, because every individual will
use a system differently. So you can’t build a system for one set of users, and
you cannot focus on one set of users, either. You’re not building the system for
just a CEO who wants to save money, or for the clerk who wants to save time in
filing things. You’re building it for everybody in between as well.
[8:38] So, I think the ability to manage people and their expectations, their fear
of change, what their daily stresses are, will make you a good Digital Asset
Manager. The ability to communicate, I think that’s what you need to always
keep in mind, always. Henrik: [8:53] Excellent. Did you want to share your blog that you have as well? Romney: [laughs] [8:58] My blog, which I’ve been very remiss at keeping up, but
it’s damitall.WordPress.com Henrik: [9:08] Excellent. There’s a link to that on my blog at AnotherDAMblog.com. Thank you so much, Romney. Romney: [9:15] Thank you very much. Henrik: [9:16] For more on Digital Asset Management, you can log onto AnotherDAMblog.com.
How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
What is a Controlled Vocabulary and why is it important to DAM?
What advice would you like to give to DAM professionals and people aspiring to become DAM Professionals?
Transcript:
Henrik de Gyor: [0:00] This is Another DAM Podcast about Digital Asset
Management. I am Henrik de Gyor. Today, we’re speaking with David Riecks.
David, how are you? David Riecks: [0:09] I’m doing great. How are you doing? Henrik: [0:11] David, how are you involved with Digital Asset Management? David: [0:14] ; Well, I got involved early on. I wear many hats in this field. So,
first and foremost I am a photographer, so I create images. I have to find them
myself and manage them myself. As a result of that, I started way back in the
film era, in scanning film and things like that. [0:31] In the early ‘90s found myself
putting images into image database and learning that there were these things
like IPTC, which I had no idea what the acronym meant at that time, and based
upon some of my early work with that and my controlled vocabulary. So I ended
up getting involved in metadata standards work. Henrik: [0:51] What do you refer to when you mean metadata standards? Can
you clarify that? David: [0:57] Well, there are a whole number of them. When I’m explaining
it to photographers and designers, and people that are working with image
databases, if they ever use Photoshop, I say, “When you open up that file info
box in Photoshop,” which many of them are aware of, I say, “Do you think that’s
just a single standard?” It’s amazing how many people think it is. [1:20] Actually,
I guess it’s a great kudos to Adobe, because they manage to make it look so
seamless, but there’s actually four or five metadata standards that are being
implemented underneath the covers there. The primary one and the oldest
one for images is something called the International Press Telecommunications
Council or IPTC standard.
[1:41] It started out in the ‘90’s. It was an older binary form. Now it’s been morphed
into this XMP way of storing it. So now it’s called the IPTC Core, and
there’s even a newer version or a compendium or add-on to it, called the IPTC
Extension, and then you’ve got other things. The newest one is called PLUS,
which is the Picture License and Universal System.
[2:06] I’m involved with a number of thee working groups. I got involved with
something called IdeaAlliance early on, working on their DISC, Digital Image
Submission Criteria Working Group, and then got involved with this remapping
of the binary IPTC to IPTC Core, and also served with PLUS as well.
[2:28] I’m kind of right in the thick of metadata standards, and trying to basically
move those forward, so that you’ve got a place to put all the data in
your images.
[2:37] From a photographer’s standpoint, that was one thing I always found frustrating
was if there was some kind of information that should go with a file, but
there wasn’t a specific place to put it, then you’ve got to figure out another way
to store that data, either internally or externally. In the metadata standards if you
can get it incorporated so it’s part of the standard, then you don’t have to figure
out a kludgy way to get around it. Henrik: [3:07] What is controlled vocabulary, and why is it important to DAM? David: [3:10] Controlled vocabulary is a defined term it has to do with Digital
Asset Management. I also manage a website called Controlled Vocabulary. It’s ControlledVocabulary.com, and there is lots of information about controlled
vocabularies examples, how to implement it, especially in an image database.
[3:30] From my standpoint, controlled vocabulary is all about making images discoverable.
What you want to do is make your database easier to search. There’s
many ways to describe concepts, and drawing all these terms together under
a single word or phrase makes it easier to search that. What that usually means
is you’ve also got to find other synonyms or other words that kind of mean the
same thing, and tie those to them.
[3:55] I work with a lot of photographers and one of the things that you could
easily ask them is ask them to find a specific image in their database. They can
do it in seconds. If you ask them, “Could you hand that database off to somebody
else and have them find it?” It would probably not happen, because they
have specific words that they have in mind.
[4:16] They see a certain kind of subject, and they may have very specific terms
that they use to describe those things. Other people may or may not be able
to use those same terms, or they may use a very, very specific term, but then
not use broader terms. For instance, they might use something like the word
‘dog.’ They might put ‘dog’ in as a keyword, but they might not put ‘pet’ or
even ‘animal.’
[4:45] Some people may be looking more generically. They may be looking for
an image of a dog or a cat outside, and don’t really care so much if it is a dog
or cat. They might search on ‘pet outside’ or ‘pet lawn,’ something like that, and
that image will never be found.
[5:04] If you’re putting your images out there, hoping that people will use them,
the first thing they have to do is be able to find them. Henrik: [5:10] That was an example? David: [5:11] Yeah. Henrik: [5:12] If you want to try and sell them, that’s even more important. David: [5:15] That’s one of the things that most people found … There’s a portal
called Alamy. One of the things early on with that was photographers would
complain, “Hey. Nobody’s buying my images,” and people would ask them,
“How many keywords do you have for it?” “I have three or four.” [5:32] Some
of the same people would go back and rework it, and get it up to where there
were 12 or 15 keywords per image, and then, all of a sudden, they started selling
because people were finding them. Henrik: [5:45] What advice would you like to give to DAM professionals or
people aspiring to become DAM professionals? David: [5:50] What I do for managing my own images, and what you do, or what
other people may do, where they’re managing very large entities are probably
a little bit different. But, the things I have learned, that I think are important are,
one, standards are important, if we didn’t already make that clear. [6:09] In addition
to standards, there is also the concept called interoperability. This can come
back to bite you if you’re not careful, because you may be doing something you
think is based on standards and doing it in a standard way. All of a sudden, you
move those images over to a different asset management program, and none of
your descriptions are showing up, or none of your keywords show up, or there
are parts of your data missing.
[6:37] A lot of that has to do with interoperability and testing to make sure that
things work this database reads your IPTC code the same as another one does.
Part of that is on the vendors, but part of that is also up to the DAM professionals,
because you’ve got to check that, test it, before you move stuff over.
[7:00] In addition, another thing that’s really important is preservation. If you’ve
spent the time to embed this information into your images, or your use enterprise
DAM, and write the information back to the image files, and then you
put those out there on social media sites, or share them with other people, it’s
important to know that information is going to still be there when you go back
to look for it.
[7:25] Some of the social media sites, people are probably familiar with
Facebook, but they may not be aware that when you upload an image to
Facebook, it makes a smaller version of it and removes all of your embedded
metadata, so there’s no access, no IPTC, no plus, no anything. If somebody
else downloads that image from Facebook, unless they made a note, where it
came from, they’re going to have no idea where it came from. That can lead
to problems. Henrik: [7:55] It sounds like it. David: [7:57] Yeah, and I’m a big advocate for doing your homework. I prefer
to do something once and be done with it, rather than to keep going back and
fixing it all the time, That just seems rather inefficient. The best way to do that, if
you’re probably a DAM professional, is to talk to the people that are using your
image database and find out how they’re using it, and figure out if there is a way
that you can teach them how to use it to make their lives easier. [8:28] It’s amazing.
With most databases, I find people, 9 times out of 10, will do a single word
search, just using the quick search. Many of them aren’t even aware that there
is an advanced search, or an advanced find. Once they learn that, I’m like, all of
a sudden making go from pages and pages of images that are not necessarily
pertinent to their search, and just weed them out and get it down to a very
small number that they can look through very quickly. Henrik: [8:55] Thank you David. David: [8:56] Thank you as well. Henrik: [8:57] For more on Digital Asset Management, log onto AnotherDAMblog.com. Thanks again.
Another DAM Podcast 