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Another DAM Podcast interview with Patty Bolgiano, John Cronin and Becky Clark on Digital Asset Management

Listen to Patty Bolgiano, John Cronin and Becky Clark talk about Digital Asset Management

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 Patty Bolgiano, John Cronin, and Becky Clark. How are you?

Patty Bolgiano:  [0:12] We’re all doing fine, thank you.

Henrik:  [0:13] How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?

Patty:  [0:16] I am the person who’s responsible for uploading our data files into a data collection and management system. I do naming conventions. I make sure that the files have fonts, have images, decide which method is going to be the quickest way to upload those.

[0:36] Primarily, we are using Quark and InDesign as our software programs here. I’m making sure that they’re current versions and alarming staff if there’s a problem.

[0:46] I’m also responsible for revising and updating our paper book editions of our titles with reprints, there’s an actual change in the book itself, text maybe changed, images maybe changed. It’s my responsibility to make sure that the application file and the PDF that eventually goes to make the eBook are exactly the same, and make sure that there are no problems when they are eventually turned into eBooks.

[1:17] I’m also working with the other members of the staff to get images and PDFs that they need for review or for overseas publications, which means the files have to be there. I either transfer them via FTP to that other person’s FTP site or will even burn them on discs or external hard drive so that they have material.

Henrik:  [1:40] Patty, how does the oldest, continuous running university press in the United States use Digital Asset Management?

Patty:  [1:47] We use it in a variety of ways. First and foremost, it is a repository of our intellectual property. A place where the files reside so that at anytime if we wish to reprint, restock or pull information from these files, we can do so in an efficient and easy manner. We also use the archive as a place where it can be safely stored.

[2:10] The sheer amount of information that Hopkins Press has is extraordinary. Now, we are getting it, it is at our actual fingertips instead of looking through very old books or very old files. That information that we have at our fingertips can tell us how we thought previously, via social sciences and things of that nature to current thoughts about the fossils of birds.

[2:40] We are aggregating all these information, keeping it a level where anybody within the Hopkins Press can access it for interior needs, or to publish or promote a book outside of the press. It’s also part of our heritage, this whole Data Asset Management philosophy. Our heritage is that we are constantly thinking and writing, and exploring about various topics.

[3:08] We are pulling both from the past and the present to show potential audiences how we used to think, how we’re thinking now, what new information has come aboard so that we can show a progression of understanding about topics.

[3:25] This also helps us talk with authors who say, “I have all these vast information, how can I get it into a book and get the most bang for the book?” By having an asset management system in place, we can then make multiple books, if necessary.

[3:42] We can have a Volume I, a Volume II, a Volume III, or we can do some books as a traditional print, some books as strictly as eBooks or a PDF format, so that the reader can have a variety of options of accessing this information.

[4:05] I was the first person originally hired to start managing the information that we had gathered and to coordinate it. It’s been seven years.

[4:13] It’s amazing to me, how people will ask for something that is 30 and 40 years old, and they want that. That to me is astounding because I’m here in the press, and I’m thinking, “What does something 30 or 40 years ago have, that that person wants it?” It could be something that they’re going to use for their thesis.

[4:36] By having this Digital Asset Management System in place, we can better help them. It’s been seven years, it’s worked really incredibly well. We have been able to work far more easily, and have various departments being able to access this information without having to jump through various loops, which is always a good thing.

[5:02] Approximately 2,000 books right now with our system, which is codeMantra. Today, we’re just putting up more books, so it’s constantly growing. It’s also constantly evolving because we also can take from the print books and make our eBooks.

[5:20] We’re getting more into eBooks with MP3s in them, so that the reader can actually be right there and see something that takes the book to another level, and takes the topic to another level.

John Cronin:  [5:35] I came here about eight years ago, and that was really one of the first tasks that we had to do, was to get our archive pulled together, find an outside vendor who can handle the vast amounts of information. We were able to do that, and Patty was really the first hire, and this is really still the focus of her job. It’s very detail‑oriented, very critical to the press.

[6:00] Certainly, we do eBooks for every single title that we have so that all of those things are archived in the conversion process which is also something that is done within my department of design and production. We’re really looking at electronically imprint together, and certainly our copies have been invaluable. We had to set that up before we could really expand from these ways, which are very market‑driven.

Henrik:  [6:24] What are the biggest challenges and successes you’ve seen with Digital Asset Management?

Patty:  [6:28] The biggest challenge is keeping current titles up to date. In the book world, when you do a reprint, there are changes to the text of that book. Again, as I said earlier, it’s my responsibility to make sure that everything matches with the most up to date version which is available.

[6:44] So, shall we decide not only to reprint it, we have the current files. Also, the eBook when it gets updated, has the current files. Then if we decide to then take that book, and make a whole new version of the book, maybe it brings together books about science and evolution, being able to grab all those different kinds to files and put them together in one book.

[7:10] Having the most current file is always the most important thing. The biggest success is that previous to my coming here, there was no archive, and it was because of a variety of reasons. No one, seven years ago, imagined that all these information that they have will become valuable.

[7:27] They knew in one sense that a book is always a valuable thing, but what they didn’t understand is that you have to be able to access that book in a multitude of ways, and being in that, we were able to go ahead and access that information and give it to them.

Becky Clark:  [7:46] We really could not scale our eBook program until we had a Digital Asset Management program in place. We couldn’t find our assets plus get them converted to eBooks, and do it in a way that was efficient. We realized that the only way we will be able to scale our eBook program is by putting together a robust and well managed Digital Asset Management System.

Henrik:  [8:09] What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and people aspiring to become DAM professionals?

Patty:  [8:14] First, I would recommend that you understand that you can come from print to Web easy. It is more difficult to go from the Web to print because the technology that each is required is unique for that particular type of product.

[8:28] Other things that I think you ought to know, you should understand the formats such as what is an MP3, a PDF, a JPEG, TIFF, a software that’s associated with photography, film, printing, how those formats can change, and how you can keep them from being corrupted. You need to understand that technology is new and evolving.

[8:54] While you have to adapt to the technologies, business is key and always adapt as quickly as you would like them, because they will have marketing departments and other departments that feed into this overall picture.

[9:07] It can take businesses a little bit longer to actually make the changes, and it’s just the way the businesses are. Other things I would say is look into library sciences, information systems. A couple of colleges are now starting to offer digital preservation classes, online and in person. Always having good people skills, and working with people on a day‑to‑day basis.

[9:35] Understanding that sometimes there are things, there are projects, their initiatives are immediate, and you’re going to have to stop and help them, and work them through the program. When it comes to a problem, and there are going to be problems when you setup your asset management.

[9:50] Sometimes you need to step away for a day, or walk around the building, or just say it out loud to yourself, and you can pick up, maybe the flaw in your logic, or somebody else can say, “Oh, by the way, you forgot about this particular employee.” It’s going to be critical in getting your asset management up to speed.

[10:11] Just remember, it’s a constantly changing field. Everybody makes mistakes. Technologies changes. Formats change. Being very detailed‑oriented is really, really critical.

[10:24] I would recommend that you have a very broad outlook as to all the things that you’re going to play in when you get your archiving and your data management up and running.

John:  [10:37] This is certainly a field that has, I think, a lot of employment potential with people who understand, and can come from a couple of different disciplines. There’s job right there, something that every company needs in some way, there’s library, so to speak, an archive in every company, I would think.

Henrik:  [10:57] For more on this and other Digital Asset Management topics, go to AnotherDAMblog.com. For this and 170 other podcasts episodes, go to AnotherDAMpodcast.com. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email me at anothedamblog@gmail.com.

[11:15] Thanks again.

Listen to Another DAM Podcast on Apple Podcasts, AudioBoom, CastBox, Google Podcasts,  RadioPublic, RSS, Spotify or TuneIn

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Another DAM Podcast interview with Margie Foster on Digital Asset Management

Margie Foster discusses Digital Asset Management

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 Margie Foster.

Margie, how are you?

Margie Foster:  [0:09] I’m good. Thank you. How are you?

Henrik:  [0:11] Great! Margie, how are you involved with Digital Asset Management?

Margie:  [0:16] I work as a Digital Asset Management Librarian for a global semiconductor company. My position is within the Marketing Department. I’m responsible for all the rich media that is involved with the marketing collateral. I have everything from large banners that hang at events over our booth, to video files, to print collateral, to anything that goes out on dot com.

Henrik:  [0:49] Why does a global semiconductor company use Digital Asset Management?

Margie:  [0:54] A semiconductor company, especially a global one, is no different from any other global company in the sense that it needs to reach as many of its customers as possible. Such is possible in a Digital Asset Management system is a key, keys in…Certainly, the marketing group being able to reach out to their customers.

Henrik:  [1:19] What are the biggest challenges and successes you’ve seen with Digital Asset Management?

Margie:  [1:24] As far as challenges go, initially, I started with Digital Asset Management back in the day when it was just beginning. What I’ve seen over the years is that Digital Asset Management system themselves are becoming more and more accepted as something that is integral to a marketing function. We need to be able to access whatever, whenever we need to buy, whomever needs to see it.

[1:51] Certainly, the systems do that. Where I’m seeing the challenge, it continues to be in the positions that work with the systems, specifically something like my own Digital Asset Management Librarian. There is a constant challenge to prove the works where we tend to be victims of our own success, and that we make it look easy. Looks like the information just falls into place, all the files are where they’re supposed to be.

[2:24] And sure enough, some cost‑conscious manager is going to start asking herself, “Do I really need a professional person to do this? Can I get my admin to do this? Or better yet, can I get the users of this system to just update things as they go along?” The answer, of course, is no because they won’t, as far as the users go.

[2:49] What they will do is the best they can, when they can. Frankly, they have full‑time positions that don’t require the management, the care and feeding of the system.

[3:02] One of the biggest challenges then becomes how to defend the position, having at least one person with the overview that may help maintain consistency. Frankly, I think the consistency should be spread across the company. Anybody that’s responsible for metadata, or tagging, or any kind of SEO, there needs to be a comprehensive, cross‑functional team there in place.

[3:36] So that the person with the Digital Asset Management system is speaking with the people that are keywording some of the graphics under the website or something. Because that position is also about training, and access, and speed, you wouldn’t think that the proving the worth of the position is that much of a challenge, but it really, really is.

[4:02] I like to think that it’s a part of a slow process of acceptance. It took a while for people to get their heads around the idea of a Digital Asset Management system. Now, more and more, that’s becoming accepted. We’re dealing with whether or not we really need someone dedicated, at least one person, dedicated to the maintenance of that system.

[4:32] As far as successes go, it’s good to…What I’ve seen, as far as successes go, is I have been able to empower users to find what they’re looking for when they need it. I have prolific users that I rarely hear from, unless they have some sort of issue that hasn’t come up before, which is great. I consider that a major success, the people I don’t hear from.

[4:59] I consider it a success whenever I get budget allocated for the upgrades when I need them. My system happens to be proprietary and third‑party, so there’s always an issue of renewing licenses, and expanding functionality, and so on, and so forth. Every time I get to do that, that’s definitely a success.

[5:20] The other factor that I would consider a success is when I get people coming to me and saying, “Hey, so and so, told me about this.” That happens because I work for a very large company, where we have thousands of employees. I depend a lot on word of mouth, in addition to whatever promotional exercises I can take to put out the word that the system is there to help you, and so on, and so forth.

[5:49] In addition to regular users who do that marketing collateral, I also hear from PowerPoint users that are making presentations, they may or may not be part of marketing. They may be part of one of the business units to do presentations to whomever. When word gets around to people I wouldn’t normally deal with and they’re coming to me and saying, “Hey, I’ve heard you got this.” That’s a success.

Henrik:  [6:16] Margie, what advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and people aspiring to become DAM professionals?

Margie:  [6:21] I would strongly recommend that anybody looking to get into Digital Asset Management, is first, they need to consider whether or not they’re going into a for‑profit environment, or a nonprofit environment. They really are two very different worlds. There’s a lot of opportunity in the nonprofit environment.

[6:43] My experience, however, is with the for‑profit, and that’s what I’d like to speak to. I would say, for those in place, always start with the users, go back to the users. They’re going to be the key to really making the system a success. It’s basic questions. You want to do an inventory of your users. You want to know what they need. You want to know, “Can the users, themselves, be categorized?”

[7:12] Of course, that helps when you’re setting up your system because you’re going to have some power users with more privileges than the occasional user, and so on, and so forth. Also, it’s going to help in terms of helping them come up with essential keywords. Words that they… how they think. How they use the system.

[7:34] I’ve learned, especially when I came over to marketing, that most of the different departments within a corporation have their own lingo for the products, essentially. Whether or not that spreads at the company, almost doesn’t matter, because If you’re considering a certain business group and you need to factor it in the system to keyword accordingly, they use different terms.

[8:02] You need to make sure that, that user group their terminology, how they’re thinking. For example, I have one user group that likes to use the internal code word for products before those are actually launched. They become something else once they’re launched, their official name. I make it my practice when I’m keywording anything related to them, to also include those internal, sort of informal references.

[8:30] It all goes back to the user. As long as someone, either within the field, or just starting in the field, or looking in the field, remembers that. I think, they’ll be fine. The other strong, strong piece of advice I recommend is there’s two groups in particular, the for‑profit environment that you want to partner with. That’s the IT group and the legal group.

[8:54] They’re essential because there’s so much information out there, especially with IT, that even if you’re coming to the position with a relatively strong background in IT, unless that’s your major function to stay abreast of the latest things, you’re going to need all the information you could get.

[9:19] These folks, the folks in IT for example, know what works best with the existing systems and they often know what’s the planned systems. They’re in the best position to be able to assist. It’s like, you want to always be on the good side of your car mechanic, right?

[9:40] This is not somebody you want messing with your car, your engine, or whatever. You always want to stay on the good side of IT. It also helps to stay on the good side of legal, because you want to be very conscientious about rights and permissions, especially if you’re dealing with any kind of stacked imagery, or any sort of restricted material.

[10:05] You want to make sure that you’re doing exactly what legal is telling you to do. Another factor that I have found to be very helpful that I would strongly recommend is to whether or not your manager asks for it, have your dollar value reports ready and current at a moment’s notice, because you’ll never know when you’re going to need to turn around and say, “Oh, yeah. Well, this month, I saved for our group X amount, and by the way this is how I factored that.”

[10:38] A lot of times, there’s folks that just hear those dollar values. It’s important to remember that. It’s impassioned as you may be about the need for Digital Asset Management that all has to be backed up in the for‑profit environment with why it as a cost-saving, or what is the value, how is this going to pay off in the immediate term, and also going forward in the long term.

Henrik:  [11:08] Thanks, Margie.

Margie:  [11:09] My pleasure. Thank you.

Henrik:  [11:10] For more on this and other Digital Asset Management topics, go to AnotherDAMblog.com. For this podcast and 170 other episodes, go to AnotherDAMpodcast.com. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email me at AnotherDAMblog@gmail.com.

[11:28] Thanks again.

Listen to Another DAM Podcast on Apple Podcasts, AudioBoom, CastBox, Google Podcasts,  RadioPublic, RSS, Spotify or TuneIn

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Another DAM Podcast interview with Frank DeCarlo on Digital Asset Management

Frank DeCarlo discusses Digital Asset Management

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 Frank DeCarlo.

Frank, how are you?

Frank DeCarlo:  [0:09] I’m doing well. Henrik, how are you?

Henrik:  [0:10] Great. Frank, how are you involved with Digital Asset Management?

Frank:  [0:14] I was a client of the company and now work for RPR Graphics before actually Digital Asset Management was coined as DAM. It was their answer to having hundreds of identical images, shuffling through their studio every week when they realized there had to be a better way.

[0:29] Years later, the term Digital Asset Management arrived and shortly thereafter, the opportunity to access and distribute images and any asset became available over the Internet.

[0:40] That’s when RPR realized what a viable service DAM could be not only for themselves, but for their clients, to spare our clients the capital expense and bring its 20 plus years of DAM experience as just another service.

Henrik:  [0:53] Frank, how does an organization focused on pre‑media use Digital Asset Management?

Frank:  [0:57] That’s a fair question, Henrik. I know pre‑media isn’t common.

[1:00] Wikipedia states that it has its processes and procedures that occur between the conception of original artwork and the manufacturing of final output channel. It’s a little extreme of explanation, but what we do is we handle everything before it goes to press.

[1:17] Everything before it gets on the web, and anything that needs organization and retouching, imaging manipulation, and trafficking for any marketing and advertising’s needs in distribution.

[1:32] It’s a staple with every one of our clients whether our clients right off the bat come to us wanting a DAM initiative to launch for themselves, or they’re in the early stages of working with us and understanding how we manage and distribute files between us, and the client.

[1:48] We know ultimately that everything we do and working with our clients is showing them the basic foundation of organizing taxonomy and coming up with metadata, whether it would only be a small percentage of their library initially, we continue to provide the service.

[2:02] Our experience with DAM not only benefits them in the end, we know that would pay off even more so down the road.

[2:08] The simple concept we all understand in DAM community is how easily an asset can then be found and distributed. We practice with every one of our clients just as, again we do business and it’s our service. We are the central hub and repository for their assets and that for RPR starts with our end user in pre‑media, the marketing, and advertising professionals.

[2:32] We act as an extension of their production departments and by doing so, again we introduce our 60 years of experience in helping streamline maybe their workflows not just with DAM, but saving them time and money in a variety of ways to help improve their time to market.

[2:49] DAM quickly becomes a relatively easier return on investment, once they start using it and evident when working with us, because it’s a vital part of how we been operating our day‑to‑day for over 20 years.

Henrik:  [3:01] What are the biggest challenges and successes you’ve seen with Digital Asset Management?

Frank:  [3:05] It’s an interesting segue in so far as one of the bigger challenge is and has been showing ROI before instituting a DAM. It’s easier now for certain. DAM is becoming a more common phrase, but ten years ago and even older than that, the eyebrows were raised, and it was more inherent when speaking about DAM and its benefits.

[3:28] It hasn’t completely disappeared and we’re still hear, “Well, we just used Dropbox” or “We’re OK with how we’ve always done it”.

[3:35] The other challenge is once it clicks, and a light bulb goes off and everyone is on board, it’s the act of teaching and implementing the governance necessary toward this growing organism.

[3:48] Metadata alone is a living and breathing thing and constantly changing based on the growth of the organization and how their assets relate to their business. Extraneous changes are happening every day within our industry, thus the metatagging is always changing and evolving.

[4:05] An example you take somebody like Donald Trump. A name you don’t hear every day. Years ago his metadata might have been real estate, business, The Art of the Deal, mogul, Atlantic City, Ivanka, those types of things and then what was added was beauty pageants, The Apprentice, television, NBC, blah, blah, blah.

[4:27] Today, [laughs] GOP, presidential candidate, Mexican border… you get the idea. It’s ever changing and it’s added too.

[4:37] Successes that I’ve seen in DAM is when it starts out small and we always start our clients out in baby steps, get them introduced to the basics and show them how it benefits the way they’re already working.

[4:50] Then you start to see it grow and starts to explode, all of a sudden I’m hearing, Frank, well we need another user group, we need to convert images on the fly for our web team or the packaging department, and our company wants to know how we’re flipping the logos over them so quickly, and if we can help them with organizing and distributing between their agencies.

[5:12] Or Frank, my phone is up for ringing anymore, there’s no more CD request and I need to send via FedEx because people are now going in on their own and findings things that they need and putting the owners on the people that need those files rather than having a distribution source.

[5:29] It’s all great stuff for me. That’s the payoff, helping an organization streamline their workflows and improving efficiency, that’s what RPR has been doing for many, many years.

Henrik:  [5:38] What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and people aspiring to become DAM professionals?

Frank:  [5:43] It’s an exciting time in DAM. Where I see the most growth is with the digital archivists. We at RPR have RPR cybrarian. We’re finding more and more that our clients not only want us to take control of their digital library, but also be responsible, to understand how everything needs to be meta‑tagged.

[6:02] Basically, giving them an entire service, asking us to practice the governance needing to be sure their library stays current, and everything needing can be found based on search requirements relevant to their assets.

[6:16] It only makes sense. Libraries are growing every day, every hour, and how we keep track of them. What we’re spending on those digital assets in some cases could be a great deal of money, which creates these assets. They need to be at your fingertips and if you can’t find them or have to recreate them, it’s a great loss in many ways and sometimes not just monetarily.

[6:39] The more you can contribute helping organize libraries and help cut down on any search is critical, and once you do that, make sure you have a disaster recovery plan in place that make sense for your business.

[6:49] You can spend all the time on the world building a library and DAM that benefits everyone and is working properly, but if it goes down or disappears completely and doesn’t come back up and enough time, that doesn’t cause you a great deal of pain in the process or worse, where are you? I think disaster recovery is becoming more and more critical with our DAM and our extending libraries.

Henrik:  [7:12] Thanks, Frank.

Frank:  [7:13] Absolutely, Henrik. Thank you for the opportunity and I really enjoyed being here today.

Henrik:  [7:16] For more on this and other Digital Asset Management topics, go to AnotherDAMblog.com. For the other podcast episodes, go to AnotherDAMpodcast.com. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email me at AnotherDAMblog@Gmail.com. Thanks again.

Listen to Another DAM Podcast on Apple Podcasts, AudioBoom, CastBox, Google Podcasts,  RadioPublic, RSS, Spotify or TuneIn

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NYC DAM Meetup on Digital Asset Management and Rights Management

On November 4, NYC DAM Meetup organized a panel discussion on Digital Asset Management and Rights Management with the following panelists:

  • Andrew Rowat, Co-Founder & CEO, Haystack
  • Lynn Eskenazi, Founder, Global Photo Solutions LLC
  • Ray Segal, Producer, Ducat Media
  • Dayna Bealy, Rights Clearance (non-Collection), New York Historical Society
  • This panel discussion was moderated by Julie C. Maher and Alice Merchant.

In case you missed this NYC DAM Meetup in person or want to review this passionate discussion again, below is the unedited audio recording of this panel discussion (Duration: 74 minutes)

There may be follow-up discussions on this topic. What are your thoughts on this?

Listen to Another DAM Podcast on Apple Podcasts, AudioBoom, CastBox, Google Podcasts,  RadioPublic, RSS, Spotify or TuneIn

Need Digital Asset Management advice and assistance?

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