Philip Grossman discusses Digital Asset Management
Here are the questions asked:
How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
How does an organization focused on the weather use Digital Asset Management?
What are the biggest challenges and successes with 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 Philip Grossman. Philip, how are you? Philip Grossman: [0:10] I’m doing good. Henrik: [0:12] Philip, how are you involved with Digital Asset Management? Philip: [0:15] Well I’m the Senior Director of Content Acquisition and Management at The Weather Channel. My job and role entails managing and overseeing all of the technologies that support all the assets internally to the organization.
[0:28] I’m responsible for all the equipment that helps see the physical assets come in, the video and audio and stills come in, get processed, get stored. Enable the editors to access them, to do their magic and assist in pushing the assets out the other side whether that be live broadcast to television or to digital, or mobile, or to the web. Henrik: [0:48] How does an organization focused on the weather use Digital Asset Management? Philip: [0:52] In our world we have both television, so we are one of the largest and one of the most distributed television networks in United States, over 100 million households. We also have one of the most widely download applications, the weather.com app, as well as our weather.com website. Through all of those we are an asset‑centric organization, obviously video and stills.
[1:15] In our world we have 22 hours of live programming per day roughly that we fill with digital assets, whether that be things we create ourselves, long‑form programming that comes in from third parties, or in some cases what we call user‑generated content, people in the field who have a passion for weather who send us video and still images. Henrik: [1:36] What are the biggest challenges and successes with Digital Asset Management? Philip: [1:40] Biggest challenges is just that the diversity of the assets themselves. We jokingly say that I have two states. I have stuff that needs to come in and become our house format, and then our house format that has to go out to h.264 for distribution. One of the biggest challenges is just to be able to manage the vast array of formats that come in, and normalize them so they can then process through.
[2:05] Not only do we have formats, then we also have the wonderful hi‑def versus standard def, 16:9 verse 4:3. In order to enable our teams to work efficiently we’ve go to overcome those issues. This is probably one of biggest challenges. Then the second is rights management. For us because we have the combination of material we create ourselves, as well as material provided to us by third parties or end users, we have to be able to manage when this content can be used.
[2:32] Some of it can be used on television. Some of it can’t be used on television, some on the web, but some on television and the web, but only on the web for four days, on television for 14 days. It took an intricate rights management process, which again goes back to the asset itself. At the end of the day, it’s the Metadata, it’s all in the assets.
[2:48] That’s probably one of the other challenges. For us, success is being able to increase the sheer velocity of material we’re able to bring in as raw material to allow our editors and producers to create interesting material out of. Henrik: [3:03] What advice would you like to share it with, DAM professionals and people aspiring to become DAM professionals? Philip: [3:08] I’d say probably the best piece of advice is start small. When I say small, I mean start at the core asset itself. It’s an object. That’s where you should build and move your processes around.
[3:20] You could say, “Well we just do video.” OK. start with the video as an object or as an asset, and then start to identify what kind of video do you have? When you have SD and HD, all of a sudden your object model becomes larger. That’s really the key to any asset management system. The joke is how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
[3:37] Same concept, start small, understand the objects that you have to manage, and then some that you can build your rules and metadata and everything else around, and the system will become complex on its own. If you start by trying to boil the ocean and figure out I need it to do this, I need it to do that, you’re never going to make it happen.
[3:54] Start with the asset itself. Figure out all the metadata that goes around that asset, then that metadata in of itself helps determine what you’ll be able to do with it. Say, “I got to be able to make sure that it doesn’t play on the web.” Then that has to be a field that says, “I’m not allowed to play on the web.” That sort of drives the model and workflows.
[4:13] Almost every automated workflow today is based around the metadata that you have with your assets. Those are probably the two biggest keys I would say in creating a system. Try to build things that have what we would refer to as level of abstraction. If I build one, giant, massive system, the larger that system gets the more difficult it becomes to make changes to that system or the inertia required to make changes to that system.
[4:37] If you build highly flexible, light‑weight components, that do one specific thing, or two specific things, then you string them together through what we call level of abstraction, you build a much more flexible system that allows you to grow. Right now we’re in a hi‑def world, two years from now we may be a 4K world, and three years from now maybe an 8K world.
[4:57] If you build a system that’s what you’re doing today, it’s not going to be future proofed by building things are abstracted and that’s what we call service orientation, or service‑orient architecture that allows you to build much more flexible systems.
[5:10] Think of it, Legos. Build a lot of little Lego blocks that you can reassemble anyway you want. If you try to build one giant Lego, it’s an inflexible model. Henrik: [5:19] Good points. Well thanks, Philip. Philip: [5:21] Yep. Thank you. Henrik: [5:23] For more on Digital Asset Management, log onto anotherdamblog.com. This podcast is available on Audioboom and iTunes. Thanks again.
How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
How does an organization focused on sports equipment use Digital Asset Management?
What are the biggest challenges and successes with 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 Douglas Mullin.
Douglas, how are you? Douglas Mullin: [0:09] I’m doing well, thanks. How are you, Henrik? Henrik: [0:10] Great. How are you involved with Digital Asset Management? Douglas: [0:13] I’m the digital asset librarian for Oakley Incorporated in
Southern California. I work for the design graphics department, which is one
of several silos of content producers. [0:25] I manage primarily final and master
mechanicals for the signage. I would see, let’s say, if you went to Sunglass Hut or
something, you saw the signage of the windows.
[0:34] I have master files, different regions, localities to download, to print their
own files. We also have product photography and video. We have several different
departments working with that.
[0:44] With my executive sponsor, I have a project to try to create a real enterprise
DAM program to bridge a lot of our content production silos. Those are
my two main functions of both working for one silo, currently and trying to build
more of a proper enterprise DAM program to bridge a lot of our content production
silos. Those are my two main functions of both working for one silo,
currently and trying to build more of a proper enterprise DAM system. Henrik: [1:00] How does an organization focused on sports equipment use
Digital Asset Management? Douglas: [1:05] As I mentioned, we have a point of purchase signage. Lots of
athlete photos get used. We have the signs that go up in stores that are selling
our products, road signs, billboards, bus wraps, and other things like that. [1:19]
We have, of course, a website, which has a lot of content. Content marketing is a
very big thing at a company like Oakley.
[1:25] We have an in-house photo studio. We have a team of photographers who
go on-site who shoot athletes at sporting events or for sponsored athletes for
events that have we have set up.
[1:37] We have a video team, as much the same thing and produce a lot of content.
Content marketing is a very big thing here. It’s pretty much what DAM is
about from our point of view. Henrik: [1:48] What are the biggest challenges and successes with Digital Asset
Management? Douglas: [1:51] For us, the biggest challenge really is user interface issues and
process issues. Currently running Artesia 6.8, which is a very powerful product,
but it is a bit of an older product. [2:04] The user interface is not up to current
standards. A lot of consumerization of the enterprise, people’s tolerance for
learning challenging systems has gone down a lot over the years. Certainly, at Oakley, that’s an even bigger challenge.
[2:20] A really strong user interface is something that we need. As we look forward,
Artesia is going to go away, at some point, and we will get another product,
either from that vendor or from somebody else. It’s still undecided.
[2:35] User interface challenges are a big thing for us. After that is process. What
photos should be shared? What photos should not be shared? Which videos
should or shouldn’t be shared? There are lots of different factors that go into
that calculation. Is a product a current product? Is it a past product, is it a prototype
product?
[2:55] I would see the legal contract that we have with the athletes. These kinds
of issues be very complex. So, it’s an athlete, let’s say, a whimsy contest wearing
our board shorts, which are not yet publicly released, should we use that
photo? Or should that photo not be used because the product is not actually
publicly released yet, even though the athlete winning a major contest is a major
coup for us? Henrik: [3:20] What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and
people aspiring to become DAM professionals? Douglas: [3:24] I think it’s very important to understand that this is very varied
profession, in which it is people, process, content and technology. It’s not possible
just to focus on any one of those. [3:34] Some people imagine that a digital
asset person is a bookish person hidden away in a corner just attaching metadata
to files. But in reality, it is much more difficult than that. You must be able
to interact with your end users to understand what their needs are. You often
have to be assertive about getting your content people are busy and you often
have to reach out to people, work with them to get content.
[3:58] The process issues are huge. Being able to understand the business in
order to help people solve those problems and come to an agreement about
them. Then, of course, at the technology side, you have to know how to talk
the language of the IT people in order to have credible conversations to be an
advocate for your own DAM health, so to speak. That is very important.
[4:20] There’s sort of a trend going on in the world today of…”marketing technologist”
is a phrase that I’ve heard a lot about. But people who come from the
business side of the company but who understand technology, and I think that
being a DAM librarian kind of fits in with that in certain ways.
[4:36] I very much come from the business side. I understand the people and the
content and process issues, primarily. But I’m also able to speak the language of
the IT department to be an advocate for my stakeholders for their requirements.
[4:49] In addition to that, there’s a lot of training opportunities out there in the
world today. DAM is growing a lot. There are a lot of people trying to learn
about it. There’s free webinars stuff that one can certainly see other opps. That’s
vendor sponsored and so it tends to be very solution focused and not always as
focused on the people, process, content, although people do talk about that,
of course.
[5:11] Then, there’s just great conferences at Henry Stewart and Createasphere.
I’m a member of SLA, which keeps me connected to the library world, the Special Libraries Association. And then the DAM Foundation. It’s also, I think, a
great resource to learn a lot more about the profession. Henrik: [5:27] Well, thanks Doug. Douglas: [5:29] Well, thank you, Henrik. Henrik: [5:31] For more on this and other Digital Asset Management topics, log
on to AnotherDAMblog.com. Another DAM Podcast is available on Audioboom
and iTunes.
[5:39] If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at AnotherDAMblog@gmail.com. Thanks again
How are you involved with Digital Asset Management?
How does an organization focused on music use Digital Asset Management?
What are the biggest challenges and successes with 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 Paul Riggio. Paul,
how are you? Paul Riggio: [0:09] I’m doing quite well, thanks and yourself? Henrik: [0:14] Paul, how are you involved with Digital Asset Management? Paul: [0:16] I basically fell into it because I have a background in music, music
for TV and commercials more specifically. I was looking for a system to better
access my back catalog of music. [0:30] Once I started down that path, I found
that it was a much larger task than expected. Also found that other people
wanted it, as well. I started a company called, TuneSpring, that really houses
the music of multiple companies and makes that accessible. It was out of
need, in short. Henrik: [0:52] How does an organization focused on music use Digital Asset
Management? Paul: [0:56] Basically, if you’re familiar with Pandora or any of those services,
what we have to do is somewhat similar. We have to tag, similar to video or
photos, give some sort of descriptors. Basically, my company puts all of this
information together to make it accessible. That’s how we’re involved in it. Henrik: [1:17] What are the biggest challenges and successes with Digital Asset
Management? Paul: [1:20] In general, I’d say one of the biggest successes is the fact that you’re
able to do more with your life outside of Digital Asset Management. Specifically,
for our business, it’s very hands-on. I’m consistently, along with many of the
people who use our system, we’re consistently asked for specific types of music.
[1:43] Putting a system like this together, which also incorporates video, in terms
of synchronization with audio and video, this system makes review and approval
very, very fast, and the ability to put playlists of tracks together very quickly. The
success is the ability to service clients at a very high level, and also have a life,
and be able to access that from anywhere.
[2:10] The challenge, I would say, especially with a system like ours, which is web
based, having to run through multiple iterations of browsers. Having to deal
with a lot of the technical aspects has been challenging. Also categorization is
always something that comes up.
[2:27] In our particular system, you’re able to search the music of multiple providers,
but each provider actually tags their own music. They’re all responsible for
their own tagging. We give guidelines and we provide different keywords that
we suggest, but everybody can tag the way they want to tag it.
[2:48] It was challenging to get to a place that would be both flexible enough for
individuals who might, say, have tags that would describe music specific to their
area. Even music that would be in different parts of the UK, for instance, might
have different descriptor that we wouldn’t use here in the states.
[3:08] Working out that system to be flexible enough to handle specific keywords
and that sort of thing was one of the many challenges. Henrik: [3:17] What advice would you like to share with DAM professionals and
people aspiring to become DAM professionals? Paul: [3:21] Basically, like I said in the beginning, it’s something that was based
on need for me. I think, even if it’s something that you’re not sure how to approach
the business, essentially, look from the place of need, which is a little
bit broad. But it starts to come to light and as one experience the world a little
bit. [3:41] Essentially, again coming from a place of need, I would say one of the
things that I did was I really had to deal with a lot of my peers, who work within
the industry that I’m in primarily music for advertising, but also music publishers
and that sort of thing.
[4:01] I’ve spoken with major music publishers and looked at what their needs
would be, and tried to formulate a system that would simply address everybody’s
needs. It’s dealing with other people and experts within the field, such
as I dealt with metataggers who used to work at Pandora.
[4:24] I’ve dealt daily and technically with companies that are excellent at automatically
turning audio files into multiple versions of those files so they can be
reviewed in things like Firefox, which require OGG files, and that sort of thing.
Basically, from there, it’s based on need. There are many systems in place that
are badly in need of help, both with tagging and we’re finding that…One of the
major publishers I spoke with, I’m [inaudible 04: [4:41] 57] their name, had a staff
of about a dozen people, not too huge. They’re constantly going through and
tagging a million plus track library. They will be doing that, if you start doing the
math, and getting down to the hours per person, it takes a very long time.
[5:12] There’s work to be found. I had worked a bit with Dan McGraw in the
beginning. He helped to organize and break down the system that is the core of
what TuneSpring is now, to have the ability to look at potentially an industry that
from an outside perspective having somebody come in and look at it and break
it apart was very helpful for us.
[5:36] Again, if you can’t hire experts to speak to experts and try to interview
people who do this all the time, and kind of pick up fields that seems to
have a gray area of massive amounts of metadata, music being one of those
huge areas.
[5:55] There’s a lot of automatic categorization coming up, which is phenomenal
and really, really helpful. It has a tendency to find songs that sound like other
songs based on a variety of factors. But the human element is one that I think
to get truly accurate tagging, especially with audio, which is something that is
happening over time, you can’t just sit and look at it. It’s a particular challenge.
[6:22] There was one cool thing that we came up with in TuneSpring, which was
the fader search, which dealt with the unique challenge where music is concerned,
which is typically with keywords that a track is either happy or it’s sad, or
it’s kind of sad or it’s kind of happy. You don’t really have tags for that.
[6:40] We came up with a range fader for mood, for the subjective terms like the
“size” of the sound. Maybe technically an orchestra is very large, but if they’re
playing a small, quiet session, they’ll sound quite small, whereas if you look at
the White Stripes, which is just two people, they can sound enormous.
[7:08] Dealing with those things that the person who’s searching can react to
based on the results was the thing that’s been very successful with what we
created, having that move the fader from moody to happy and hearing what’s
there and being able to have an opinion based on what the results are. It’s
something very industry specific.
[7:33] Also, there’s a great book I’d recommend, which I think a lot of DAM
people may or may not know about, which is “Everything Is Miscellaneous.”
That was something that was very inspiring to me in terms of looking at the
broader world of Digital Asset Management and what the challenges are and
will be in the future.
[7:51] It’s an insane world. We are a world that’s generating a lot of content, particularly
in the music arena, since you can make a track on your iPhone or iPad,
and probably on an Android phone, too. It’s ever expanding.
[8:10] I guess in a way what we’re doing is, we’re doing a subscription based
group source thing, having all of our individual companies tag their own music
while also offering the potential of hiring professionals, should they so desire. Henrik: [8:27] Thanks, Paul. For more on this and other Digital Asset
Management topics, log on to AnotherDAMblog.com. Another DAM Podcast
is available on Audioboom and iTunes. If you have any comments or questions,
please feel free to email me at AnotherDAMblog@gmail.com.
Thanks again.
Another DAM Podcast 