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Blog about Digital Asset Management

Yearly Archives: 2009


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Can a DAM preview all uploaded assets?


When selecting a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution, you would hope the DAM can preview assets so you do not have to guess what are the asset contents based on the file name nor opening each asset to see its contents. Most DAM solutions allow you preview each asset with a small thumbnail (such as photographs) and/or a working preview (such as a smaller proxy of a video). Often, this preview is automatically generated by the DAM during or after the upload process of an asset. This usually happens in the background which is great.

Don’t get me wrong. Previewing is not meant to excessively click and scroll through hundreds or thousands of assets in a DAM. You should be able to find assets using good metadata applied/associated to each asset. You should even be able to narrow down the assets to preview by searching within the initial search results using metadata. Once you have a limited selection of assets narrowed down via metadata, you should be able to confirm which asset you need by previewing the asset, check its contents in the DAM and then download (export) the asset needed.

While most DAM solutions have no issue auto generating thumbnails for many digital photographs (such as JPEG, PSD, TIFF, DNG), check with the DAM vendor to be sure the DAM will support all other file formats your organization uses and plans to upload to the DAM.

Since software vendors such as Adobe are known to change their proprietary file formats, specifically PDF and SWF,  check with the DAM vendor on which versions of a file format can be previewed. If something is not supported and your organization needs it, ask the DAM vendor to support it. Needs should be filled for DAM clients who request a specific need. If your request is not popular, common and/or obvious with other DAM clients who also need this, you may end up paying for a customization.

If you print hard copies of your assets  and you wish to save the version sent to the printer, be sure you have a way to preview assets with various color spaces in the DAM (not only RGB, but CMYK too). Note that CMYK is one of the smallest and most limiting color spaces available with one of the least amount of colors compared to most of the other color spaces.

If you plan to upload raw files, check with the DAM vendor to be sure the DAM will support and preview more than 8 bit assets. What happens when you upload 16 bit, 24 bit or even 48 bit assets to the DAM aside from eating up more storage space?

If you plan to upload audio, do you get a working preview you can listen to clearly within the DAM via compressed proxy or playback of the audio asset itself?

If you plan to upload text, can you preview all the text (DOC, PDF, TXT, XML, etc) in the DAM?

What happens if your DAM solution can not create a preview for a new set of assets such as proprietary file formats? Well, is there a override feature for the previews in the DAM? Can you create a proxy preview (or thumbnail) outside the DAM, upload it to the DAM and associate that preview to this new asset in the DAM ? If you have the need for previewing asset in the DAM to save time, ask about your preview options and try them.

Let us recap:

  • Downloading and/or opening piles of assets-Very Bad (waste of bandwidth and time).
  • Excessive scrolling-Bad (waste of time).
  • Searching with metadata-Good.
  • Previewing a limited selection of  assets from search results found with good metadata-Very good.
  • Finding what assets you need along with information about them quickly-Great (That is the point of a DAM!).

Can your DAM preview all uploaded assets?


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Digital Asset Management New York 2009 Conference

If you want to meet, learn and network with the largest group of DAM experts, users and vendors in one place within the span of two days, come to the Digital Asset Management New York 2009 Conference. This year, it will be held at the Hilton in New York City on June 1 and 2. Click here for a full conference program.

I am scheduled to speak on June 1 with a case study, a panel discussion and I will attending both days of the conference because there is so much to see and listen to. I personally stay up 20 hours per day just to fit everything in (not that you have to)…including the dinner events which are worth checking out too. This is the DAM Conference, all about DAM, all day long.

With special arrangements from Henry Stewart Events, readers of this blog can sign up to attend and save an additional $150 off the conference fee using discount code. There are more discounts if more than one person from your organization plans to attend. If you sign up early, you also qualify for a discounted hotel rate too.

Hope to see you there.


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What media does your DAM support?


Many DAM systems are able to store multiple types of assets. One of the many factors you should consider when selecting your DAM is what media does the DAM support.

  • What type of media does your organization have now?
  • What type of assets will be added to the DAM?
  • What else will you add to your DAM going forward?
  • What file formats are you exploring to use in the future?
  • Do you plan to only store one type of media in the DAM? If so, why? Are you forgetting (or ignoring):
    • Audio
    • Graphics (for the web, print, television, etc.)
    • Photographs (created internally and/or acquired externally)
    • Text (MS Word, MS Excel, PDF, XML, etc.)
    • Video (for internal and/or external purposes)
  • Do you really need multiple, centralized repositories to store all this media and make it searchable vs. using one DAM? (in some cases, probably not)

Your organization spent a lot of money creating and/or acquiring these assets, so why not have a centralized system which enables the organization to find them again, reuse them and even re-purpose assets (re-purpose any part of the asset for a different project). As long as you account for any rights or permissions needed, having one DAM for your media is possible within any organization, no matter how big or small, regardless of how long the organization has been in business.

Any asset  with a file name and a file extension should be able to be in a DAM (NO, this does not mean the DAM should be a dumping ground for whatever assets you happen to find somewhere). With versions and  file formats aside, an asset is an asset is an asset. Therefore, any DAM should be able to store any asset and have metadata associated to it (not necessarily embedded metadata though), but the DAM will not necessarily be able to preview any file format you want. A preview to an asset is often a need (not a want) even if you have great metadata.  If you have assets in a DAM, you should be able to find it using metadata, but you will often want to be able to see the asset before downloading (exporting) it from the DAM.

Check with the DAM vendor on what file formats are supported before choosing the DAM you know you will need to use. If you are uploading new file formats to a DAM, check with DAM vendor to minimize surprises and see what workaround they have to offer in case the file format is not supported for whatever reason. The DAM vendor will often have a list of file formats they support and this list may evolve as the DAM vendor upgrades their system over time. Be sure to check on the versions of the file formats which they support because sometimes the version of file format may evolve quickly depending on the software vendor. Some DAM vendors try their best to keep up with the latest file formats and new versions  (at least the common file formats) within a reasonable time frame (sometimes within months of the new release).  The DAM vendor may support new file formats (and new versions) based on their clients’ needs and/or even client requests to support a ‘necessary’ file format.

Many people realize Adobe comes out with a new version of their software every 18 months. We all hope that the latest version of the file formats will be backwards compatible, but sometimes versions are not fully compatible and some features don’t work from one version to another. Therefore, keeping track of what version of a file format was used to create the asset can sometimes be quite important in order to make sure all the component assets work well together. This can be part of your metadata, if necessary. Using software which created the asset is sometimes the only way to see all the relevant metadata, such as the version of the file format. Some file formats which fall in this category are PDF and SWF. Many vendors have this issue with file format though. If you aren’t sure about compatibility, contact the vendor directly.

Knowing the version of a file format may be important whether the assets in the DAM are components for a ‘final’ version of an asset and/or the ‘final’ version of the asset itself. The DAM could a stand-alone, searchable repository for assets and/or the DAM may be closely tied to other systems which work together in a workflow. Either way, file format (and its version) may be one factor to interoperability in your workflow.

In a perfect world, everything would work perfectly all the time, as we imagined it should. This is the real world and experts may be needed in order to make things work the way they need to. When you aren’t sure or if you don’t know, ASK.

What media does your DAM support?


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Who should upload assets to a DAM?


When implementing a DAM, one of the questions that will come up is who will upload (aka import) assets to the DAM with the metadata. Often, the case is uploading to the DAM will be a regular process with a stream of new assets. That is unless the organization stops producing new assets, limits the total number of assets in the DAM or is not using the DAM (aka another shelf baby).

The answer to who should do this depends on the following:

  • How complex or easy is the process to upload assets and metadata to the DAM?
  • Is the uploading process clearly defined?
  • Who will be trained to perform the upload task regularly?
  • Who is the best fit for consistent and methodical uploading of assets and metadata to the DAM?
  • What is the volume of assets to be uploaded regularly? (Will you need more than one person to upload assets to the DAM?)
  • How long does uploading assets and metadata take per asset? (Develop an average metric to use for scheduling purposes)
  • How often will the organization need to upload assets? (daily, weekly, monthly?)
  • How quickly will you need to upload these assets for your business needs? (Is this tied to any production needs or deadlines?)
    • Who is faster at uploading, better at uploading and/or cheaper for uploading (pick two)?
      • Someone within your organization?
      • Someone outside your organization?
      • The DAM vendor, if they offer this service?
  • Who has the time to do the uploading? What other job duties  do they have? Will their schedule permit them to upload to the DAM in a timely fashion?
  • Who will communicate when assets and metadata are ready for uploading to the DAM?
  • Who supplies the assets? Who creates the metadata?
  • Is there a quality control check for uploads? Do you need one?
  • Who is responsible for linking the metadata with assets?
  • What happens after assets are uploaded to the DAM? Do people need to be notified when newly uploaded assets are available in the DAM? Is the DAM used as a centralized distribution point for assets?

Like any position in an organization, find the people with the qualifications necessary and the willingness to do the work. Typically, this position involves:

  • Data entry skills.
  • A mindset for working with data.
  • Positive attitude and ability to think constructively (no, you don’t want a robot).
  • Willingness to learn new things.
  • Technical savviness is a big plus.

Be sure the individuals working on the DAM understand:

  • What the job/tasks involve and what it does not.
  • The process or workflow.
  • This is not creative position, but rather a creative problem solving position involving data entry.
  • Communicate regularly. Listen to them when they have questions or suggestions since they be able to improve the process or even streamline it for all.

A few words of caution when picking the individuals who will do the uploading to the DAM: Do NOT randomly pick a person from your staff to do this task. If you don’t pick the ‘right person’ to do this task, not only do you risk the task not being done correctly (because they don’t get it or can’t wrap their head around it after training), but you also risk having a high rate of attrition and frustration until you find the ‘right person’ to do this task regularly. If the person did not intent to do this type of work (which often resembles data entry), they may be quite reluctant (particularly at first) to do this. Remember, no one is born with this knowledge nor mindset. Training is a must.

In order to get consistent results in uploading assets to a DAM, the easiest way is to have a finite group of trained and practiced individuals to upload all assets and metadata to the DAM. This will help:

  • Focus the accountability for all uploaded assets.
  • Limits the scope of issues that could occur.
  • Make it easier to resolve any issue before it becomes rampant or repetitive.

The smaller the group, the better trained the group can be (if all trained at the same time) and the more consistent the results will be in the DAM (if they all practice this regularly).  If you do keep all the uploading within your organization, train a finite group rather than one individual in order to have a backup in case that one person is sick, on vacation or leaves the organization for any reason, particularly in today’s job market.  I would not recommend giving every DAM user access to upload freely to the DAM, otherwise you risk correcting issues more frequently and this is often a recipe for a growing disaster of inconsistency. This task should be left to a select few DAM power users.

Who uploads assets to the DAM in your organization?