Createasphere has open the Second Annual DAMMY Awards on April 1, 2011 for online submissions until August 1, 2011.
“Createasphere is excited to launch the second annual event that acknowledges achievement and resourcefulness in Digital Asset Management. The DAMMY Awards recognize pioneering individuals and organizations who have created new revenue opportunities, efficient workflows, exceptional storage and archive solutions, and more. An outstanding individual or organization will also be named DAMMY of the Year for positively impacting the success of digital asset management for the good of the global community…”
Nominations are now being accepted for the five categories of DAMMY awards:
DAMMY of the Year
Best Storage, Archive, and or Preservation Solution
Best Strategy or Solution for Digital & Media Asset Management during the Acquisition of Content
Best Example of Asset & Media Repurposing
Best strategy Ease of Use for End-User Interface
(yes, that fifth category is new for 2011)
There are three judges who will evaluate all the submissions for all DAMMY Award categories:
Congratulations to all the first annual DAMMY Award winners from 2010. One of the winners, UPS was also interviewed on Another DAM podcast.
Best of luck to all submissions for the Second Annual DAMMY Awards. Do not be shy. Get recognized by the DAM community as the professional that you are.
Submit your application for the DAMMY award category which best applies today. Enter your submission today.
The Second Annual DAMMY award will be announced during The DAMMY Awards ceremony in New York City on September 23, 2011.
In order to enforce a file naming convention in any organization, just follow these simple steps…
Establish and define a clear file naming convention which can scale up in the long term for many years. (Not just until next week)
Document the file naming convention in writing with guidelines and samples. Make the documentation available to everyone and distribute it to everyone. Have one version of the guidelines available for everyone to follow, even if it is updated for any reason. Share a link to it.
Train people on how to use the file naming convention properly.
Assess the people who were trained (give them a written test) by having them demonstrate they understand and can follow the file naming convention guidelines.
Follow the file naming convention after the training and assessments.
Enforce it. Keep everyone equally accountable.
When someone has violated the file naming convention, let them and their supervisor know by email. Every time. You can only violate the rules so many times. Three strikes and you are out.
The first time the file naming convention is not followed, email the person those guidelines again and have them correct the file name(s) themselves within the same business day. Have them communicate once the file name(s) has been corrected.
The second time the file naming convention is not followed, give them remedial training and the assessment again. Then, have them correct the file name(s) themselves within the same business day. Have them communicate once the file name(s) has been corrected.
The third time the file naming convention is not followed, visit them with the file naming convention bat.
Thank you for using the established file naming convention. Have a nice day.
The file naming convention bat is now available in black and blue, with accents of red. For those who prefer Cricket, we have one of those models available as well. Later, we will be reviewing how to enforce completed metadata fields in a DAM.
Let us know when you are ready for some vendor neutral consulting on Digital Asset Management.
Since September 2010, I regularly create Another DAM podcast and release it weekly. Most of these podcasts are interviews of Digital Asset Management (DAM) Professionals from anywhere in the world. Sometimes I will create an audio version of some of my most popular blog posts.
Equipment
If I am interviewing someone in person, I find a quiet room and use my smart phone to record the conversation. I find this to be the easiest method to record audio. Testing the audio with myself with the person I am interviewing, I can position the smart phone/microphone for the best results. Several podcasts have been recorded at conferences, hotels and offices very successfully using this method.
If I am doing an interview over the phone, I use Google Hangout or Skype to make the call. As a courtesy, I call the person I am interviewing directly whether they have a Skype account or they just use their phone. Using Callburner (PC) or WireTap StudioCall Recorder (Apple) allows me to record both sides of the conversation directly from Skype. Of course, I tell the person I am interviewing when I am recording the audio conversation (many areas require this by law).
Audio Quality
Skype or Google Hangouts is best audio quality when using headphones with a microphone. Fair audio quality are with landline phones and the worst audio quality are mobile phones.
Editing
Using Audacity (PC/Apple) or Garageband (Apple), editing and formatting the audio file is relatively easy to learn and accomplish. If you don’t want to edit the audio yourself, there are a number of services you can send the audio for editing as long as you listen to the audio yourself first and then list exactly what you want the edited with time codes.
Who do I interview
I interview men and women involved in Digital Asset Management from all over the world. Yes, I look for new people to interview all the time. I do not interview DAM vendors since I am vendor neutral.
Scheduling an interview
Most often, I find the people to interview in the field based on my contacts and their contacts. Yes, networking helps a lot. I often send the person an email with the following information:
The intent of the podcast interview
A listing the questions I plan to ask them during the interview so they can ponder the questions ahead of time
A link to my earlier podcasts for them to review if they want to
Since some of the people I interview work for an organization which may need a PR/media relations/communication person to give prior approval, I leave them time to do so. Once I find a person online or in person who agrees to be interviewed (and gets approval, if needed), it is a matter of finding a good time for both their schedule and mine. This often means dealing with different time zones (which can be an advantage sometimes). Most people prefer to schedule an interview during their weekday working hours. I often try to schedule the interview early in the morning or in the late afternoon to not conflict with my schedule.
Time
Aside from finding the scheduled time to do the interview and the edit the audio, it takes me (after the initial learning curve) about one hour to record and edit a 5 to 15 minute podcast. This is why I send the audio to someone for editing at minimal cost and sparing my effort.
Approval after the interview
After the interview has occurred and audio has been edited (by myself) to the desired content, volume and format, I apply metadata to it. After editing, I send the person I interviewed a link to download and review the audio. I give them the choice of either accepting the audio as I first edited it or tell me specifically what needs to be edits. Many approve of the audio as-is. Some go through several rounds of audio edits with me. Some re-record the podcast again. Occasionally, they edit the audio themselves and send me back another audio file with approval.
Release of the podcast
Once the podcast is approved in writing, I add it to a queue of podcasts to be released. I release a new podcast on Thursdays. When the podcast is released, it is aggregated to multiple channels. The release is also publicized on LinkedIn and Twitter among other locations.
Measure what you manage
In order to see what content works best, what are the most popular topics and measure what means of publicizing brings the most traffic, I watch analytics weekly and adjust accordingly.
Why I do not record video (yet)
I do not record video podcasts because I do not see the value of talking heads (including mine). Editing video takes much more time than audio alone. A finalized video is often a larger file size and takes longer to download. If I ever needed to record video (from Skype or even as a screencast), Vodburner is available among other tools.
Listening
You can find, stream, download and even subscribe to this podcast which can be heard on your computer or MP3 player.
What specifically is your organization going to do with Digital Asset Management?
For those of you who have not read this blog before or did not realize it, I am and remain vendor agnostic. Everyone should realize there is no one DAM fits all solution. Many DAM vendors will claim their solution is the best for you and they may try to sell you a solution even if it does not meet your needs.
I have looked at 90 DAM solutions in the past. Someone claimed there are as many as 150. Which solution is right for your organization?
The right DAM solution for your organization will depend on the following:
Again, there is no one-size-fits-all DAM solution. There is not one DAM system that could monopolize the whole field of Digital Asset Management. Of course, there are bigger vendors than others, vendors that only do DAM, some open source solutions and some systems which will work together with other systems you may have.
Each DAM system and solution is different. Some upload differently. Some handle file names differently. Some have more strengths in some areas than others. Some have more weakness because they are less developed or updated less often. Some DAM systems are constantly updated, versioned, changed and/or bug fixed. While others are not so much.
What is the best DAM solution? There is no one answer. It depends. What are you going to do with it?
First, research within your organization what your organization has in place now and what it really needs going forward. Where are the gaps? This includes researching the people, processes and technologies you have now. In case your organization has no idea how to do this, look into using a consultant. Select a consultant that is not tied to any specific DAM vendor(s) unless you have already made a decision on using a particular system. Hopefully, it will meet your organization’s needs.
What are the goals of the organization (not just one person) for the DAM? Which systems meet those goals?
Which system meets the business needs as described early on?
Which DAM system is scalable? (scalable for your assets, metadata, users and workflow)
Which DAM vendor and system can your organization work with? Is it too complex with too many features? Is it too simplified with not enough features? Is the vendor available before and after the commitment to using their system/services? Or is all outsourced?
Which DAM system make no sense to your engineers nor IT department?
Which DAM system can work with your organization’s use cases?
Which DAM vendor can tell you how it would work and then show you a working example from start to finish using your assets?
Which DAM vendor is friendly to you just for your business, but has no existing support for you after you sign up?
Which DAM vendor can not show you anything that works, but will promise you the moon and stars? Which DAM vendor should you run (do not walk) away from?
Which DAM vendor, integrator and system will deliver what you need? Which will/can not?
Which DAM vendors will offer you a white paper to download and have 5 different reps call you about the exact, same thing? (This would require them using a CRM system properly)
Which vendors will invite you to a webinar which you attend and you ask some questions by typing them in (which can be captured), but they ignore them and then call you a month later asking if you had any questions? Then, you ask what was the topic of the webinar, but the person calling you does not even know. (If you only knew how many webinars I attend per month)
Which DAM vendor is financially stable? Many DAM vendors are private companies while some are large publicly traded companies which have DAM as part of their available offerings.
Which DAM systems has had so many owners and different names and different development teams that barely anyone knows how to manage it or use it even on the vendor’s side?
Would you pick a DAM solution without consulting your IT department first? Not a good idea.
Would you pick a DAM solution based on a game of golf with rep or sitting in a sauna with them? What does either of these have to do with selecting technology that meets your organization’s needs? Analyst Theresa Regli warns us about this. Heed that warning.
Did you really think I was going to mention one vendor? One product? One service? Seriously? No.
Be wary of any vendor (or anyone for that matter) saying they have the right solution for you without them knowing anything about your organization, the people, the technology you use, your use cases and your specific reasons for seeking a DAM solution.
Another DAM Blog 