To enter this book giveway, email the podcast host with a one-paragraph summary on what this book is about (from the podcast transcript) by no later than August 24, 2014.
A random drawing of the email submissions after this date will award one lucky winner this book. The book will be shipped directly by the author. You could even ask for the book to be autographed and personalized by the author himself, Tobias Blanke.
We would not have to wait an entire year for the few annual conferences to roll in for a couple days to network with the best in the field. It has become very clear that New York City is the DAM Capital of the world. No other area in the world has more DAM professionals and no other city has more people showing up to DAM specific events than New York City.
In January 2013, the author joined as a Co-Organizer to setup monthly Meetups for the Digital Asset Management community.
We doubled our membership from 300 members back in February 2013 to 600 members in January 2014.
Great content consisting of panel discussions and speakers
Connecting with many like minded professionals willing to speak and share their experiences.
Scheduling events after work on weekdays
Using a model inclusion, not exclusion. We have rivals sitting next to each other and we are all okay with that. Interested students and job seekers are welcomed just like seasoned professionals.
Looking at multiple perspectives across many sectors, not just one.
Looking at the real world successes and challenges from the field of DAM. No unicorns and rainbows here.
Having a lots of networking opportunities in person.
Purposefully maintaining zero budget.
Having great organizations to host our events.
Maintaining free membership and free attendance to any NYC DAM Meetup. Just RSVP and show up.
In May 2013, we got sponsorships to video recording all of our speaking sessions going forward so these could be posted on a YouTube channel for the global DAM community to watch afterward.
Oh, I almost forgot… commitment, dedication and hard work. All of the NYC DAM Meetup Organizers do this on their limited spare time as volunteers to benefit their professional community.
You are not alone in the DAM world. It is just a matter of connecting with other professionals.
You may have read my call for a DAM Glossary from February 2013. Recently, Ralph Windsor started http://damglossary.org using a previously existing DAM Glossary. This publicly available website has no sponsors, is freely available, is as vendor neutral as we can hope for and allows users to append to this DAM Glossary (after registering). But the DAM Glossary is not yet complete. There are plenty of words, terms and definitions still missing. In order for the DAM community to benefit from this DAM glossary, we need to append these to the DAM Glossary.
Append those missing words, terms and definitions
Now the DAM community needs your help to append this DAM glossary with all the missing DAM words and their respective definitions. Look at it and see which words/terms are missing. Earlier, I found a few terms missing off the top of my head, such as:
Rendition (not the CIA’s version)
SAAS
Transformation (not related to that movie with similar title)
You may find other missing words/terms and other respective definitions in a vendor neutral sense. All you need to do is register on http://damglossary.org/register and apply the missing acronyms, definitions and words
Why should we append the DAM Glossary?
Several vendors (you know who you are) use special words regularly in their marketing, instruction, consulting and user interface. When you ask for a glossary of terms with definitions, it rarely includes all those super special words they use. If you were to ask three people who work for the same vendor for the definition of a particular word, you may get more than three different definitions. Some vendors themselves have not yet defined these special words in writing internally, but use them externally. Not only is this unacceptable, but this confusion propagates fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) in the DAM community and market itself.
Enough. If we are going to listen to or use special DAM words/terms/acronyms to explain functionality and tools in the DAM space, these better be defined either in the common dictionary or in damglossary.org. If it isn’t, point it out and ask for a written definition to be shared. Then have it shared with everyone on damglossary.org. That way we will not have to guess nor ask constantly what does that [frustrated] word mean and why does everyone we ask have a [completely] different definition for it.
Start appending the DAM Glossary for the sake of clarity, consistency, transparency and knowledge sharing throughout the global DAM Community.
After listening to a recent webinar, I recall a few people asking me where they could find some Digital Asset Management (DAM) Integrators and implementers. You can find a few lists for DAM vendors (175+), including ratings, functionalities and other various offerings. However, when it comes to finding a matrix of all DAM vendors match up with X number of implementers and Y number of Integrators who can work well together, the search results happen to be ZERO (at least at the time this blog post was written). This could be be a dynamic matrix available online since there are so many choices to mix and match. To some organizations, this may be like pairing apples, berries and oranges depending partly on technologies, but in the end you still want a good fruit salad (a bunch of systems working well together as prescribed).
There are often a bunch of choices, but not clearly nor easily found. Some organizations limit those choices based on location (close proximity) or culture (part of that fit) rather than simply budget alone. Creating such as a list or matrix would require a fair amount of collaboration and transparency across vendors, both large and small. While some in the DAM space are interested in their users ability to collaborate on projects within systems, it would great to see them work together in a more transparent manner. Time will tell if that will happen, just like the call for a comprehensive DAM Glossary across the DAM market. It will likely start as another list of players (vendors, implementers and integrators) who are paid to be listed as they are sometimes are (this is called “pay to play”).
Maybe someone will make this list/matrix freely available to everyone to help the DAM community connect more easily and help the DAM market grow faster than 30% a year.
Until such a comprehensive list or matrix exists, you will still need to prioritize what will happen in each phase of your DAM solution without restricting next functions/requests/uses in future phases:
Many times, your best move is:
1. Pick the DAM vendor from a short list of DAM vendors which have systems that fit your organization’s business, creative and technical needs. Ask to speak to each of their current DAM customers. Keep in mind your:
People: buy-in from potential users, if you actually want user adoption. It is not just about the business or technical perspective.
Processes: workflows today and future theoretical workflows in writing (part of an organization’s internal research that should happen first)
Technology: basic (which often starts as folder structures and file naming conventions) to overcomplicated technology (which are rarely adaptable, functional, interoperable, scalable and user friendly, all at the same time. These could involve sets of not-so-stable, merged legacy systems and/or complete silos).
Information: most forgotten part of the DAM which enables search. Your DAM is only as good as its metadata. Does your metadata enable the needed search results?
2. Implementation: Ask those short listed vendors for recommended implementers (some vendors can implement their own systems while others do not, by choice). Be sure they can meet your needs, timeline and budget. Vet them as well and ask to speak with a few of their existing or previous clients.
3. Integration: Figure what other systems are going to be integrating with the DAM. Be sure the API or Web services for integration is both available and clearly documented by the vendors in question with an SDK. If documentation is not readily available (or outdated), expect delays on figuring out what is specifically needed, measurable, acceptable, actionable, realistic, time-based and thoroughly tested. If you do not vet your integrator, you could be the guinea pig client. Ask to speak with a few of their existing or previous clients.
If you need help with this, ask a vendor neutral DAM consultant. This way, you will get unbiased advice and they will not try to fit your square pegs (your existing needs) in round holes (sometimes called “preferred“ vendors).
Where is your list of Digital Asset Management Integrators and implementers?
Let us know when you are ready for some vendor neutral consulting on Digital Asset Management.
Another DAM Blog 