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DAM DC Meetup group now closed

After six meetups in three years, DAM DC meetup is officially closing the week of this blog post.

We asked repeatedly DAM DC members on whether they wanted to attend, host, participate, present or suggest DAM DC meetup gatherings. Very few responses came back.

It took about year to set up and reschedule the DAM DC meetup at Discovery. Some believed it was a matter of people unable to follow up or top this venue. This was a competition. It was not about the ratings which were a respectful 4 stars out of 5 every time.

I decided to measure the data on the next set of three meetups and have the data decide the fate of the DAM DC meetup group. To do so, I held three informal DAM DC meetups in March 2012 located in different locations. The data gathered would be quite simple: Measure attendance (or lack of)

  • March 1, 2012 at 6:30 PM in Washington DC: 2 people
  • March 15, 2012 at 6:00 PM in Virginia: 4 people
  • March 29, 2012 at 6:00 PM in Maryland: 5 people

Clearly, the single digit attendance data (which includes the author of this blog post in the total count of people attending)  shows a lack of attendance since it is not even 10% of the 72 DAM DC members. The data is clear, so DAM DC meetup is being terminated.

The few venues were interesting as were the conversations for those who participated.

The networking was helpful to most who did come to share ideas, socialize and collaborate with others. We rescheduled too often, but we were persistent as needed.

We did our best to inform and organize the DAM community locally, but the data shows local DAM DC events are not wanted.

It is a give and take. Not just take. If members do not contribute ideas for a meetup nor volunteer a location to meet nor come to the venue nor want to share ideas as a presentation, why have a meetup?

I do wish the other DAM meetups all the best since most have at least one major DAM conference in their city every year.

We are all online and that is the direction most things are turning. That trend will continue to grow. Physical venues are overrated, too repeative, and often expensive in comparison to holding an online venue. Just add bandwidth to some ideas, get organized and the online event can quickly scale to an international audience. Most are slow to grasp this concept for some odd reason.  I meet more people professionally online than at any physical venue I have attended.
I also attended a webinar late last year (2011) on my mobile device while outside and away from all buildings. I watched a presentation they were showing me from their desktop live as they spoke. Then, we collaborated and gave feedback in real time by voice (and chat) even though we were thousands of miles away from each other.

This is not new nor tomorrow’s technology. This is happening now. Webinar anyone?

The conversations around Digital Asset Management (DAM) will continue online.


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DAM Jumpstart webinar series: Get Dynamic with Digital Assets

Earley and Associates is providing a webinar series on “Get Dynamic with Digital Assets.”  A wide-range of speakers will address challenges of managing content for changing contexts and multiple delivery channels.   This series should be a great interest to anyone tracking tools and methodologies that allow relevant content to be identified and managed from creation to access.  Register for this event at http://tinyurl.com/72xrt89

This Digital Asset Management (DAM) Jumpstart webinar program on how to Get Dynamic with Digital Assets is a four-part program which runs on March 21, March 28, April 4 and April 11, 2012. Each session brings a deep perspective to the challenges of managing content for changing contexts and multiple delivery channels

  1. DAM in the Context of Content Choreography: March 21
  2. Integrating Digital and Non-Digital Content: March 28
  3. Mobilizing DAM Initiatives: April 4
  4. Video Archiving for Reuse: April 11

The author of this blog will moderate several of these webinars (3 and 4).

This webinar series is free of charge.


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Another DAM podcast interview and another book drawing

Over the course of over 80 podcasts, I was fortunate enough to interview several authors including Daniel Sieberg, the author of  “The Digital Diet: The 4-step plan to break your tech addiction and regain balance in your life”.

You can listen to Another DAM podcast interview with Daniel Sieberg.

Daniel Sieberg is donating a copy of his book to one lucky listener of our book drawing. To enter this book drawing, send an email to AnotherDAMblog@gmail.com telling me why you like Another DAM podcast and/or Another DAM blog before March 1, 2012. The winner (1) will have the book mailed to them.

Feel free to rate any of the podcasts and blog posts.

Don’t miss Another DAM podcast on Thursdays.


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Do you use a DAM Dashboard?

When we drive most vehicles, these have a dashboard with gauges telling us the important things we need to know about what is happening with the vehicle and how it is going. The dashboard may indicate speed, how much fuel is left plus warnings like temperature in case things are not going as well as they should be.

When executives want to know the status of what they are in charge of to help them make informed decisions based on the data, they could have a online dashboard with that information. This dashboard may tell them what they need to know about sales figures, units produced, project milestones reached, global growth by region or whatever information is relevant to them as it changes daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and/or annually.

Computers have dashboards as well and so do some mobile phones.

Some DAM systems have dashboards too. Sometimes these dashboards are part of the DAM system and sometimes they are extra add-ons which may measure data from other related ECM systems as well.

Why have a dashboard? Would you rather be uninformed? Do like shuffling reports or spreadsheets instead? Would you rather script your way through this data because there is some illusion that this is easier to do on a daily or weekly basis, then filter to the information needed each and every time?

Does a frequently updated (or live) presentation of the information you need to make informed decisions (based on the actual data, not gut feelings) sound more useful? Why would you not want this? Are you afraid of progress or the lack of it? Do you fear having this measured for you in useable numbers and digital charts so you can find out what is not working as well?

To paraphrase Peter Drucker, we can not manage what we do not measure and we can not measure what we do not define. If we do define what we need to measure, we can add this to dashboard, analyze the data in a clear, manageable way and make informed decisions as we watch the changes over time.

In May 2011, I gave a presentation about DAM Reporting, Measuring and Auditing at the Henry Stewart DAM Conference in New York City. I spoke about how to measure what is happening within the DAM and the power of DAM reporting. Some might think it is a really boring topic. So did I, but it was worth talking about since no one else was. It was so boring that the room for this presentation was standing room only. Not so boring I guess.

How to measure what is happening within the DAM comes down to filtering and using a dashboard. You could do that with reports with more processing and analysis. It is just more work.

Everyday, we are have more data, information and knowledge rain down on us. Managing this mountain of data is a matter of filtering to what is needed. If we are drowning in it, Clay Shirky put it best by explaining this is simply filter failure.

Being uninformed and ignorant of what is going on with your technology as well as your business is so 20th century. Filter. Analyze. Prioritize. Get a dashboard and use it to look at what the data and information says about what you define, measure and manage.