PHILIP SPIEGEL - DAM Ideas

But What About The Exceptions?

Odds are, you are trying to find ways to manage and merge metadata structure from one or many different legacy systems into a unified structure in your new DAM system.    One of the major problems can be dealing with the exceptions and most importantly not letting them command more attention or effort than they merit.   George Carlin had an old bit about catholic school students trying to find chinks in the armor around the rules of eating meat on Fridays…by the end of the joke, students are outlining all sorts of crazy scenarios including one that has them on a boat, on the pacific, about to cross the international date line and trying to figure out what to do.  

 

The point is that THERE ARE ALWAYS GOING TO BE EXCEPTIONS.   Be at peace with this reality and then move on.  The focus should be designing a metadata structure and strategy that can effectively address the RULES and have the capacity to manage, support and attend to the EXCEPTIONS. 

 

This is almost a mantra and something that you need to continually remind yourself of throughout the design process in order to remain on track. It’s just too easy and frankly too human to get sidetracked into the weeds on a major tangent because someone or some group involved in the discussion has proclaimed the need of the exception paramount.    

 

Ask yourself, is this something that most users will need and if so how often?   What are the risks of moving away from this?  Will this be available in some way and be searchable?  Will there be the capacity within the new structure to address most of the need going forward?  Will there be a new way to retrieve the exception info in different way?  Remember, you DAM isn’t a digital replica of your old systems and workflow…there may be new ways to service less common needs or they may be usurped by the way the new tools deliver and report on their assets and data. 

 

Design and create support for the rules, build in the capacity for the exceptions and make everything flexible enough to evolve as things change…and trust me, they will.

Snowballs in June?

Let’s go back to that metadata snowball I hinted at a few posts ago. 

 

In my previous experiences, I have been involved in efforts to centralize the capture of metadata in one place to be a resource for everyone to use.  The diverse aspects of the entire metadata record aren’t entered at once.  Instead, it all starts at the beginning of the processing workflow as a small core set of metadata about the asset…ideally this has been captured at the creation source or shortly after that or by parties connected to the origination as to be able to supply the most relevant information.  This core record should never need to be re-entered by other groups anywhere else along the workflow into the same data repository and any other database.  Instead, this becomes the core of the metadata snowball that rolls down thru workflow gathering additional metadata such as rights, search cataloguing, production and distribution info, etc. 

 

This snowball effect of starting with a small amount of information and building a large, rich (and accurate) data record is an efficient way to reduce inaccuracies and inconsistencies.  The days of different departments keeping different versions of the same data in separate places has to end.  There should be one pool…one resource…always.

 

With the snowball, I don’t need to know everything about something to start as long as know the basic information then we can add to the record and expand on the information to completeness later.   This adding of information compartmentalizes the process and reduces the organizational burden to the groups involved.  There responsibility in this data assembly line is to be the masters of their area of expertise and apply the additional information to the metadata moving thru their part of the assembly line not to manage redundant synchronization of information as it passes thru their world.

 

But what about user generated content? How could this model be used with the same standardization and controls in the metadata?   It seems to me that the upload process must include a required data set from the user that is including the same controls for internal processing.  For example, sports leagues have tightly defined structures and metadata sets..players, teams, leagues, various stats, etc.  These pre-defined variables can be preprogrammed into the controlled lists and be part of the required data for the UGC upload. 

 

The challenge here is to tap into the power of information that can be gained from this efficiency and from the knowledge base from the UG stream….we need to create tools to make this easy.  Don’t build a snow fort and dodge the snowballs, set them loose on a hillside and see what you get.

You Have The Right To….

Wait.  I’ll check with the legal department to find out whether or not you can use that asset and get back to you. 

 

We are all excited about digitizing our assets, repurposing, monetizing and all the other benefits of a good DAM system.   However, the one thing that can go missing is the lack of focus on Rights Information Management (RIM).  Rights get no respect, and frankly why should it?  For content managers, producers, researchers, artists, designers, etc.  Rights are a big buzz kill.  

 

But how do you extrapolate and communicate the accurate rights for a particular asset (i.e. A photo or video image) in a timely manner that doesn’t rely on each user having a legal degree or a legal team to dissect?  Rights info management is a three-dimensional puzzle.  In some instances it may be enough to have the ownership information covered but for many it’s about that along with the rights pertaining to the materials with the asset or within the context of the creation of that asset.  You can’t always rely on, “we own that” and then relicense.

 

At last weeks DAM conference in NY there was only one session that focused on rights metadata management and it was slotted for the last hour of the last day of the conference (proving that it’s the Rodney Dangerfield of DAM metadata).   I expect that many DAMsters will be having the AHA! moment in the near future as they start making their assets readily available and then start getting questions like “hey …can I use that image in a …”  How will they answer? Will they even know the answer? 

 

The DAM NY session outlined some of the efforts to create a rights standard within PRISM and also gave some great examples of the non-technical challenge the Rights issue presents.  It seems to me that there are a couple of realities to confront.  Content is most likely be produced faster than rights can be vetted and finalized so there need to be ways to assure that the Rights info is captured as close to the creation as possible. Also, content from existing archives will require documentation review to assess for current markets and distribution channels that didn’t exist during the original production.  All of this review needs to be distilled into a small and manageable set of metadata that communicates the state of rights with out leading to misinterpretation or liability, and some but maybe not all of this info needs to travel with the asset throughout out its lifecycle and beyond.

 

Lastly, Rights information needs to be taken into account when planning on a DAM workflow…why do all the work of digitizing, etc if turns out you can’t use it again.  Rights need to get some respect and move further up the food chain before all we have are faster ways of finding the great assets in our collections that we can’t use.

I'm in a New York state of mind...

as I finalize my presentation for the upcoming DAM conference in NYC next week.  I'm going to be speaking on June 2nd about metadata strategy and implementing an effective operation around the business and tech needs of a DAM.

I'm interested in the generally non-technical challenges of strategic planning to operationalize DAM.  This includes the metadata nuts and bolts of taxonomy structure, language and style rules, data entry, governance, administration and user access.  Success comes from matching good technology with good process.  You want to get the most from the tools at hand but its not JUST about the tools...its about the how's and why's and most importantly toward what end...its about results.  I think this gets lost in the sauce but its critical.  

I'm looking forward to the trip north.  Beyond the excitement of returning to my native NY, having a real bagel and a couple of slices of authentic pizza, I'm looking forward to being fully immersed in a topic of great interest.  I'll let you know how it goes.

What's the Incentive?

I've made the case that critical metadata captured early in the content creation process (as early as possible) is ideal if not critical.  In the film / video / photo world that means at the shoot, on set, in the field, etc.

But how does a media organization incentivize those involved to embrace this ideal?

Let's start with harshest incentive first.  The proper capture and delivery of accurate, critical foundation metadata about an asset is a production deliverable and a contingency of payment for work done. There is no payment for services rendered unless this requirement is met and / or you incur a penalty of some percentage off the total owed to offset the additional time and costs for internal resources to get this information together.  If going back after the fact to gather this info is not an option then a fee is applied to offset the loss of value that not having this data causes to the content overall. 

A more diplomatic approach would be to find ways to implement tools into the process so that the task of gathering this metadata is as painless as to not be an encumbrance.  Removing any excuses of why it can't be done from the table then shifts the discussion to how it can be done, by who and what is the most efficient and effective way.  That is ultimately the focus of the discussion that has to happen anyway.  This is a partnership and the capture / creation of an asset is only the first of many steps in the assets life-cycle.

In the stock footage world you could impress on the suppliers that the better organized the content the faster it went through the internal pipeline and out to market. Simply put...You'll have the potential to earn more money sooner.  It's a powerful motivator.  The strategy needs to continue to be shaped around the understanding that there is mutual benefit in this effort and everyone wins.  The discussion shouldn't be about why it can't be done it should be around what's the smartest way it can.