Digital Asset Management News » Taxonomy And Metadata

The History Of Classification

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:04:01 +0000

Christine Connors, writing on the TriviumRLG blog has written a brief history of classification. This paragraph about the history of taxonomies in the enterprise stood out specifically for me: “Taxonomies in the enterprise reach back further than one thinks, but became known to researchers in 1858 when the NY Times began its index to the newspaper. [...]

The History Of Classification is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Enterprise Metadata & Taxonomies

Nick Brookes — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:19:14 +0000

Earley and Associates have published a blog post last week on Metadata and Taxonomies: “Business makes extensive use of taxonomy and metadata in a variety of scenarios including accounting, databases and inter/intra-net based applications to provide structure and organize information. All this is normal and straightforward. Chaos arises, however, when a business manager or executive [...]

Enterprise Metadata & Taxonomies is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

The Embedded Metadata Manifesto: Proper Industry Recognition For The Value Of Embedded Metadata At Last?

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:34:38 +0000

This was covered on David Rieck’s Controlled Vocabulary group. The Embedded Metadata Manifesto discusses 5 key principles for using and creating embedded metadata and is aimed at both intellectual property originators (creators of assets like photographers, film makers etc), tool developers (i.e. DAM vendors) and end users. The following is a rough summary: Anyone involved [...]

The Embedded Metadata Manifesto: Proper Industry Recognition For The Value Of Embedded Metadata At Last? is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Key Themes From Taxonomy Bootcamp

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:01:22 +0000

The Taxonomy Blog covers a report of the Taxonomy Bootcamp which was apparently compiled from tweets rather than attending the event. In “What next, taxonomy?” the authors discuss 5 key themes and questions that were discussed at length during the conference: Centralised taxonomies don’t scale. Think federated and allow localised modifications. Does social media have [...]

Key Themes From Taxonomy Bootcamp is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Matroska Multimedia Container Format

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:03:12 +0000

This was posted on the Controlled Vocabulary list that metadata expert, David Riecks manages. Matroska is a new open standard container format for multimedia files. Many readers will be aware of container formats for video, like QuickTime or AVI etc. Matroska can be used to hold metadata, including ‘time line’ metadata such as DVD chapters: Fast seeking in [...]

Matroska Multimedia Container Format is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Metadata Strategies Used By The BBC: Are Asset Value Judgements A Potential Source Of Conflict For DAM End Users?

Naresh Sarwan — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:59:44 +0000

SearchDataManagement.co.uk has an interview with Mike Gunton, Executive Director of The BBC’s Natural History Unit where he describes the rationale behind the corporation’s Digital Media Initiative (DMI) which is at the core of its Digital Asset Management strategy. Unsurprisingly, the natural history unit’s metadata and archival requirements are ‘at the extreme end’ (i.e. demanding) and have lead the [...]

Metadata Strategies Used By The BBC: Are Asset Value Judgements A Potential Source Of Conflict For DAM End Users? is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

The Popularisation Of Taxonomies

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:51:12 +0000

Darin Stewart, writing on the Gartner blog discusses the ongoing rise in the popularity of taxonomies, in “It’s time for taxonomy“: “In the early days, my audiences consisted mostly of library science refugees seeking shelter in corporate IT departments. I considered myself lucky if there were a dozen people in the room. Last week I [...]

“Free Your Metadata” Site Aims To Release Value From Imperfect Metadata

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:03:13 +0000

Ruben Verborgh and Seth van Hooland of Free University Brussels (ULB) have launched a demonstration site based on Google Refine that aims to show irregular or imperfect metadata can become more valuable even if released rather than holding on to it in order to ‘perfect’ the data. They are interviewed in the “Fresh & Newer” section [...]

“Free Your Metadata” Site Aims To Release Value From Imperfect Metadata is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Makx Dekkers Interview: The Impact Of DMCI Over The Last 10 Years

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:35:05 +0000

Makx Dekkers, outgoing Managing Director of DCMI (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative) is interviewed by Friedel Grant in this piece from DublinCore.org site. It’s interesting to note how DMCI (once a relatively obscure standard only used by public sector organisations) has expanded into a much wider and more encompassing role: “In the more traditional metadata world, Dublin [...]

Makx Dekkers Interview: The Impact Of DMCI Over The Last 10 Years is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Obtaining Knowledge From Corporate Information

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:32:39 +0000

Earley Associates have written a two part article for CIO Update: “Transforming Information into Knowledge“. The piece describes a 7 stage ‘recipe’ for breaking down the complex issue of converting disparate sources of corporate information into knowledge (i.e. information which can be acted upon). The stages are Choose a single process in a given department [...]

Obtaining Knowledge From Corporate Information is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Metadata To Be “Taken Seriously” At IBC – But Still No Universal Standard For The Whole Video Content Lifecycle

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:56:42 +0000

Philip Hunter, writing for Broadcast Engineering yesterday, discusses how metadata is likely to be more significant at the forthcoming IBC (International Broadcasting Convention) in the Netherlands in September. He notes that the majority of metadata activity is associated with Media Asset Management (or Video DAM as some of our readers would describe it). As the [...]

Metadata To Be “Taken Seriously” At IBC – But Still No Universal Standard For The Whole Video Content Lifecycle is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Photo Stats Gets Graphic With EXIF

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:45:07 +0000

iPhone software vendor, Dear Future Astronaut AB, have recently released Photo Stats - an app that converts EXIF data from photos taken and stored on users’ iPhones. Although gimmicky, this creative use of EXIF data may perhaps have some practical, real-world uses for digital asset management or similar systems, such as providing instantly legible statistics on otherwise highly [...]

Photo Stats Gets Graphic With EXIF is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Taxonomy – Is It Rocket Science?

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:30:39 +0000

In this interview, Sarah Berndt, NASA Johnson Space Center Taxonomist & DB Consulting Group, Inc., explains how taxonomy is crucial for successful digital asset management and describes the exciting range of subject matter she encounters working as a metadata consultant for NASA. “Taxonomy is fundamental to each stage of Digital Asset Management as it provides a centralized [...]

Taxonomy – Is It Rocket Science? is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

5 Methods To Improve Searching In DAM Systems

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:36:25 +0000

One of our featured DAM vendors, Web DAM Solutions have written an article on some methods for improving searches in DAM systems. The techniques discussed are: Using folder structures Having a Controlled Vocabulary Allowing file names to be searchable Establishing a metadata discovery process Using camera settings (especially checking time stamps) “In digital asset management, [...]

5 Methods To Improve Searching In DAM Systems is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

XMP Poised To Be A “Huge Success”

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:31:39 +0000

Kas Thomas, writing on his assertTrue() blog discusses the XMP embedded metadata standard and contends that it is likely to be come ubiquitous and widely adopted due to its inclusion in consumer content generation devices like cell phone cameras. He also cites its adoption as an ISO standard (ISO/DIS 16684-1) as further evidence that XMP will acquire [...]

XMP Poised To Be A “Huge Success” is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Image Metadata Handbook Released

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:00:33 +0000

European picture agency organisation (CEPIC) has teamed up with the IPTC to produce a new handbook of standards for image metadata. The handbook, which will be launched at the CEPIC Congress in Istanbul, Turkey on 20th May 2011, provides readers with a legal framework for metadata use, reference charts on the use of core and extension fields [...]

Image Metadata Handbook Released is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Free Data Services From The British Library

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 08:00:43 +0000

As part of its initiative to open its metadata for wider use beyond the UK library community, the British Library is offering free data services via access to the Library’s full Integrated Catalogue and the British National Bibliography Z39.50 databases and corresponding datasets (for research purposes only). “Access to either the British Library’s full Integrated [...]

Free Data Services From The British Library is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Why Metadata Matters

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:00:02 +0000

In this article, Mac Slocum outlines why metadata is so vital to the user experience in his critique of the popular ‘ShowYou’ iPad video app. “The area where metadata is most important, however, is video. That content is locked within formats that are generally inaccessible to search spiders and aggregation bots. There’s no way to know [...]

Why Metadata Matters is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

DAM Metadata Strategies For Marketing Managers

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:12:55 +0000

It seems that metadata remains a hot topic in DAM at the moment. One of our featured Open Source DAM Vendors, Daydream have released an updated white paper entitled: ”Metadata Management Strategies for Marketing Based Digital Asset Management”. The report is issued by a vendor so comes with the usual spin warning, but they seem to [...]

DAM Metadata Strategies For Marketing Managers is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

The Risks Of Low Quality Automated Metadata Indexing

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:11:59 +0000

Writing on the Archive Media Partners blog, Kim Schroeder discusses the issues that can result from trying to use automated indexing or low-quality human resources who lack an understanding of the nuances of the subject matter. She points out that the cost savings that these alternatives claim to offer are illusory and the costs of [...]

The Risks Of Low Quality Automated Metadata Indexing is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Magnum Photos Use Mechanical Turk To Tag Images

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:00:56 +0000

Prestigious photo agency, Magnum Photos, has teamed up with New York start-up Tagasauris to harness the facilities of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk services to revamp their image metadata, it was revealed recently. The venture significantly reduces the labour-intensive overhead that metadata entry incurs by farming out the task to the enormous pool of labour available worldwide via [...]

Magnum Photos Use Mechanical Turk To Tag Images is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

DAM Systems: No Substitute For Human Metadata Cataloguing

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:20:03 +0000

Writing on the Archive Media Partners blog, Margie Friant critiques those DAM vendors who claim that their software can replace manual tagging carried out by human indexers: “Isn’t it about time that we, as a profession, sell our abilities as well as the DAM system vendors sell their systems? After all, we’ve been proven vastly [...]

DAM Systems: No Substitute For Human Metadata Cataloguing is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Content Analysis: Tactical Alternatives To A Full Information Audit

Naresh Sarwan — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:08:26 +0000

Kate Simpson, writing on FUMSI discusses a tactical alternative to a full information audit using Content Analysis to define the ‘landscape’ of the content in an existing repository that requires optimisation. She identifies four key areas for a summary Content Analysis exercise: The ‘As Is’ Landscape Content and Usage Metrics Quality Evaluation Content Analysis Report/Summary [...]

Content Analysis: Tactical Alternatives To A Full Information Audit is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Metadata Is A “Necessity” For Publishers

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:57:00 +0000

Jenn Webb has an interview with Laura Dawson, Chief of Content at Firebrand Technologies on the O’Reilly Radar site. Laura explains how she sees metadata as an essential tool for publishers in order to gain competitive advantage: “Rather than groaning about how maintaining good metadata is a chore, publishers should instead look at metadata as [...]

Metadata Is A “Necessity” For Publishers is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Guidelines For Handling Image Metadata

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:30:01 +0000

The Metadata Working Group which counts Adobe, Nokia, Sony, Apple and Microsoft amongst its number has recently published an updated set of guidelines for handling image metadata: “Consumer sharing of still images has exploded with the maturing of Internet services for the storage, manipulation, and sharing of pictures. However, the majority of standards related to [...]

Guidelines For Handling Image Metadata is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Image SEO: Why Google, Yahoo And Bing Don’t Care About Your Embedded Metadata

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:51:39 +0000

Photo metadata and controlled vocabularies guru, David Riecks has written an article on why search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo ignore embedded metadata and, as such, advice that you might read about including it for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) purposes is essentially wrong: “It is possible to read metadata that is contained in [...]

Image SEO: Why Google, Yahoo And Bing Don’t Care About Your Embedded Metadata is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

12 Myths About Embedded Photo Metadata

Naresh Sarwan — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:12:51 +0000

David Riecks, Richard Wagner, Bob Stromberg and other contributors to the Controlled Vocabulary forum have compiled their 12 top myths about embedded metadata: Embedded photo metadata is something that is hard to read unless you have Photoshop or some other professional software application. If I embed my copyright (or caption or keywords, or other metadata [...]

12 Myths About Embedded Photo Metadata is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

What Is EXIF Data On Digital Photos?

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:50:11 +0000

Ken Colburn writing for the East Valley Tribune describes EXIF data in layman’s terms and explains what kind of information may be held about photos. In particular, the question of whether EXIF data can be used to determine where a photo was taken is discussed: “In the case of photographic images, the EXIF data can [...]

What Is EXIF Data On Digital Photos? is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Modern Uses For Taxonomies In The Context Of IT Solutions

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 09:02:44 +0000

In their continuing “eTaxonomy” series, Earley associates consider areas where taxonomies (and the information science theory behind them) have been integrated into IT solutions: Search Document and Records Management Content Management Digital Asset Management Ecommerce Marketing Campaign Management This is taken from their Digital Asset Management entry: “We are seeing many new tools and techniques [...]

Modern Uses For Taxonomies In The Context Of IT Solutions is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Taxonomy Creation And Management Software Overview

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 07:00:00 +0000

Heather Hedden, author of The Accidental Taxonomist has written an overview of the software tools available for developing taxonomies for FUMSI.com. She covers six main categories: Software Not Designed for Creating Taxonomies Thesaurus Software Single-User Desktop Thesaurus Software Free and Open Source Software Other Software with Taxonomy Management Components “Taxonomies are useful tools for bringing [...]

Taxonomy Creation And Management Software Overview is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Controlled Vocabularies: Adding Meaning To Search

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:45:32 +0000

In this article, Sarah Saunders of Electric Lane discusses the need for Controlled Vocabularies in addition to text search systems that rely solely on user keywords: “The problem anyone keyboarding images faces is this. Language is a wonderful, expressive tool for communication, there are many ways to say the same thing, and words often have [...]

Controlled Vocabularies: Adding Meaning To Search is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Tips On Organised Folder Structures For Digital Asset Management

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 10:26:33 +0000

An article by Jim Kidwell on the Extensis blog discusses five tips for setting up an organised folder structure for those DAMs that use this metaphor: Understand the consequences of spaces and underscores at the beginning of folder names. Use folders as a way of applying keyword. Avoid ambiguous and potentially redundant folders. Create a [...]

Tips On Organised Folder Structures For Digital Asset Management is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

UK’s PA Accidentally Uses Concentration Camp Image To Accompany “Train Rage” Article

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:43:57 +0000

The UK’s Press Association (PA) last week illustrated the dangers of using inadequately catalogued stock photography. The Cambridge News covered a story about “Train Rage” which had been provided by the PA. They had inadvertently chosen an image of the train tracks that lead up to the gates of Auschwitz to accompany the article. This [...]

UK’s PA Accidentally Uses Concentration Camp Image To Accompany “Train Rage” Article is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Facebook’s Photo Sharing (Also) Fails To Preserve Photo Metadata

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:18:12 +0000

Another example of social media websites taking a blasé attitude to embedded metadata is Facebook’s new photo sharing platform. As reported on the Photometadata blog: “In addition, while the images that can be viewed online are now up to 720 pixels on the long dimension, they are still being “stripped” of all IPTC, XMP, and [...]

Facebook’s Photo Sharing (Also) Fails To Preserve Photo Metadata is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

The Future Of Book Indexing: Cloud Vs Algorithm

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:38:33 +0000

Seth Maislin writing on the Earley Associates blog discusses the role of indexing (for books and publications) and how a ‘Cloud’ based approach where end users contribute to produce the index may provide a method for publishers to continue to index titles. He also considers how manual indexing is disappearing in favour of automated metadata [...]

The Future Of Book Indexing: Cloud Vs Algorithm is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Controlled Vocabularies Compared With Full Text Search

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:19:51 +0000

Lesley Mackenzie-Robb, writing on vantaggio-learn.com compares free text searching and controlled vocabularies. She makes the point that while Controlled Vocabularies should theoretically provide an enhanced search experience because they offer the user a more focussed and subject oriented range of options to narrow searches, there is subjectivity involved in the selection of the tags and [...]

Controlled Vocabularies Compared With Full Text Search is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Keywording: Mundane But Essential For Effective Digital Asset Management

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:50:48 +0000

Matt Brandon, writing on The Digital Trekker blog describes how keywording (adding tags, descriptions and other metadata to assets) is a mundane but essential task – especially for photographers who need to sell images: “For some of you, this is not very important, all you need to do is keyword an image so you can [...]

Keywording: Mundane But Essential For Effective Digital Asset Management is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Introduction to Ontology Course

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:03:42 +0000

Barry Smith, from Buffalo University has produced this free course: “Introduction to Ontology: From Aristotle to the Universal Core“. The course is aimed at those with an information science or philosophy background and covers a number of topics: Ontology as a Branch of Philosophy Ontology and Logic The Ontology of Social Reality Why I Am [...]

Introduction to Ontology Course is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Keeping Your Eyes On The Metadata Prize: Meaningful, Interoperable Information

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:23:24 +0000

In this article, Mike Bergman discusses how linked metadata can hinder the ultimate goal of metadata management - namely meaningful, interoperable information - if it is made an objective in itself. “Linked data is a good thing, but not an ultimate thing. By making linked data an objective in itself we unduly raise publishing thresholds; we set [...]

Keeping Your Eyes On The Metadata Prize: Meaningful, Interoperable Information is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

The Vocabulary Mapping Framework Project

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:35:24 +0000

Metadata vocabularies are becoming increasingly complex, granular and multi-faceted – nowhere more so than preservation and heritage oriented archives which typically catalogue a much greater amount of information about assets and artefacts than business oriented DAMs. While extending the depth of cataloguing data helps to provide an enhanced range of search and retrieval mechanisms for [...]

The Vocabulary Mapping Framework Project is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Using Classification Analysis To Develop Taxonomies

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:00:47 +0000

The Taxonomy Blog has recently published an article: “Skills Of A Classy Taxonomist” which discusses the role classification analysis has in developing a taxonomy. The authors compare this to writing a specification and describe three key benefits of this approach: Clarify specific terms by situation or functions Ease long term maintenance issues Facilitate sharing and [...]

Using Classification Analysis To Develop Taxonomies is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Managing The Information Gap With Taxonomies

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 08:40:23 +0000

In this article on the answermaven.com blog, Constance Ard considers the consequences of “The Information Gap” – a conceptual term used to refer to the difference between information creation and use: “Taxonomies are just one component of good content management. And content management is only a single component of knowledge management. There are many good [...]

Managing The Information Gap With Taxonomies is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Microstock Descriptions: Lessons For Enterprise DAM?

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:14:14 +0000

Russell Glenister, writing on the whichstockagency.com blog describes some of the less than enlightening descriptions that microstock photos often have applied to them: “First, let us take a brief look at bad keywording and descriptions because, although it’s a problem for microstock companies as they insist their contributors post their own descriptions and keywords (few [...]

Microstock Descriptions: Lessons For Enterprise DAM? is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Taxonomy Boot Camp 2010: November 15-16, Washington DC

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:11:19 +0000

Taxonomy Bootcamp on 15-16th November 2010 in Washington DC promises a series of in-depth sessions about how to design and use taxonomies effectively. The topics covered include: Creating and implementing successful taxonomies Enhancing your information infrastructure with the right taxonomy Taxonomy design concepts and strategies New technologies & tools and where the market is headed [...]

Taxonomy Boot Camp 2010: November 15-16, Washington DC is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Tips for Designing Taxonomies

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:56:01 +0000

Writing on the Zylab blog, Johannes Scholtes offers 6 practical tips for designing taxonomies. As Johannes points out in the introduction: “…the role of taxonomy is becoming increasingly important to the complete search experience as well as the automatic classification of documents in various applications.” [Read More] The tips include: Use a Dynamic Taxonomy. Use [...]

Tips for Designing Taxonomies is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

IPTC-PLUS Toolkit Released

Nick Brookes — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:00:31 +0000

The IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) and PLUS (Picture Licensing Univeral System) have a released a free Adobe Bridge plugin which allows users to view and edit the full set of IPTC Core, IPTC Extension and PLUS metadata frameworks. The toolkit includes: A comprehensive User Guide for both schemas. A plug-in IPTC-PLUS Metadata Panel for [...]

IPTC-PLUS Toolkit Released is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

The GoodRelations Ontology

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:06:43 +0000

Writing in the Taxonomy Blog, Marlene Rockmore considers whether the GoodRelations retail ontology developed by Martin Hepp is possibly a “Game Changer” (yes, another one). Marlene discusses a case study with retailer best buy: “GoodRelations is a retail ontology, which offers facets or classes, metadata descriptions and attributes that are common in the retail industry. [...]

The GoodRelations Ontology is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Aperture 3 Removes IPTC Extension And PLUS Embedded Metadata

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:25:09 +0000

As reported by David Riecks on ControlledVocabulary.com Apple’s Aperture 3 does not preserve IPTC Extension and PLUS embedded metadata from PhotoShop files: “IPTC Extension and PLUS metadata does not survive a round-trip through Aperture 3. I had tested this previously with Photoshop CS5 beta, but as that product had not been publicly released, I decided [...]

Aperture 3 Removes IPTC Extension And PLUS Embedded Metadata is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Metadata Management: The Future Is All About Machines & Users

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:04:00 +0000

In “Cyborg Metadata“, Matt Moore of Innotecture proposes that in the future, metadata will increasingly be managed by machines and users rather than subject experts or information architecture specialists. The abstract is below: “Traditionally, metadata has been managed by experts. This article suggests that in the future, metadata management will involve far greater input from [...]

Metadata Management: The Future Is All About Machines & Users is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

3Play Launches Transcript Plugin

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:00:11 +0000

Transcription specialist, 3Play Media, have announced the availability of a plug-in which links a transcript of the text of a video to spoken word footage. The timeline can be searched for occurrences of a given term either across a single video or an entire library: “Installing an interactive transcript plugin on your website allows your [...]

3Play Launches Transcript Plugin is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Why Master Data Management (MDM) Matters

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:38:50 +0000

In this post, Phil Simon explains the significance of Master Data Management (MDM), the process of assigning reference data that can be used to correlate and aggregate information across multiple enterprises repositories: “Many large organizations have long been hamstrung by redundant or mismatched data sitting in silos, making analyses of customers and employees much more [...]

Why Master Data Management (MDM) Matters is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Google Metadata Stripping Controversy

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:00:16 +0000

Following the revelation that Facebook, Flickr and other social media sites routinely strip embedded metadata from images, it has been revealed that Google does the same from thumbnails in image searches. Gunar Penikis, formerly of Adobe and leader of the OpenSAMSN project makes this point in a recent blog entry: “Google can maintain metadata within [...]

Google Metadata Stripping Controversy is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Information Architecture Classification Schemes: Deciding When To Use Them

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:12:09 +0000

In this article on the Ux Booth blog, Donna Spencer outlines a number of different classification schemes that are commonly encountered in Information Architecture (IA) designs when used for content delivery: “When you do information architecture work you’ll realize that most sets of content can be organized in more than one way. One of the [...]

Information Architecture Classification Schemes: Deciding When To Use Them is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

How Taxonomy Can Improve Search

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:00:39 +0000

Continuing his “8 Things” theme, John Mancini, president of AIIM presents “8 Things You Need to Know About How Taxonomy Can Improve Search” by guest blogger, Heather Hedden from Earley Associates. The 8 points are: Retrieve Matched Concepts, Not Just Words. Leverage Metadata Enhance Web Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Support Browsing though Hierarchies. Support Faceted [...]

How Taxonomy Can Improve Search is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Content Migration: Should “Be Treated Like a Real Project”

Naresh Sarwan — Fri, 14 May 2010 06:30:32 +0000

Most DAM projects require some kind of migration these days as it is becoming rarer to find implementations where at least some kind of rudimentary facility was not in place initially. In many cases, it’s worse for earlier adopters of Digital Asset Management where the potential for some obscure, unsupported or unconventional technologies and/or data [...]

Content Migration: Should “Be Treated Like a Real Project” is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

‘The Accidental Taxonomist’ Heather Hedden

Naresh Sarwan — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:30:49 +0000

A new book released this month by information management consultant Heather Hedden, titled ‘The Accidental Taxonomist’, is an ideal read “for anyone challenged to build a business case for launching a taxonomy project, someone who needs to lead a building project, or is asked to participate on a taxonomy team – this book is the [...]

‘The Accidental Taxonomist’ Heather Hedden is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

The Power Of Parametadata

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:30:31 +0000

In this article, Fran Alexander, discusses the need for ‘metadata about metadata’ and coins the term ‘parametadata’ to describe this information construct. “Parametadata (or meta-metadata) is another subset of metadata – it is the metadata about the metadata, giving its provenance, date of creation, technical specifications, etc. Once you start to think about metadata as content [...]

The Power Of Parametadata is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Is Taxonomy Still Relevant?

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 06 May 2010 07:30:10 +0000

In this article, Hanns Kohler-Kruner, Principal Consultant for HKK Consulting discusses whether taxonomy is still a relevant concept in a world where social tagging and other ‘looser’ information management approaches are commonplace. “Of course Social Tagging implies the freedom of users to use whatever terms come most naturally when adding information to objects. Objects being any piece [...]

Is Taxonomy Still Relevant? is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Are Structured Metadata and User Generated Tags Mutually Exclusive?

Naresh Sarwan — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:00:21 +0000

In this paper: Can Structured Metadata Play Nice with Tagging Systems? Joseph Dalton of the New York Public Library discusses the possibilities offered by mixing user generated tags and semi-structured metadata with more tightly defined and rigid methods of metadata classification: “This paper discusses the rationale behind NYPL’s decision to combine existing metadata – in [...]

Are Structured Metadata and User Generated Tags Mutually Exclusive? is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Rewriting History: What’s In A Name?

Naresh Sarwan — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:30:11 +0000

In this article, image metadata and keywording specialist Liisa Kaakinen discusses how contemporary ideas of political correctness are forcing some historical archives to revise their metadata to provide more palatable terms for their media assets. “…I looked over the shoulder of one of the keyworders and asked her what she was doing. She said that she [...]

Rewriting History: What’s In A Name? is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

The X Factor: Why XML Is Vital For Data Archives

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:00:46 +0000

In this article, Johannes C. Scholtes, Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of ZyLAB, explains why extensible mark-up language (XML) provides unparalleled data conversion features and highlights eight other benefits that this mark-up language can bring to data archiving initiatives. “Have you ever tried to convert 100 Gb of database, e-mail or MS-SharePoint data from an old system into a [...]

The X Factor: Why XML Is Vital For Data Archives is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Taxonomists In The Mix

Naresh Sarwan — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:30:16 +0000

In this article, Wendi Pohs discusses why taxonomists should always be included on project development teams and provides an interesting case study to illustrate her point. “Little bursts of controversy seem to occasionally erupt in the blog-o-sphere that ignite the debate about the “worth’” of taxonomy, and by extension, of taxonomists. But the debate tends [...]

Taxonomists In The Mix is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Metadata: A Costly Challenge To Systems Integration

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:30:30 +0000

Loraine Lawson on IT Business Edge discusses why metadata simultaneously adds value to sets of data but also makes it more complex to integrate different data sets. She makes the comparrison between metadata and money: “You know how they’re always comparing IT to utilities or the phone company? Well, it seems to me that metadata [...]

Metadata: A Costly Challenge To Systems Integration is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Breathing The Life Back Into Your Metadata Strategy

Helen Whitaker — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:30:40 +0000

In this article Rob Karel examines the reasons why, despite their paramount importance, so many metadata management strategies either fail or under deliver in organisations, and provides some practical steps for resuscitating a dying metadata initiative. “There’s a reason for this unfortunate trend: a large number of IT professionals know intuitively that metadata management is the right thing to do, but [...]

Breathing The Life Back Into Your Metadata Strategy is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

The Role of Taxonomy in Enterprise Architecture Webinar April 07 2010

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:00:29 +0000

On April 07, 2010 (1:00 – 2:00 EDT) Earley & Associates will host a webinar entitled “The Role of Taxonomy in Enterprise Architecture”. The webinar, which costs $50.00 to attend, will be presented by Leslie Owens (Analyst, Forrester Research) and will examine emerging trends in enterprise taxonomy and how organisations can develop enterprise architecture strategies that [...]

The Role of Taxonomy in Enterprise Architecture Webinar April 07 2010 is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

The Truth Is Out There? Taxonomy In An Open World

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:30:34 +0000

Do taxonomies work in an (open) semantic web? And how can these often isolated and rigid knowledge systems be effectively applied to a world of transient information? In this article, Fran Alexander, Taxonomy Manager at the BBC, discusses the ongoing importance of taxonomies in the management of information and how the taxonomy can be an application for [...]

The Truth Is Out There? Taxonomy In An Open World is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

YouTube Adds Auto Captioning

Naresh Sarwan — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:30:48 +0000

Last week on the YouTube blog it was announced that auto captioning will be added to videos uploaded to YouTube. Ostensibly this is to support improved accessibility to video content for the visually impaired, however, the potentially immense time (and cost) savings possible by applying this technology will be immediately obvious to anyone involved in [...]

YouTube Adds Auto Captioning is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Tools for Managing Taxonomies

Nick Brookes — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:15:18 +0000

In this post on the Earley Blog, Heather Hedden discusses various tools available for managing Taxonomies, Thesauri and Ontologies. As many DAM professionals are aware, most taxonomies tend to get developed (at least initially) with conventional desktop applications such as Excel and these are often not ideal for ongoing management: There is a need for [...]

Tools for Managing Taxonomies is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

OpenSAMSN – Strongly Attached Metadata with Semantic Namespaces

Nick Brookes — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:30:09 +0000

Strongly Attached Metadata with Semantic Namespaces (SAMSN) is an initiative to standardise metadata frameworks and use embedded metadata standards like XMP to more closely link metadata back to an original asset in the same manner as barcodes do for physical goods. Gunar Penekis is a leading advocate of SAMSN and explains the basics in his [...]

OpenSAMSN – Strongly Attached Metadata with Semantic Namespaces is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Bueda Semantic Analysis Engine

Naresh Sarwan — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:30:51 +0000

The Bueda Semantic Analysis Engine claims to be able to translate user tags into categories, ontologies and structured content definitions. The system is based on research carried out by Carnegie Mellon University’s Language Technologies Institute. Creating meaningful semantic data from unstructured sources (like user tags) is one of the fundamental problems for content repositories of [...]

Bueda Semantic Analysis Engine is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Metadata Management For Digital Asset Management

Dianne Nwanma — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:00:16 +0000

Daydream have released a new white paper today which deals with the subject of Metadata Management Strategies for Marketing based DAM. The report describes a number of tactics that marketing managers can use to improve the ROI from a DAM system by improving the quality of metadata. Ralph Windsor of Daydream comments: Daydream are eager [...]

Metadata Management For Digital Asset Management is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Make Digital Assets Work Harder With Better Metadata

Helen Whitaker — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:15:58 +0000

In this article, CMS Wire’s Stephanie Lemieux discusses the key problems organisations face when managing their digital assets and why good metadata is essential to ensure maximum ROI for your digital asset management system. “To maximize impact of spend and gain efficiency in the asset creation process, digital assets need to be managed in a [...]

Make Digital Assets Work Harder With Better Metadata is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Metadata Predictions For 2010

Naresh Sarwan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:06:16 +0000

In this post, Gunar Penikis (formerly of Adobe) asserts, with some justification, that 2010 is likely to be a significant year for Metadata for 3 key reasons: Speed Relatedness Integration Gunar’s new blog has some fascinating and well written insights and I recommend you to read it in addition to his writings for Adobe. Metadata [...]

Metadata Predictions For 2010 is a post from: Digital Asset Management News

Adding structure to DAM and ECM

Helen Whitaker — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:31:23 +0000

“Unstructured Data” is the fancy term we use to refer to “Content.” Historically we’ve employed this term to differentiate “structured” data (sitting in neat rows and columns in a database) from complex files that typically need attached metadata for essential context. Microsoft Office Files, CAD drawings and Video files are all examples of unstructured data. [...]

Adding structure to DAM and ECM is a post from: Digital Asset Management News