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XIII. Digital Asset Management

 

Introduction

The Guide has already detailed the process of creating and distributing digital collections. But the process of digitizing material does not merely create an intellectual object: it creates a valuable asset, and consumes considerable resources in doing so. This section will look at mechanisms by which the institution that created or holds these digital assets can manage them to maximum advantage. It explores the value of the digital products to the organization, how they should be treated and managed in order to maximize their use, and how the institution can ensure that it receives full benefits from the sizeable effort and costs consumed in their creation. It describes the digital management options and assesses the need for digital asset management structure.

The digitization process produces digital assets whose significance is equal to any other asset that an organization may hold, such as computers, manpower or intellectual content. Indeed, they have been described as ‘working’ or intellectual capital. Just as an organization seeks to make efficient and effective use of its financial, manpower, and natural resources, it will now wish to use its digital assets to their full potential without reducing their value. In the digitization initiatives that were surveyed as part of our research, the digital creations will be presented and offered to the end-users in the same way as any other commodity is made available to customers. However, when the digital product is taken or ‘bought’, the organization still retains the product itself and does not need to engage in further manufacturing to reproduce the product. If the organization manages the product, for example through licensing (see Section IV on Rights), once the customer has purchased the digital material, it effectively remains an asset that the holding organization can exploit in perpetuity, provided that the value of the digital asset is not compromised.

 

The need for digital asset management

As the size of digital collections grows, so do the financial resources that are consumed in their creation. The costs of managing the resources also increase, although not necessarily in direct relation to the growth of the collection. It therefore becomes imperative to manage the resources effectively, a process that is commonly referred to as Digital Asset Management (DAM). There are many reasons for initiating the use of DAM.

Digital resources are often viewed as ephemeral and fragile, while at the same time they are seen as objects that can be easily recreated — one only need scan the picture again. Fortunately this lackadaisical attitude appears to be diminishing in most organizations and in its place is the growing belief that digital resources are, at the very least, as valuable as the time, effort, and finance that has gone into their creation. At the Berkeley Art Museum, Günther Waibel considers the move from taking transparent film surrogates of the Museum’s collections to taking surrogates with a digital camera to be a critical one. The digital objects become ‘mission critical institutional assets’ that require management strategies similar to those already in place for the Museum’s existing collections (Waibel 2000). Digital Asset Management allows organizations to maximize the use of these resources, ensuring that their value is maintained, while generating institutional savings.

Digital Asset Management (DAM) involves:

• Creating an efficient archive that can hold digital resources (such as images, audio and text) and the metadata that describe them;
• Implementing an infrastructure to ensure that these electronic data are managed and preserved in such a fashion that they will not become obsolete;
• Implementing search facilities that enable users to identify, locate and retrieve a digital object.

The benefits of implementing DAM include:

• Centralizing discovery and access;
• Coordinating disparate projects as part of a coherent whole;
• Centralizing authorization, security, and tracking systems;
• Unifying organizational solutions to managing copyright and IPR;
• Reducing duplication of effort and resources;
• Saving time for the creators and users through organizational structure and centralization of data.

 

Digital Asset Management Systems

DAM systems provide the means to manage digital assets from creation to publication and archiving. In some cases, systems can automatically take the data from the scanning, assign the image a network space, depending on the metadata that the creator assigns to it, and then store the digital object and metadata in a database. A DAM system may be as simple as a directory of files on a hard disk, each file containing a digital asset, with an accompanying database that stores descriptive and administrative metadata for each of the files. Each database record contains metadata that can be used to find and understand the asset, including the name of the file and probably information about its content, format, history and usage. A simple asset management system can be purpose-built from an off-the-shelf database management system, such as Filemaker Pro, Microsoft Access or one of the larger SQL database systems, like MySQL or Oracle.

Many cultural heritage institutions have computer systems that automate traditional functions. For instance, museums often have collection management systems for managing records of their artifact collections internally. Libraries usually have an online public access catalog for patrons searching the collection. DAM systems are a new addition to this family of computer systems. Once an institution has created a repository of reusable digital content (images of artifacts, video of public talks, etc), it will need to manage this new resource as a type of documentation collection, but one with special management needs. DAMs help the institution to manage these digital assets, and include information about the original artifact or event that the digital content relates to, as well as technical information about the digital resource, intellectual property rights to the digital resource (not the original artifact), and other types of relevant metatada that enable the institution to preserve and re-use these digital assets. Such a system can be used to administer a collection of assets, ensuring that each can be found and used by searching the data and locating the information about how to find the file. Usually, the system is intended to provide access for more than just simple management of the assets themselves, such as providing public access to the collection through a web site or using the assets to support the day-to-day activities of a museum or archive. However, delivery and asset management systems can be separate. It is also important to remember that a complete digital asset management strategy must start with the creation or acquisition of the assets. Tools that support the preparation of the data, particularly for processing batches of assets, are a very important part of the package.

In practice, such systems are almost always more complex than the simple one described above. There is usually more than one version of an asset to be tracked. For example, a primary image that is either digitized from a photograph or created directly with a digital camera may be processed manually to create a collection master; that master can then be mechanically manipulated to create derivative assets for specific purposes, such as a thumbnail and screen-sized version of the image for delivery on a web site. The result in this scenario is that there are four assets that all share an image content description, but each has its own administrative and technical description, and each may have different restrictions on its use. This example can be further complicated by considering a collection of digital images of objects or sites. There may be multiple photographs of the same object or site, each of which has a family of digital assets derived from it; the photographs share some description of the object or place and each photograph has some specific content description, all of which is inherited by each of the appropriate derivatives. While it is possible to exploit the relational database systems mentioned above to build a DAM system to handle more complicated situations, the technical expertise required is significant.

Unless the uniqueness of the project at hand requires a custom solution, it is probably better to use software already developed for digital asset management where possible, whether by purchasing a proprietary system or reusing a system developed at another institution. There are a number of proprietary products on the market that can be some part of a DAM strategy. Unfortunately, at this point there are no obvious products that stand out as a unified, off-the-shelf solution to the general problem, though there are products that are appropriate for specific kinds of collections. The best advice that can be given at this time is for an institution to analyze its priorities, collections and intended audiences in order to develop a checklist that can be used to evaluate the products available and choose among the ones that seem appropriate. Some DAM tools have also developed by the cultural heritage community itself; for instance, a tool has been developed at Berkeley which has been used by several museums in the MOAC project ( http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/moac/imaging/index.html).

Library software companies and vendors that specialize in museum collections management systems are beginning to extend existing products and develop new ones that can be a part of a DAM strategy. These products tend to be large-scale, expensive systems, with vendors usually working closely with clients to develop complete “solutions.” In general, this path is probably most useful when considering DAM as a part of a complete collections management strategy. Terms to look for when looking at the systems include collections management, content management, and digital libraries.

Many more software products that are appropriate for DAM have been developed with large-scale web site management in mind. These systems are available for a wide range of prices, with widely varying functionality. Some systems are more specifically oriented towards text or image-intensive collections, while others can handle a wider variety of media. Terms to look for when searching for these systems include digital asset management, asset repositories, media catalogs, document management and content management systems. Note that the term “content management” is used very loosely, often to refer to software that is intended for administrative uses which would not be appropriate for DAM. However, note that some content management systems do include both DAM and delivery functionality (Emery 2002).

 

Developing a DAM strategy

Rarely is developing a digital asset strategy as simple as picking out which software package to buy and then implementing it with local constraints. It is unlikely that the needs of a project will be a perfect match for any software package; there will almost always need to be some customization to match the system with local requirements. It is either a matter of paying the vendor more for the customization of a system that does most of the job, or of buying or developing the additional tools needed. Unless the institutional context for the project includes strong technical support, a custom designed system will probably cost more than buying existing tools for the job. Even with good technical support, it pays to look closely before setting out to develop a system locally.

The key is to plan carefully, starting with the acquisition and creation of assets, looking at every process that leads to their ultimate uses and safe storage. Develop a checklist that addresses the five areas discussed below. What are the staffing implications that arise from each of these areas? What are the data inputs and outputs at each step? What are the access points to the data, both within the institution and to the public?

 

File management

The most basic DAM issue is the management of the files that contain or constitute the assets. These files must have unique names so that they can be unambiguously addressed. Some proprietary systems handle all of the file storage for the user. File names are assigned by the system and the whole file storage array is essentially opaque to the user. This certainly can be useful in that it frees the user from the worry of tracking each individual file and makes it easier to control access to the digital assets appropriately. The disadvantage can come when trying to recover from a disaster, when upgrading a system or moving from one system to another; the user is completely dependent upon the software for access to the files. Operating system utilities necessary to these processes may be unable to address the files. It is best to establish what restrictions a software package imposes on file management with the vendor before purchase.

In more open proprietary systems, and in custom systems constructed around databases, the issues of file management are a very important part of the DAM strategy that should be addressed thoroughly in the early stages of planning. Strategies for naming files that seem intuitively obvious early in the process may become a problem as the project scales up. Naming schemes should be systematic, exploiting directory names, file prefixes and suffixes. It may be helpful to exploit existing identifiers that are known to be unique, like an accession number for museum objects. For a collection of digital images, the accession number could be used as the file prefix (appending a “v1”,“v2”, etc., for multiple views of the same object), the file suffix could reflect the encoding type of the each image, and each type of derivative could be stored in a separate subdirectory.

Another major issue for file management is creating backup copies of the assets that can be reloaded in the event of mechanical failure or operator error. This is most often done using magnetic tape. Though a detailed treatment of this subject is beyond the scope of this Guide, some basic principles can be pointed out. Backup strategies are usually a combination of making copies of new or changed files frequently and making full copies of the file system periodically. Tapes should be reused in rotation, retaining certain copies for longer periods, in order to be able to ensure an acceptable risk of loss. For example a busy project may make daily backups of files that change, with a weekly full dump of the file system. The daily tapes are then reused, with the weekly tapes being retained until a defined period has passed, at which point one of them can be retained for a longer period while the rest go back into the rotation. Many such schemes are possible and need to be investigated with respect to the specific needs of the project. Note that backup tapes also become assets that need to be managed. See Section XIV on Preservation for issues related to long-term retention of copies of digital assets.

 

Metadata definition and management

Metadata about digital assets are generally classified into three categories, all of which are useful in the management process: descriptive metadata, which is about the content and form of the digital asset to enable search and retrieval; administrative metadata, which is about the history of the asset and policies associated with it, typically information on creation, quality control, rights and preservation; and structural metadata, which records information about the internal structure and relationship of resources to facilitate their navigation and presentation.

Any DAM effort must consider what metadata needs to be captured for digital assets early in the planning process. At this stage of technology (and for the foreseeable future) digital assets are pretty much unusable without metadata. The specifics of metadata for the different media are covered in other sections of the Guide and in the appendix on metadata, but there are some general principles that should be followed when planning a project.

The effort associated with the creation of metadata can be equal to or greater than the effort to create the assets themselves, inasmuch as it represents an explicit statement of all the most important information about the asset. It is necessary to carefully consider the ways that the assets are intended to be used, who would be using them, and any legal or administrative requirements that are involved. Then the appropriate metadata must be captured or created to support all of the activities that require the assets, in addition to the file management activities described above and the workflow and access issues described below.

Because the DAM process is largely a function of managing metadata, careful attention should be paid to developing support for the creation process and for searching and reporting functions. If possible the system should be able to incorporate controlled lists of values (where appropriate) for metadata fields, either through user-defined lists or by incorporating standard lists, like thesauri and community-defined authority lists. The ability to search and to prepare reports from the metadata are both key functions in the DAM workflow.

 

Workflow

Any strategy for managing digital assets should address every step of the process, starting with the creation or acquisition of assets and metadata, through the processes of their day-to-day management, to delivery. Figure 1 shows the workflow for a process of capturing and archiving images, developed by Teri Ross (used by permission). This diagram illustrates that the DAM process can consist of many steps, requiring a variety of processes and possibly a number of different tools and skills. The development of a good digital asset management strategy should include an analysis of the necessary workflow in the planning stages of the project.

In any project the work of creating and acquiring both the assets and the metadata, and of migrating assets to new formats as necessary, can be substantial. Tools and utilities that make all of these processes more efficient and more reliable are very desirable. In particular, utilities that support batch processing of assets and the capture of metadata from the creation process are both very important parts of a DAM strategy. Note that many proprietary systems may not include all of the tools and utilities necessary to a good workflow so it is important to make sure that other software, purchased or created, can easily interface with the DAM system.

 

From Teri Ross, ‘Digital Asset Management: The Art of Archiving’, http://techexchange.com/thelibrary/DAM.html

 

Policy tracking and enforcement

A digital asset is only valuable to an institution if its use can be effectively managed. As is evident in other sections of this Guide, managing the rights associated with digital objects is complex but DAM systems can help resolve some of those complexities. Three areas where DAM systems can help manage rights include assertion, protection and management. Protection comes in various forms, from managing access to the digital repository, to tracking users, controlling what versions of material users can access, and ensuring that rights metadata is linked to the object when it is delivered to the user.

Data relevant to other types of policies may be a part of a DAM strategy. If the assets produce revenue for the asset holder, the DAM system must at least be able to interact with the fulfillment process. Versioning of assets is another area that can complicate a system. If new versions of the asset are created over time and all versions remain available to the user, it may be important to track the different versions and deliver a specific version on demand.

Policy tracking consists mostly of keeping the appropriate metadata about assets, and, in general, it is a fairly easy process to manage. The basic metadata management of a DAM system described above should be adequate. The systematic enforcement of policies through software is very much a research topic rather than a feature of systems that are available. It is reasonable to expect that systems should be integrated with the relatively simple access control that is available through the current generation of web servers. More sophisticated needs for policy enforcement should be discussed with vendors and/or developers with an eye to the long-term feasibility of the DAM strategy rather than as a necessary feature.

 

Access

In addition to their availability for public access, which is covered in the Distribution section of the Guide, digital assets are often needed in the day-to-day processes of the institution that owns them, possibly requiring the DAM system to interface with other systems. For example, a museum’s exhibition design group may use images of artworks from the general collection in planning exhibitions. Their process would need to be able to access those images and their metadata.

In elaborate DAM systems, this kind of access is often part of the package. But even there, careful consideration should be given to the details of how the data is made available. Complete systems are built upon assumptions that may be overly restrictive, making it difficult to adapt to new demands in the future. In general, a DAM system should be able to accept input and deliver output in standard streams. The availability of good, open application program interfaces (APIs) with the system can ensure that interoperability can at least be developed.

 

Conclusion

Digital asset management at its most basic level uses technology, such as commercial off-the-shelf applications, to implement common sense goals of organizing resources, enabling users to discover them and owners to track them. At its most advanced level, a DAM system can radically transform the way an institution manages digitization and handles access to the digital assets. It is important to develop a complete strategy that covers the complete continuum from creation to delivery: storing the digital objects and their related data; supporting on-line searches; enabling users to retrieve the appropriate version of a particular digital resource depending upon their interest and/or access level; keeping track of rights restrictions; and limiting access to verified users. DAM makes workflow more efficient and can assist organizations save money and time. Digital objects are valuable assets for projects and institutions, and DAM systems offer a rich array of ways to ensure that these assets retain their value and are properly managed.

 

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