DAM Bill of Rights

Demand DAM Paradigm Shift

MediaBeacon grew as an answer the struggles of the digital asset management (DAM) space. The DAM Bill of Rights was created to put into words the pain points of DAM solutions. It is a demand for paradigm shift that can enable the industry as a whole.

Durable Smart Assets

Old solutions weakly attach metadata, forcing you to move data separately. Old systems force you to understand data export, force you to map fields from one database to another, and force you to import data to make it available. Demand that solutions are standards compliant. Demand that moving a file moves the data.

Data should not be separated from the files

Did you know:
Modern disks and formats allow data describing the files to be inserted into the files (like XMP). The data is then carried with the files safely, and can be indexed into a fast database or search engines without manual work.

Data should be strongly attached to files

Did you know:
Most DAM systems only weakly attach data to files. Moving a file on the disk is often enough to destroy data. Weak data is only weakly useful.

Data should be international

Did you know:
Many DAM systems can’t do something as simple as have the Japanese name for a product in the same field as a English description.

Mobile Smart Assets

Demand that DAM systems allow data to travel without friction. Old solutions send assets out into the world stripped, licenses lost, usage lost, ownership deleted. Demand that when you move files between servers, data is kept by default instead of deleted.

Data should travel with the files

Did you know:
Many DAM systems force you to send data via special tools that relink with files remotely. These systems are all proprietary and most are costly.

Exchanging data should be as easy as exchanging files

Did you know:
Exchanging data is so painful that most DAM users don’t even bother. Many users still use filenames to track data because older systems make it so difficult to move data.

Data should understand namespaces

Did you know:
Namespaces allow fields to be preserved worldwide. Learn more about namespaces at www.mediabeacon.com

No more meat grinder (import/export/mapping)

Did you know:
Importing/Exporting/Mapping all mean that a human being is working to modify data to “fit”. Once this data is modified it is forever lost to the original creator.

Data should flow without friction or engineers

Did you know:
Old DAM systems require engineers to move data between databases or instances. This is so hard that many users simply re-enter the data over and over in the same workflow.

Safe Metadata

Demand data be secure from prying eyes without losing any of the power of strongly attached data.

Data should allow encryption

Did you know:
Most DAM systems can’t protect data once they map it to a standard like Adobe’s XMP.

Data should allow references

Did you know:
Some data is either too sensitive to trust to encryption, or changes too much to make sense in the files. Modern systems like XMP allow data to be referenced.

(example: https:/myserver.com/secretdata?requestaccess=true).

Viewing data should not require direct access

Did you know:
One of the important things about DAM is to build a secure database to browse from the web. Strongly attached data doesn’t mean that there is no database, in fact a database is crucial for speed and for security.

Usable

Demand that DAM systems plug together with other vendors’ tools like lego blocks. Demand your freedom to select the right set of tools for your work without having to pay to integrate them. Demand vendors empower you with standards.

Data should be in a standard format

Did you know:
Instead of integrating with standards, DAM vendors are integrating with each company. Instead of buying a DAM and supporting a standard, customers have to buy a DAM then pay to integrate their tools. Customers often fail because this is so difficult.

Data should work with standard tools

Did you know:
DAM systems often have to have plugins to work with creative apps. Some older DAM systems even require users to replace their filesystem with an emulated disk.

Got the file means got the data

Did you know:
Adobe has been using embedded data in media files for over a decade, and modern computer companies have allowed data to be attached to files transparently for even longer. All of this power has gone unused until now.

Data should be in a database

Did you know:
Search and security are important reason’s to have a database. Strongly attached data doesn’t eliminate the need for an enterprise database.

Flexible

Demand the ability to decide when you need new fields on the fly. Demand an end to meeting after meeting to decide on the complete field list for your entire organization. Demand the ability to revise your fields whenever you want.

Systems should add fields in seconds not weeks

Did you know:
Most DAM systems require a fixed number of fields when a database is created. Changing this set can take hours or even days and must be a company wide decision.

Each asset may have different data

Did you know:
Modern metadata comes from many sources, and as you share data your system needs to be able to cope with a different set of fields per asset. Most DAM systems can’t cope with this and force you into the pain of “import/export/mapping”.

Data should apply to all file types

Did you know:
Many DAM solutions are restricted as to the file types they support. It is not uncommon for customers to have a Video DAM, a Print DAM, and an Image DAM. Users are then forced to learn and relearn the same tasks many times.

International Smart Assets

Demand the ability to use international languages. Demand the ability to support any language in any field.

Systems should support Unicode

Did you know:
Computers use numbers to represent characters on the screen. Older systems made this number a fixed size, so when more languages are added they run out of space.

Emancipated Smart Assets

Demand that you be free to select the right components for your business. Demand that you don’t need to replace your systems to add the power of a DAM.

You should not be hostage to a vendor

Did you know:
Most DAM systems require that you replace much of your existing tools to work with them. Things like backup, filesystems, and file servers need to be changed to support the weakly attached data model.

Changing vendors should be like changing tires

Did you know:
Standards free the DAM users from the control of the vendors. Old DAM solutions trapped users with fears of loss of data or incompatibility. Make sure you can take millions of files out of you DAM and easily pass them to another vendor or system without engineering, or paying for some “export” tool. Make sure you are free to choose.

FutureProof (standards)

Demand independence from proprietary data formats. Demand that data live as long as the original files.

Data should be future proof

Did you know:
Strongly attached data in XMP is written in an international standard, and anyone can read it. If you do something crazy like open a jpeg file in a text editor you can actually read the values right out of the file. This innovation ensures that thousands of years from now the data will still be usable.

Emulation kills data

Did you know:
Many DAM systems replace your disk drive and fileserver with emulated versions because they weakly attach data. The emulation requires constant repairs by the vendor as computers change, and eventually emulation stops and the data is trapped then lost.

Separated files

Did you know:
Separating metadata from the assets doesn’t just lose the data as you work on it, it also loses data over time. If you separate metadata and assets you will need to keep the database updated and the filesystem updated constantly. Since many database companies and products have come and gone, data gets lost over time.

Enable your life not replace it

Demand your system to be an addition to you life not a replacement. Demand that adopting your new technology doesn’t require throwing away all others.

Adoption should take days not years

Did you know:
Many DAM systems replace supporting technology and tools so drastically that users are forced to relearn things as simple as how to copy a file.

Graceful adoption

Did you know:
Older DAM systems required so much change that adoption often took years, and even then was isolated to only a few “cybrarians”. This long adoption was a side affect of weakly attached data, and the need to carefully preserve data at each step.

DAM should not force a replacement of all systems

Did you know:
Older DAM system’s couldn’t even back-up without a special tool. To ensure weakly attached data is maintained older systems must repair it constantly. Strongly attached data allows all manipulation of both files and data easily.

Scalable

Demand an end to the equasion of “Enterprise” with “Mainframe”. Demand that products scale as the internet scales. Demand that DAM systems work across locations, computers, and technology without customization or engineering.

Enterprise should mean enterprise not “big box”

Did you know:
Weakly attached data systems can only manage files while they are in the DAM system. That means that these systems need a very very big box to operate. Most DAM vendors incorrectly use the term “Enterprise” to mean mainframe.

Cellular scalability

Did you know:
The internet grows “cellularly”, one computer at a time making an integrated whole. This is because of the power of the standard “HTML” and “HTTP”. With strongly attached metadata DAM systems can mirror the internet and grow in leaps and bounds instead of forcing you to buy a new mainframe for even the smallest growth.

Natural

Demand that a DAM be simple to understand. Demand that your life is improved not just changed. Demand that the DAM makes sense.

DAM should work with the creative workflow

Did you know:
Most DAM systems don’t run on the same technology as the creative tools. Many don’t understand Mac files, many work only with API’s or plugins to the creative tools.

DAM should be simple

Did you know:
Because weakly attached data is so hard to maintain many DAM users have to learn SQL, have to learn how to export data, and have to stop doing things as simple as moving files.

DAM should be web based

Did you know:
The web browser is the ultimate technology for browsing media files and is available to almost every desktop. Using the browser means that companies don’t have to install software and don’t have to support users in thousands of locations.

DAM should allow file access

Did you know:
Strongly attached metadata systems allow all of the existing tools to manage files to be used. This means a huge set of well tested programs can be used, eliminating retraining, and dropping the total cost of ownership by orders of magnitude.

What to look for

Does the DAM system allow you to use your existing tools? Does the system make sense with your workflow? Is the DAM system integrated strongly with products like Adobe CS without the use of custom API’s or plugins. Would a user be able to copy a file from one location to another

without training? Demand DAM Paradigm Shift.

http://www.mediabeacon.com