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METATAGGING MARCOM ASSETS
Michael Moon CEO, GISTICS Inc. 4171 Piedmont Avenue Suite 210 Oakland, CA 94611, USA Tel: +1 510 450 9999 Email: [email protected]
Who has principal responsibility for tagging digital assets with metadata? When in the lifecycle of digital assets should you apply the core set of metadata? What can you do to reduce the cost and speed the process of ‘‘metatagging’’ (applying metadata to files)? In issue 1(4) of this Journal we examined many facets of metadata, or ‘‘descriptive data about files.’’ We framed digital asset management (DAM) as primarily concerned with the creation and management of transformation metadata and how these metadata enable extensive reuse of source files or digital assets. Transformational use of files distinguishes DAM from content management that emphasizes the management and distribution of dumb, use as-is files. In issue 1(5) we examined how digital assets come into being, evolve and eventually retire, introducing the idea of a digital asset lifecycle. In particular, we discussed the lifecycle for marcom assets — the digital media files typically created by advertising agencies and creative partners.
Now let’s dive a bit deeper into the marcom asset lifecycle, and address the introductory questions of today’s paper. As a general rule, the owner of the asset has responsibility for defining and managing the metadata schema — the technical specifications for the categories and sub-categories of metadata, including hierarchy of search terms that librarians call taxonomies. If you find yourself just starting out with DAM, we cannot overstate the importance of hiring a good metadata architect to establish your metadata schema and keywords. Nor can we overstate the importance of a fully documented workflow with checklists and daily reporting for cataloging an asset. This will not only enable you to ensure quality input (and therefore output), a documented workflow will reveal the time and cost of cataloging one asset. You will find, if you have not already, that fact-based knowledge of cataloging costs enables you to hire additional staff, outsource it with certainty, or charge-back a department or user group that wants access to a particular asset. Our research of more than 1,000 operational DAM systems reveals
# Henry Stewart Publications 1743–6559 (2005) Vol. 1, 6 369–371 JOURNAL OF DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
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diverse metatagging approaches, ranging from a centralized librarian or archivist function to a decentralized activity with hundreds of marcom and agency staff tagging their assets. Generally, a centralized approach remains the best overall approach as measured by quality, consistency and searchability across a global repository. This acknowledges the fact that most asset creators do not understand metadata, nor do they care or want to learn about it. In their minds, they create, not catalog. Advanced DAMsters (from DAMsterdam, of course!) have long practiced the creation of metadata containers, using placeholder proxies to anchor location in a DAM system for rea
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