Digital asset management

Operations on a collection of digital assets requires the use of a computer application implementing digital asset management (DAM) to ensure that the owner, and possibly their delegates, can perform operations on the data files.

Management operations on digital assets

Creation

To make a data object into a digital asset it must first be brought into the digital domain as a computer file, or digital object.

Applications implement digital asset management by importing them from the analog and/or digital domains (by encoding, scanning, optical character recognition, etc.) or by authoring them as new objects..

Indexing

A primary function of a DAM system is to make assets easily available to it users by providing a searchable index that supports retrieval of assets by their content and/or metadata. The cataloging function is usually part of the ingestion process for new assets.

Workflow

Digital assets will typically have a lifecycle, which may include various states such as creation, approval, live, archived and deleted. Many systems allow custom workflows to be created, modelling different asset lifecycles depending on their use within the organisation.

Version control

Often a DAM system will store earlier versions of a digital asset and allow those to be downloaded or reverted to. Therefore, a DAM system can operate as an advanced type of version control system.

Access control

Finally, a DAM system typically includes security controls ensuring relevant people have access to assets. This will often involve integration with existing directory services via a technology such as single sign-on.

Terminology

The term "media asset management" (MAM) may be used in reference to DAM applied to the sub-set of digital objects commonly considered "media", namely audio recordings, photos, and videos. Any editing process that involves media, especially video, can make use of a MAM to access media components to be edited together, or to be combined with a live feed, in a fluent manner. A MAM typically offers at least one searchable index of the images, audio, and videos it contains constructed from metadata harvested from the images using pattern recognition, or input manually.

Categorization

Smaller DAM systems are used in a particular operational context, for instance in video production systems. The key differentiators between them are the types of input encoders used for creating digital copies of assets to bring them under management, and the output decoders and/or formatters used to make them usable as documents and/or online resources. The metadata of a content item can serve as a guide to the selection of the codec(s) needed to handle the content during processing, and may be of use when applying access control rules to enforce authorization policy.

Assets that require particular technology to be used in a work flow need to have their requirements for bandwidth, latency, and access control considered in the design of the tools that create or store them, and in the architecture of the system that distributes and archives them. When not being worked on assets can be held in a DAM in a variety of formats including blob (binary large object in a database) or as a file in a normal file system, that are "cheaper" to store than the form needed during operations on them. This makes it possible to implement a large scale DAM as an assembly of high performance processing systems in a network with a high density storage solution at its centre.

Media asset issues

An asset can exist in several formats and in a sequence of versions. The digital version of the original asset is generally captured in as high a resolution, colour depth, and (if applicable) frame rate as will be needed to ensure that results are of acceptable quality for the end-use. There can also be thumbnail copies of lower quality for use in visual indexing.

Metadata for an asset can include its packaging, encoding, provenance, ownership and access rights, and location of original creation. It is used to provide hints to the tools and systems used to work on, or with, the asset about how it should be handled and displayed.

Types of systems

Digital asset management systems fall into these types:

• Brand management system – to enforce brand presentation within an organization by making the approved logos, fonts, and product images easily available.
• Library or archive – for bulk storage of infrequently changing video or photo assets.
• Production management systems – for handling assets being created on the fly for use in live media production or as visual effects for use in gaming applications, TV, or films.
• Streaming – for on-demand delivery of digital content, like TV shows or movies, to end users on behalf of digital retailers

All of these types will include features for work-flow management, collaboration, project-management, and revision control.

See also

• Content management
• Digital asset
• Digital library
• Digital rights management
• Image organizer, possible presentation layer for a DAM
• Web content management system, may be a presentation layer for a DAM

Further reading

• Diamond, David (2012). DAM Survival Guide: Digital Asset Management Initiative Planning. DAMSurvivalGuide.com.
• Krogh, Peter (2009). The DAM Book, Second Edition. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 0-596-52357-2.
• Austerberry, David (2006). Digital Asset Management, Second Edition. Focal Press. ISBN 0-240-80868-1.
• Jacobsen, Jens; Schlenker, Tilman; Edwards, Lisa (2005). Implementing a Digital Asset Management System: For Animation, Computer Games, and Web Development. Focal Press. ISBN 0-240-80665-4.
• Mauthe, Andreas; Thomas, Peter (2004). Professional Content Management Systems: Handling Digital Media Assets. Wiley. ISBN 0-470-85542-8.
• Theresa Regli (2016). Digital and Marketing Asset Management. Rosenfeld. ISBN 1-933820-12-8.
• Elizabeth Keathley (2014). Digital Asset Management: Content Architectures, Project Management, and Creating Order out of Media Chaos. APress. ISBN 1430263776.

External links

• Digital Asset Management and Museums Digital Asset Management and Museums An Introduction.
• List of Digital Asset Management Vendors Comprehensive list of DAM vendors.
• DAM Directory – Actively maintained directory of DAM-related resources.