Introduction to Digital Asset Management A workshop for the Metropolitan New York Library CouncilClass Exercise.

Intent: This role-play exercise was designed to stimulate discussion around how DAM professionals use their broad expertise to design effective workflows, identify solutions, and work with cross functional teams to better manage assets.

Instructions: The class was divided into groups of 6. Each group was told they represented an organization that recently faced a challenge that could be addressed with the application of proper DAM practices. Each participant was handed a paper detailing their role in the organization. One person per group was the designated Digital Asset Manager. This person was tasked with figuring out how each team members’ role contributed to the problem, and how a solution could be found using DAM principles.

Results: In discussions prompted by this role-play, the teams gained a sense of DAM’s multi-faceted challenges. They were able to identify how problems can arise in a workplace when digital assets are not managed. In discussing solutions they also became aware of common challenges facing DAM professionals as they try to implement solutions, like achieving adequate staffing, and managing a backlog of unmanaged assets.

On the next pages are the scenarios and roles that were assigned to the groups.

Scenario 1: Each participant works for a greeting card company who has been sued because they used an image they did not have rights to use. A Digital Asset Manager is hired to prevent another lawsuit while ensuring that new product continues to be made.

Roles:

You are the Digital Asset ManagerTalk to all involved parties. Identify the aspects of the current workflow that allowed for the problem. Devise a new workflow to prevent it from happening again. Suggest some tools to help make it work.

You are a Designer You are tasked with creating artwork that reflects current trends and plays off

popular culture, appropriating imagery from mass media. You know you must change the images enough to avoid copyright violations. Unfortunately, you’re no lawyer, so you aren’t always sure when you’ve achieved that goal. When you are finished with a design file, you place it on a server for the Brand Manager to approve, and Production to pick up. You work on a Mac.

You are a LawyerYou know intellectual property law like the back of your hand, and can tell if artwork created by a designer will violate copyright. However, you’ve typically had no awareness of what they’ve created until a design has been sent to press and released to the public. You do not know where finished design files are kept, or how Production gets them. You work on a PC.

You are a Production ManagerYou must keep printing new artworks as quickly as possible after the Designers create them. You have been told to pick up new Design files from a specified server as soon as the Brand Manager has approved them. You learn about these approvals via emails you receive several times a day. You work on a Mac.

You are a Brand ManagerYou must review each artwork the Designer creates to make sure it reflects the aesthetic of your brand. Your review has nothing to do with Legal concerns. You look at the new designs on the Designers’ server, and notify Production by email about which you’ve approved.

You are an Information Technology ExpertYou know that all teams work on Mac’s except for the Lawyer, who works on a PC. You know that any new technological solutions must work on both Mac and PC platforms. You are also the only person who can give access to new users of any servers, systems, or other software or solutions.

Scenario 2: Each participant works for a publisher. Budgets need to be reduced but new books, magazines, and marketing material must still be created.

Roles:

You are the Digital Asset ManagerTalk to all involved parties. Identify the aspects of the current workflow that allowed for the problem. Devise a new workflow to prevent it from happening again. Suggest some tools to help make it work.

You are an Art BuyerYou bring in 3 photoshoots a month, with dozens of images in each. You also hire writers to write greetings. You store the image and text files on a server. You have your photographers and writers sign a contract that grants your greeting card company 2 years of image reuse, with no limitations. You have no time to organize the files you get, and they come in a variety of formats, most with no metadata. You store them on a server just as you get them from your contributors.

You are a MarketerYou need image files for your campaigns. You are always on a tight schedule, so you just purchase images from stock agencies. You like stock agencies because their websites are easy to search, making it easy to find the images you need. To keep costs low, and to keep things moving quickly, you just use the contracts provided by the stock agencies. Usually you only get the rights to use an image once.

You are a Brand ManagerYou approve all marketing campaigns, and require that they use lots of imagery. You have been unhappy to see stock imagery in an ad that also appeared in adsfor other companies.

You are a PhotographerYou were commissioned by an Art Buyer from the publisher. You are eager to please this client. In order to work with them, you have signed a contract granting them the right to use your images in any way for 2 years. No one has given you any specific instruction about file delivery so you’ve just delivered them in whatever format your camera captures.

You are an Information Technology ExpertYou know that because the Marketers do not have Photoshop or Bridge, they could only work with image files in one specific format. You know that all teams work on Mac’s except for the Brand Manager, who works on a PC. You know that any new technological solutions must work on both Mac and PC platforms. You are also the only person who can give access to new users of any servers, systems, or other software or solutions.