NEW - Digital Directions: Your Digital DNA
Digital assets are the DNA of your content. How much does your organization need to change to manage them?
June 2008 By Andrew Brenneman
I started working with digital content 25 years ago, developing interactive products for publishers and other content organizations in New York City. I worked in small media and technology development firms, without much to speak of in terms of infrastructure. I imagined that the larger publishing organizations for which we developed products all had robust systems for the management of digital content.
Ten years later, a large textbook publisher hired me to lead a media and technology group and I learned otherwise.
There was no systematic approach to the management of digital assets. Following the printing of a textbook, digital assets were stored on a variety of offline media (SyQuest, anyone?), and put in a shoebox or some similar receptacle under the production editor’s desk. As I later learned, it was not that unusual a circumstance in the industry.
Content management was off the table as a strategic priority. The reasons were clear:
• Outsourcing of compositing and printing put staff in a position where they were only indirectly involved in the final stages of book production. This yielded quite a savings, but publishing organizations were no longer directly involved in managing digital assets.
• Second, there was no compelling business rationale for a comprehensive digital asset management system, other than some nebulous claims on efficiency. There was no product payoff for maintaining the digital components of books. Why? There was no electronic book marketplace, as we know it today. Plus, these works contained a large number of one-time use, licensed third-party components preventing their use in derivative products.
• Finally, the mission of the organization in thought, word and deed was in the creation of physical books only. The digital elements used in the creation of the physical book were considered an incidental byproduct.
The situation has changed today. There has been a significant and demonstrable shift, putting the management of digital content assets in focus as a key publishing function. This is not just a matter of administrative housekeeping, but is integral to the ongoing success of a publishing organization.
This shift has been caused by digital distribution—both the distribution of salable electronic content, as well as the dissemination of content to support online marketing programs through search engines. These activities are neither optional nor speculative, and they require us to manage digital assets in a systematic way.
The question remains: To what degree do our organizations need to change in order to meet this new requirement for managing our digital content?
3 Elements to Help You
Work More
Effectively With
Digital Service Providers
1. Proximity. Work closely with service providers. Create a process that spans both organizations, with each performing the appropriate tasks. Create a hybrid team.
2. Knowledge. Have your staff understand—at an appropriate level of detail—the processes and technologies used by the service provider. Understand available capabilities. These will enable you to do more with your content and work more efficiently with the provider.
3. Options. Keep your options open by avoiding long-term or exclusive service agreements. Maintain versions of your own content and metadata. Don’t let any outside entity hold hostage content that you worked so hard to create.
Ten years later, a large textbook publisher hired me to lead a media and technology group and I learned otherwise.
There was no systematic approach to the management of digital assets. Following the printing of a textbook, digital assets were stored on a variety of offline media (SyQuest, anyone?), and put in a shoebox or some similar receptacle under the production editor’s desk. As I later learned, it was not that unusual a circumstance in the industry.
Content management was off the table as a strategic priority. The reasons were clear:
• Outsourcing of compositing and printing put staff in a position where they were only indirectly involved in the final stages of book production. This yielded quite a savings, but publishing organizations were no longer directly involved in managing digital assets.
• Second, there was no compelling business rationale for a comprehensive digital asset management system, other than some nebulous claims on efficiency. There was no product payoff for maintaining the digital components of books. Why? There was no electronic book marketplace, as we know it today. Plus, these works contained a large number of one-time use, licensed third-party components preventing their use in derivative products.
• Finally, the mission of the organization in thought, word and deed was in the creation of physical books only. The digital elements used in the creation of the physical book were considered an incidental byproduct.
The situation has changed today. There has been a significant and demonstrable shift, putting the management of digital content assets in focus as a key publishing function. This is not just a matter of administrative housekeeping, but is integral to the ongoing success of a publishing organization.
This shift has been caused by digital distribution—both the distribution of salable electronic content, as well as the dissemination of content to support online marketing programs through search engines. These activities are neither optional nor speculative, and they require us to manage digital assets in a systematic way.
The question remains: To what degree do our organizations need to change in order to meet this new requirement for managing our digital content?
3 Elements to Help You
Work More
Effectively With
Digital Service Providers
1. Proximity. Work closely with service providers. Create a process that spans both organizations, with each performing the appropriate tasks. Create a hybrid team.
2. Knowledge. Have your staff understand—at an appropriate level of detail—the processes and technologies used by the service provider. Understand available capabilities. These will enable you to do more with your content and work more efficiently with the provider.
3. Options. Keep your options open by avoiding long-term or exclusive service agreements. Maintain versions of your own content and metadata. Don’t let any outside entity hold hostage content that you worked so hard to create.
