Let’s take Greene and Meissners message and apply it to the digital realm. Working in the digital realm requires the ability to make judicious decisions regarding what to keep, how to keep it and where to keep it. You have to have the ability to say “no” and understand that you can’t keep everything. That folder, filing cabinet and even the human to file it cost a whole lot less than software, databases, servers and technical support. You also cannot keep digital materials in the same exhaustive manner as you might have with analog material. If you have spent most of your career managing analog materials this is a difficult philosophical shift to make, even impossible for some. However, its a shift that is necessary to work in today’s technology driven environment, if you plan on managing digital materials with any success.

Digital Asset Managers understand that every digital asset we choose comes with a cost (resources it will take to manage, upkeep, file formats, migrations etc), therefore we are extremely judicious with both what we keep (the assets) and how we keep it (the metadata). We have to say “no” when something is just outside the scope of the collection or would involve to much manual metadata entry. Whenever possibly we side with automation as opposed to human processing or cataloging. For example a system that required every time an asset was used a job number to be entered into a metadata field is just not scalable over time. A more sensible approach would be that the ordering system and the DAM talked to one another and populated that field automatically. If that wasn’t possible then the digital asset manager might choose to only record the first order number associated with the asset.

In general digital asset managers think holistically and try to understand things on a iterative level. We understand that adopting a particular standard for applying information to assets can have vast repercussions down the line and nothing is ever permanent as technology changes yesterday. We have to choose our methods very wisely and use the word, “no” more often than we would like. Anytime I come across a complex worfklow or best practice, I know “analog” thinking is to blame and people were not thinking holistically. Siloed analog approaches just don’t work in the digital realm, they don’t leverage the efficiencies of technology and they don’t take into account exactly how much content is being created every day and what it’s going to take to mange that glut of information.

Digital Asset Managers understand how to leverage data across disparate databases, rather than the old analog method of using repetition and making copies (silos) to keep information together and create relationships (i.e. the carbon copy). The result of analog-ist thinking will often lead to an unfathomable amount of backlog and digital paperwork, because the workflow/standard they created would only be achievable if you had an army at your disposal. To me this poor judgment is not “job security”, as I’ve heard far too often, its analog-ist insecurity. These types of judgment calls are the result of not understanding at the conceptual core, what technology allows us to do and what it requires in return.

To describe how managing digital information differs from the analog world. I often use my Greek Vase analogy. Let’s say you have a Greek Vase, an actual physical 3-D object, this vase is not going to replicate itself right before your eyes hundreds of times, that digital file on the other hand, will do it in a heartbeat. Therefore working with digital resources requires a completely different shift in thinking and practices that worked great for managing analog materials, just won’t scale when moved to the digital realm.

It’s about focusing on retaining what’s really, really, important and the most appropriate place for those resources. For example, objects should go in a collections management system (glass and film negatives are objects too), and digital assets should be managed in a DAM. Both can have different metadata schemas, but they might also share some common elements (Title, description, keywords etc). You don’t have to repeat content or information in both systems, you can just have the systems talk to one another. You can focus on master assets in the DAM and original objects in the collections management system. You also don’t need to create/upload thumbnails or web-ready assets in your DAM as it should create them automatically. In an analog world this was not possible, if you wanted a smaller copy of something you had to physically make it and then save that as you didn’t want to have to make that same thing manually every single time.

If you don’t think about scalability when choosing what to digital assets to keep, the management of those resources over time, formatting, migrations etc. you will quickly end up with more process and less product over time. In the end it really comes down to quantity and resources, like with the Greek Vase analogy. You may only ever have the one object, but over time you will have many surrogate digital representations of that object. You cannot think about managing digital files the same way you did with analog materials, there is just too much of it. In an ideal world we would have lots and lots of everything and lots and lots of information about everything, but that’s unrealistic and unless you have the manpower of Google to process all of it, it’s just not going to happen. Therefore you must be judicious in the execution of your scope, use the right tools for the job, think holistically and don’t over complicate.

1. About me and the Rutgers MLIS program: Since I had already been working in the field for 6 years (digital archives and digital asset management) when I entered the program, my advisor let me take whatever classes I wanted. He told me to get in and then get out. I honestly can’t even remember what classes I took. Since I was in the process of transitioning from non-profit digital archives work back to advertising (corporate knowledge management) work, much of the curriculum was either a repeat of what I had been practicing in the field or I took the course just to get the credits. I do recall taking metadata, records management, interface design, information visualization and a class on web 2.0 (which was pretty funny). The North Carolina program is probably the most innovative for the kind of work I do now, or at least the most applicable.

2. Certification for Archivists: There is a lot of argument in the field right now about certification and are you “really” an archivist if you aren’t certified. This is one of the reasons I am happy I don’t work in that field anymore, more emphasis on academic credentials than if you can “really” do the job or not.

3. Program Innovation: I think as far as innovation goes, it was in comparison to the other two programs (Pratt & NYU/Palmer). Mainly, because the RU program has a course in information visualization and interface design as well as trying to get people exposed to web 2.0 (can’t believe there are people that by this time aren’t). However, I haven’t checked either programs in some time so they may have added some new courses.

4. LIS Program Overall: I didn’t like that I felt as though I was on “Library Island” the whole time. The program is short sighted in that the main focus is on working in a library and only draws from the world of libraries. Even though the information science field is so much broader than that, you can do almost anything with this degree!

5. Human Information Behavior Coursework: I detested the curriculum for the course, I am not a big fan of papers that really say nothing at all or when they do have an important point to make its buried in a bunch of “academic speak”. I also felt as though it was a bunch of librarians practicing “armchair psychology”. I’m sorry, but I really can’t respect someone who did their undergraduate work in English Literature who thinks they can now discuss at length the psychology of human beings in their search for information. It was very unfortunate that the curriculum only drew from the world of libraries and they never pulled from, or exposed the students to, the worlds of: usability, user experience design, advertising, information architecture, business analytics. I firmly believe that a user experience designer knows more about human behavior in relationship to information than any librarian any day. All the papers weren’t horrific, however they just seemed like old approaches and not very fresh. I think they should rename the class to “Library Science Classics” and then we would be getting somewhere useful. Who doesn’t like the classics?

6. Q. What do I do now?: A. Now I work in creative technology, more specifically digital asset or content management, which is a combination of lots of skills learned in the field. I do sometimes come into contact with archives when I do consulting work it’s usually about software choices (digital asset management applications), standards (metadata schemas, controlled vocabularies, taxonomies) and digitization best practices. The MLIS program really just gave me the slip of paper to move forward. The only thing I can suggest is you find a really talented archivist to work under for some time, who is involved in a digitization program.

7. Q. How does a digital arts/design background mesh with digital archives?: A. For how digital archives overlaps with digital media backgrounds just have a look at this and it will become clearer: http://dpbestflow.org/. Doesn’t this all seem so familiar? As digital media folks we already posses the knowledge on how to get archives from point A to point B when it comes to digitizing their collections. Many of the skills you need are skills we used everyday in our digital design work:

* Knowledge of file formats, applications (graphic design and web design), copyrights, management of digital materials (related to content management), how to scan and use digital cameras, color management, just to name a few.
* Also, if you did design you have a pretty good understanding of the importance of description, keywords, tags etc as you had to search online photography/image/art databases to locate specific assets that fit your needs. For example “boy with umbrella”. So you have a good idea what people look for and how they search.
* The stuff that people like us need to pickup is all the archives specific stuff, such as dealing with online collections, digital asset management (which if you work in media today you’ve been in contact with regularly).
* We also need to know taxonomies and metadata schemas like the back of our hands.
* Combine that with some solid programming skills, which if you did website design you can easily pickup EAD, XML and other information management specific syntax’s.
* The other biggie, which is harder for more creative folks to pickup, is information architecture and semantic web stuff. These skills help us to choose good, flexible and forward thinking applications as well as innovative ways to manage digital collections and their associated information.

8. Q. I have no digital/technology background work what classes can I take to do what you do?: A. I love this question [scarcasm]. A good place (don’t take this the wrong way) to start is to look up (wikipedia, google etc) common terms that appear such as “content management” “digital asset management” etc and learn more about them and their many facets. Unfortunately, there aren’t just some classes you can take or some applications you can learn, there are a zillion! Also, all this is dependent on factors such as the chosen work environment (non-profit, corporate, educational etc) and even those differ individually. Another factor is the type and amount of data/information you are to manage and a zillion other things that align to form the scope of the work. Oh and don’t forget the years of experience that you will need doing each any every one of these individual facets (see Q&A #9) in order to be a proficient Digital Asset or Content Manager.

9. Q. What kind of experience do I need to do what you do?: A. Its essential to have several years experience doing digital delivery: website development, application development, digital imaging etc. to pursue work in this area. I have 6 years of experience as both a web and graphic designer. I also have an 8 year background touching on all the little bits and pieces that make for a good digital asset or content manager: traditional archives work (collections processing), digitization best practices, digital imaging, metadata, taxonomy development, digital and content management systems, UX, IA, data analytics and HCI. Some of these which obviously overlap and came from experience in the design world.

10. Q. Can you tell me some good resources for information about being a digital asset manager/digital archivist?: You can always check out my delicious links to see all the various topics that I keep track of and read up on daily: My Delicious Links or stuff I follow on Google Reader . There are also a few good DAM blogs: Another DAM Blog and Digital Asset Management. Its a pretty HUGE profession with lots of little nooks and crannies to explore and specialize in.