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.