FAQ
Here’s a list of questions that people frequently ask me regarding my work in respect to my MLIS background. Many of these have some pretty long answers, some repeat information found in answers to related questions and some even tell you to see another FAQ. Either way, here they are glorious and off-the-cuff. Hopefully they will help you find your way too.
1. What classes did I take at Rutgers?: 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 social media (aka Web 2.0). The North Carolina program is probably the most innovative for the kind of work I do now, or at least the most applicable.
2. The MLIS degree and it’s relationship to my profession: Getting the MLIS was more of “hoop” to jump through as there is no formal program out there for Digital Asset Management (although more and more LIS schools are adding coursework and there are a few in development) and there are all kinds of routes I could have taken for working in Digital Media. Since there is no formal program that covers my profession and only a smattering of classes here and there on related topics, its very hard to find anything that really relays what all goes into being a DAM professional or a Digital Media Professional. I am both. This is not true of all Digital Asset Managers or all Digital Media People. I’m a cross-breed. I work in the realms of information retrieval and all things that encompasses. I manage Digital Asset Management systems: setup standards, create metadata schemas, monitor the content, define asset lifecycles. I also bust out wireframes, and non-working prototypes for interfaces people might use to get to the content contained in a Digital Asset Managment System. I engage in usability studies to asses how people are using, responding to and feel about Digital Asset Managment systems. As far as I know there is no program that prepares you for this. Only years of experience in information science and design.
3. MLIS Programs in General: I think as far as innovation goes, it was in comparison to the other two programs. The best overall schools in my opinion are: University of Michigan, University of North Carolina, and University of Texas/Austin. Now, RU -vs- the other NYC options. RU is probably a bit better for non-traditional “library” students looking to stay local (NYC) as the program has a course in information visualization and interface design as well as trying to get people exposed to social media (can’t believe there are people that by this time aren’t). Overall, the program is still too “library centric” and do not really expose students to the multitude of different career paths you can take with an Information Science Degree.
4. MLIS Programs 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! For example for a Taxonomy course I took, the instructor had us study the index to the “Joy of Cooking” the entire semester. Yes, the “Joy of Cooking” helped me grasp the concept of working with Taxonomies for indexing information. However, we never learned how to work with databases that manage taxonomies or taxonomy warehouses (yes, they exist). Also, some critical thinking skills such as evaluating a Taxonomy or even Taxonomies for web navigation. In the end the programs are too academic to send the students off with any practical skills. Many programs spend far too much time focusing on the theory of LIS, but not the practical application of those skills to fit into today’s technology driven workforce. More on the waging battle between academics and practitioners? Read this great blog: I’d Rather Be Writing. It’s a great blog about technical writing, but so much more.
5. Human Information Behavior Coursework:I get asked about this one a lot. 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” and really just speaking to themselves. I’m sorry, but I really can’t fathom 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 drew from the world of libraries alone and they never pulled from or exposed the students to the worlds of usability, user-experience, design (interface design specifically) or information architecture. I firmly believe that a user experience designer knows more about human behavior in relationship to working with technology than any librarian any day. All the papers weren’t horrific, however they just seemed like old approaches and not very fresh. Maybe they should call that class HIB Classics 101.
6. What do I do now?: A. Now I work in digital media, more specifically focused on digital asset management and its many touchpoints. This is a combination of lots of skills learned in the field and very cross-disciplinary. I do everything from writing metadata schemas and analyzing workflows to creating wireframes for applications that focus on sharing information. I do sometimes dabble in archives (as I am a traditionally trained Archivist there ain’t a collection I can’t write a killer Finding Aid for) when I do consulting work, but it’s usually about software choices (digital asset management applications), standards (metadata schemas, controlled vocabularies, taxonomies) and digitization best practices. Also see my response to FAQ 2.
7. How does my digital arts/design background mesh with digital asset management?: A. For how digital asset managment overalaps 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 designers we already posses the knowledge on how to get collections from point A to point B when it comes to digitization. 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. Just get yourself a good programmer/developer and you will be fine. Domain knowledge will service you well.
8. I have no digital or technology background, what classes can I take to do what you do?: A. In short, it’s going to be a very long journey for you. There isn’t a magic bullet or just some classes you can take. A good place (don’t take this the wrong way) to start is to look-up (Wikipedia, Google etc) common terms that in the industry “content management” and “digital asset management” as a way to learn more about them. This is complex stuff and some of these descriptions and acronyms are ambiguous and can sometimes mean more than one thing. Its all really in the application of the terms and the context. Another way is on-the-job. Take an internship that will expose you or at least get you into close proximity to these technologies and most importantly find a mentor worth listening to. You can even join a meetup to learn more and meet real working professionals. Also, it helps to have experience or a background in certain professional areas: Information Science, Database Management, Digital Imaging, Information architecture, Design, User Experience (Usability) etc. These are the skills sets that make a killer Digital Asset Manager. See FAQ 9 Below.
9. 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: digitization best practices, content delivery, 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. Can you tell me some good resources for information about being a digital asset manager?: 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 .
