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June 9th, 2009
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the XUG RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! At the Henry Stewart DAM Conference in New York last week, Henrik de Gyor spoke about his role as Digital Asset Manager at K12, Inc., in Herndon, Virginia (USA). On his own blog, Henrik lists these questions management must answer when implementing a DAM System:
- Who is driving the progress of DAM?
- Who is tracking progress, measuring growth and addressing risks to report on a weekly/monthly basis for stakeholders?
- Who will answer DAM questions and support DAM users?
- What happens when something goes wrong?
- Who is in charge of the DAM?
- Who will fix it?
- Who will be the adviser when to file a trouble ticket with the vendor versus what can be resolved in-house?
- Who will create the trouble ticket when the time comes?
- Who will follow up?
- Who will train users and power users of the DAM? (Attrition happens)
Does your company have a dedicated digital asset manager?
June 8th, 2009
The European-based website IT Enquirer has just published a review of Xinet WebNative Suite. The article applauded WebNative’s strong points and offered opinion on areas the writer/publisher felt needed improvement (mostly regarding video handling and user interface).
The review can be found here.
An example of the praise:
The Xinet system has plenty of these productivity boosting features, which is probably the reason why it sells so well with ad agencies and other companies where images and other digital assets have to be managed carefully and with a maximum of flexibility towards the end-user of those assets.
And an example calling for improvement:
Nevertheless, I do have criticism. I didn’t like the interface much. The demo that was shown to me lacked the smooth modern looks of newer offerings in the market of creative tools. I also think a video module that costs 12,000.00 USD should really offer scrubbing capabilities and setting the scrubber frame from within the DAM.
If you’re curious to compare your own views with those of the author’s, read the article and then come back here and let us know what you think. The article’s actual bottom line reads:
As far as the power of this DAM is concerned, I don’t think that is open to much discussion.
Does the review give a fair representation of the software?
May 31st, 2009
Xinet Users Group member Evan Shore, of Arnold Worldwide, will be one of the panelists Monday afternoon at the Henry Stewart DAM Conference in New York. Evan will be speaking during the session on DAM implementations at 4:10 pm.
The conference program provides an outline of what he’ll discuss:
Implementing DAM in a Large Advertising Agency
1) Plan ahead.
- Determine your needs before investing in a solution. In addition to DAM, these needs might include archiving, sharing files across platforms, OPI, eliminating repetitive tasks, PDF workflow
- Can you support the system internally, or do you require a hosted solution?
2) Choose a system that will grow as your needs grow. What will be your business needs be in 2 years? 5 Years 10 years?
- Look at licensing costs. How many users will you have next year?
- Types of Mediums supported.
- Hardware and back up media requirements.
3) Choose a file and volume structure and taxonomy that is granular enough to result in effective searches yet broad enough to be adapted across clients and mediums.
4) Make implementation and training mandatory. Even the most resistant users will be quick adapters if you
- Show a benefit
- Show efficiency
- Show cost or time savings
5) Clients appreciate a digitally savvy agency. DAM has allowed us to
- Remain competitive in New Business pitches
- Let our clients and remote offices leverage centralized agency tools
- Automate tasks and capture repetitive clerical work as assets are uploaded into the system.
May 28th, 2009
Promoted from Comments
When working in InDesign, I often use the contextual menu commands to reveal the location of an asset in Finder or Bridge. However, I often found myself wanting to “Reveal in Webnative” so I could use the “Show Linked Files” button to display which layouts use a particular image or logo. This would be very useful if, let’s say, I have 10 different variations on a corporate logo. Some might use PMS colors, some might have adjusted tints for certain publications, etc.
At present, if I want to see an asset’s page in WebNative, (besides the direct URL) the only way to get there is to navigate through the folder hierarchy each and every time.
Any ideas?
May 28th, 2009
Promoted from WebNative open thread
If you create a new asset from an existing asset, how do you get the metadata to follow into the new asset? I’m using Triple Triangle’s InDesign extensions to track job information: art director, copywriter, etc. This comes from our job management system and populates SLUG fields and XMP data fields in Venture automatically. This data is then searchable in Webnative and Bridge.
I’m also using DALiM TWiST for workflow automation. If I export my PDF from InDesign, my job information travels into the resulting PDF. But if I “print” my PDF via FullPress or DALiM, the data doesn’t travel into the new asset. I’d like to use my PDF as my medium for online approval, but I don’t want to have to manually make a PDF on each round or manually apply a metadata template in an Adobe product. I’d like to know what processes others have found that allow transfer of asset data in this situation. In a fashion that I can work into an automated workflow. Suggestions? Findings? Thanks.
May 28th, 2009
Enfatico, a dynamic new advertising agency, is currently seeking a Global Digital Asset Librarian who will report to the Global Director of Library Science & Information. The Global Digital Asset Librarian is responsible for managing the agency’s digital assets throughout their entire lifecycle across 13 Enfatico offices and 6 Xinet digital asset management servers worldwide. In this role the Global Digital Asset Librarian will ensure that the standards and procedures for ingest, quality assurance, file-naming, cataloguing and storage of digital marketing communication assets are implemented Worldwide. This position will work with both colleagues in New York, Austin, Copenhagen, Singapore, Beijing and the Digital Asset Management team.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Work directly with digital assets on two U.S.-based servers on a daily basis
- Coordinate the day-to-day work of the Digital Asset Management team to be based at Enfatico’s production hub in Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Directly manage digital assets throughout their lifecycle (from ingest, file-naming, cataloguing and storage to retirement and archiving) on U.S.-based Xinet servers (Austin and New York)
- Apply editorial standards and procedures to create or enhance catalogue records (a.k.a. metadata) for digital assets stored in Enfatico’s Xinet digital asset management systems, and other systems as necessary
- Co-ordinate the day-to-day work to the Digital Asset Librarians based at Enfatico’s production hub in Dhaka, Bangladesh, based on priorities determined by the Global Director of Library Science & Information Management
- Develop and document appropriate editorial standards for digital asset metadata e.g. metadata schema, controlled vocabularies, cataloguing rules, file and folder naming conventions, mapping specifications and data conversion methodologies
- Liaise with Enfatico, client and external third-party personnel as necessary to ensure timely availability of high-quality digital assets
- Stay abreast of developing standards, practices and tools in the field of digital asset and content management
- Assist in the tracking and reporting of workflow and productivity
- Provide training and advice to other staff members as necessary and appropriate
- Undertake any other duties commensurate with the position as required by the Global Director of Library Science & Information Management
ESSENTIAL SKILLS & EXPERIENCE:
- ALA-Accredited MLS/MLIS, or equivalent relevant professional experience
- At least 2 years’ professional experience organizing and cataloguing digital assets
- Excellent written and spoken English
- Self-motivated, with outstanding organizational skills and the ability to effectively cope with multiple priorities in a fast-paced advertising production environment
- Visually literate, methodical, meticulous, and capable of attention to detail bordering on the obsessive
- Experienced in the application of metadata standards, controlled vocabularies and cataloguing rules
- Familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite and a generally high level of technology literacy on both the Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Highly Desirable
- Experience with an enterprise digital asset management system, especially Xinet’s WebNative suite of digital asset management products;
- Familiarity with data management standards, tools and technologies (e.g. XML, XSLT, XMP, RDF, SQL etc.);
If you have an ALA-accredited MLIS (or equivalent), at least 2 years’ professional experience organizing and cataloguing digital assets, excellent communication and organizational skills and want to work in an exciting, fast-paced advertising environment, this position might be for you.
If you’re also an energetic techno-savvy self-starter who is passionate about using library science to bring order to chaos, can produce high-quality results under pressure, and want to help build tools and workflows to help people around the world get their jobs done more efficiently, we definitely want to hear from you!
To apply, please visit:
May 20th, 2009
In our Polls section on the left, we’ve posted a new question for the coming week:
Which features planned for Xinet’s next software release are you most looking forward to using?
You may choose up to three of the following features:
Unified GUI
Annotations
Configurable and fast index creation
Previews of Office 2007 and 2008 documents
Streaming video previews
Video reel building
We’ll leave this posting open for comment in case you have any questions or…hmm…comments.
May 19th, 2009
Update, May 20: Please see Comments to this posting for Xinet’s advice on this.
Update, May 21: Let’s bring Xinet’s reply up to the top here so everyone has the information they need:
Statement from Xinet on OS X 10.5.7 and Portal incompatibility
Apple’s Mac OS X version 10.5.7 updates Apache. It includes a 64 bit version of httpd that doesn’t work well with Portal.
This has happened in earlier versions of OS X 10.5.x and been corrected by Apple before. It’s unclear why it has returned.
A simple fix is to run the Portal installer again. No reconfiguration is required.
Another fix is to remove the 64 bit functionality with “lipo” and restart Apache.
Tech Note 272 on Xinet’s website has complete instructions.
Ti-Fred Torres
Director of Xinet Technical Support
XUG has been made aware of some important information for Xinet WebNative Portal server administrators. Apparently, upgrading Mac Portal servers to MacOS X version 10.5.7 will bring those servers down.
Please consult with your Xinet integrator if you have any questions or concerns about this. They should be able to provide you with instructions to back out of the problem situation.
(Many thanks to our friends at North American integrator IO Integration for the heads up on this.)
May 12th, 2009
Blog posting promoted from user comments
 David Barron I wouldn’t agree with someone who says that Xinet “runs itself”–at least, not effectively. The only way Xinet runs itself is as a very expensive file server. The only static environment is a dead one. The very nature of digital is a constantly changing environment. As soon as your system is perfect, a new version of some software, a new piece of hardware or a new client demand, gums up the works.
The technology expert in creative services is absolutely essential for running and growing the system. IT should only be responsible for the connectivity of the platform as it integrates with their other hardware and software. If you let IT own the system, it will surely remain a dead, expensive file server. I have seen this in several installations.
Xinet has incredible tools,
which in the hands of IT
never get implemented.
There is inspiration (the big idea for productivity/workflow enhancement); trial, error and testing (which requires active use of the design tools, InDesign, Photoshop, etc.); training and change management as well as a little policing of the policies. Then troubleshooting and growing with the changing environment. Xinet has incredible tools, which in the hands of IT never get implemented.
David Barron is a Chicagoland consultant who has worked or consulted for numerous companies that use Xinet in their production workflows.
May 11th, 2009
This is so cool…
Quick, take me to YouTube!
Happy Monday, and have a great week!
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