Digital Asset Management

Digital Asset Management

Introduction

Digital technology has fundamentally altered how we can use and disseminate information for teaching, learning, and research. Digital collections can eliminate many of the physical, economic, and social barriers that have traditionally confined access to information resources within academia and among the general public.  Digitization is an especially powerful tool in increasing our ability to organize, locate, view, control, and share information.
 
Digitization, still in its infancy, is fundamentally different from its analog counterparts both in format and in the filing and storage principles that are peculiar to creating and saving electronic data.  Consequently, digitization projects require an altered perspective from traditional media management and an understanding of new hardware, software, and related tools and skills for staff, faculty, and students who wish to create or manage the production of digital collections.
 
Digitizing seems deceptively simple—scan an image, drop it into PowerPoint, and show it during a class lecture.  While such a simplistic approach suffices on a very small scale, most digital collections that are effective and easy to use represent a considerable commitment in planning and careful attention to process.  Creating such digital collections requires substantial technical support and a basic understanding of best practices to insure usefulness and longevity.
 
This document contains a mix of policies, best practices, and procedures.  It comes from many hours of work by the Digital Image Asset Management Group (see membership at the end of the document) and extensive testing of hardware, software, and best practices.
 
Building a digital image collection represents a significant undertaking.  It may involve a considerable investment of time, hundreds or thousands of files and large amounts of file storage space.  If you currently have or anticipate ever having more than 500 images, it is critical that you follow the guidelines in this document.  You are also strongly encouraged to contact Information Technology before beginning a digital image project.