In a world that is constantly finding new ways to create media files and delivery systems, how do you keep track of it all? How do you store it and find it later? This is the new world of Digital Asset Management (DAM). Some of you may be chuckling and thinking of funny jokes you would never say in public, or some may be offended and will soon be drafting a letter to the editor to have me excommunicated for using the word DAM. No offense is intended. DAM is the defacto acronym of this emerging industry and how it is recognized.
Content and Assets
First, let's define what Digital Asset Management is and what it is not. A digital asset is media created in digital form, that has value in itself, and can be created in multiple digital formats. An asset is used to create content and can be repurposed for different uses. It has value within itself, whether it is in stand-alone form or used in various content forms. For example, the name on this magazine and the graphics to create it are an asset. The images used in the support of the articles are assets. The fonts are assets. The component images used to make up the advertising images are assets. This is a little tricky, though: this article is considered to be content, but may be considered an asset if it is used to support the online version or may be used again in an issue featuring all Digital Asset Management topics. The entire magazine and all the content within it could be considered an asset. The components that support the text to make it readable and attractive are mostly assets that make up the content.
You may be wondering when we're going to get to the part of this article where you learn about the best software and storage systems. You have a lot of media that needs to be stored and you need something that is going to help you find it after you upload it to your local drive(s) or server. First you and your church need to decide if you're trying to solve a storage (repository) problem, or do you simply need a better way to find what's in that repository once it's in there? Or both? Consider how you find media now. Do you have folders on your laptop where you keep your images, graphics and videos? Maybe they are organized by what you used in one project. Maybe they are organized by media format. Maybe they are just all over your desktop. You probably also have media on external hard drives with funny names on them. If so, congratulations! You have a DAM. It's more like a desktop DAM-one where only you know what all the file names mean and where that media is located. If so, you are the official software interface for locating the media.
Solving the Jigsaw Puzzle
So let's start with defining the problem to be solved. There are many answers and variables to this question. For the scope of this article, we will start with the basics. You may need to ask yourself if your situation simply requires more storage space or do you need a centralized storage system (repository) for organizing a lot of media that can be accessed by several people at the same time?
If you need to give your team, staff or pastor access to see what you are working on or to decide which video clip or image should be chosen, your situation may be different. You may need a better file structure for all the different media formats you're working with. In either case, you may be trying to solve an IT/IS problem only, not a storage or filing problem.
Regardless of whether your church is large or small, technically sophisticated or not, you should always consider a higher-level view by looking at your overall ministry, how it operates and how it goes about its "business" as it relates to the use of media. This will help you identify what problem(s) you are really trying to solve-or never thought about-and develop a long-range plan for how you handle media in your church in the future.
Now let's add in strategy questions to help you decide what kind of DAM process you may need to find the best solution for software and hardware for your budget and growth.
Who are the stakeholders, owners and managers who will depend on the media? How do they use the media? They may be your video team, communications team, bookstore, web master, online sales. Who else depends on the media that may be outside of your church? What media formats do they use? How do they currently access the media? Do they ask you to provide copies? Do they also make copies of files on the server to their own folders? Of course, the IT department loves seeing their server storage gobbled up by 12 file copies of video at 18 GB each, of the same weekend service because "I need my own copy.".
In addition to providing content for your services, do you support content on the church website for streaming, downloads, for print? Do you create DVDs or CDs for your bookstore to sell? Are you pushing content to mobile devices? Do you need your DAM to track and secure copyright and rights managed media?
Here is an example that may help you discover and map out how you use media and who needs it. (see nearby graphic)
If you create a map like this for every function that creates digital media, you may be amazed at the level of operation you are working at. A map like this will also help you communicate the situation to your leadership in the budget process.
How many users will need access? How will users access the system through an internal network, Web? How much security is needed? Will the system be able to expand as your operational needs grow, or as others realize the value of the DAM and want to integrate into the system? Is it scalable? Will the system be easily backed up? If so, how many back-ups and who will schedule each back up? How much support will you need? Does this support come from external or internal resources?
The answers will put you well on your way to developing a road map for your organization to understand how it manages the digital assets you and your teams create for retrieval and future use. You will be able to communicate with the vendors or service providers about your church's digital asset management needs as you ask them how their system(s) solve your unique issues before you buy. You will be able to demonstrate savings both in time and money as you increase efficiency when searching and retrieving assets, and you will reduce duplication of efforts when re-creating or purchasing assets you may already have.
The answers will also help you determine how much budget you will need or can afford.
Trying to buy a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system solution without a strategy and without an understanding of the problem you are trying to solve could lead you down an expensive path that will eventually lead to an orphaned or abandoned system. Developing a strategy for managing the digital media for your church is good stewardship. It will help make your digital media widely accessible for others to use or repurpose. It will also reduce time and money in the long run.
The church has been a leader in asset management for thousands of years. With proper planning we will be leaders in the digital world as well.
--BIO--
Jim Sippel serves as copyright manager in the digital asset management department at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill. He is also executive in charge of production, video.
