Note: this post originally appeared on LinkedIn on May 15, 2015


I had the pleasure of attending and participating in the Henry Stewart DAMNY event on May 7 & 8, 2015. I have attended events organized by Henry Stewart in the past, and as always this was run professionally, offered great content, and was an opportunity to network with colleagues across multiple industries and sectors. For a museum nerd like me, it's particularly important to rub elbows (er, brains?) with folks from the private sector who are thinking strategically and implementing practical methods for sharing/selling content. Most inspiring.

I was honored to be asked to lead a set of back-to-back sessions, with a focus on the nonprofit, cultural heritage sector. First up, I had a great time prepping and presenting a session titled "Swimming Through the Digital Flood" with two of my expert staff at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Frances Lloyd-Baynes - Content Database Specialist, and Joshua Lynn - Digital Media Specialist. At the risk of sounding overly-proud, I consider myself and our organization very lucky to have such knowledgeable and dedicated staff on board. Our session provided an overview and update on a strategic, IMLS-funded project we have underway to re-think our entire array of digital assets and how we store and access them. Our presentation is posted on slideshare, in case you'd like to dig into that topic a bit. Spoiler alert: we're working hard on an open source DAMs tool that could be used across our sector, stay tuned for a release in late summer 2015 on Github.

For our first session at DAMNY 2015, the room was packed, and those in attendance seemed to enjoy the presentation.
 
As the 50 minute presentation drew to a close, I invited the attendees to stick around for a deeper discussion facilitated by me. We called it "A Nonprofit Working Session: Learn, Connect, Look Ahead". As you might be able to tell from the title, our objectives included the opportunity to continue the focus on the nonprofit sector, expand the dialog with attendees, and provide opportunities for networking - all grouped around the core topic of digital asset management. We had about 30 takers, so after a couple minutes to catch our breath we dove right in.

It was an honor to be asked to facilitate this second session, and I was determined to make it meaningful to all in attendance. Because we'd just come off a rather fast-paced and information-dense presentation, I was hoping to strike while the iron was still hot. I polled those in the room: What are the DAM-related topics that are most on your mind? What would you like to discuss most? It didn't take long for the group to list five:
  1. Starting from scratch: implementing digital asset management systems, making decisions, sorting through needs
  2. Adoption, or “phase two”: what comes after a DAMs has been launched?
  3. Video: the unique challenges of digital video assets
  4. Metadata: models and standards
  5. Rights management, with particular details specific to the cultural sector
We then assembled into five breakout tables, hurried through introductions, then focused our work into three main themes:
  1. Challenges
  2. Successes
  3. Wouldn't it be great if ...
I gave the breakout groups only five minutes on each theme - yes, that's short, maybe to the point of cruelty, I know. But in my defense the idea was to push them to be succinct, to stay with high-priority issues, and to work together as a group effectively. Luckily, all five groups rose to the occasion.
I asked each breakout group to report back to the entire room, again keeping the pace fast and asking only for the most-salient points. I'll summarize the main messages below, but for those of you who just can't resist that sort of thing, I've compiled more-detailed notes on a shared document.
My top seven take-aways, across all three themes:
  • It's vitally important to assess - honestly - both your situation and your aspiration. Where are you now, and where to you want to go? Figure this out prior to implementing and/or changing your digital asset management approach.
  • Hiring and Learning are key. Get skilled people on staff, train them up, constantly. After all, you don't go deep sea diving without taking a few scuba lessons.
  • DAM is an ecosystem of professional practice, not a software package. Expecting lines of code to fix your problems is always ineffective. However, when you combine strategy + implementation + methodology + change management + professional discipline + ongoing training, it can add up to success and enable your DAM practice to be a dynamic central hub for all content creation and distribution.
  • Metadata: if only we could all agree! My favorite nerd joke here: Metadata standards are just like toothbrushes - we all know that we need them, but no one want to use anybody else's.
  • Video is tough! But guess what? It's growing exponentially. No heads in the sand on this one, people.
  • Managing rights and licensing and permissions is also tough. Most of us don't have a suite of intellectual property lawyers on call.
  • Collaboration benefits us all. The more opportunities we have to share, learn, offer encouragement, and build systems together, the more likely we'll succeed.
I sincerely hope that the dialog will continue. For those in attendance, be sure to reach out to those colleagues you met. Even if you didn't attend, here are some resources and places we can all continue to connect:

Henry Stewart Conferences
The DAM Foundation
Twitter: #musetech
Twitter: #drinkingaboutmuseums (seriously)
Twitter: #DAM (altho this hashtag is also used re: holding back water!)
The Museum Computer Network
Museums and the Web

And I'm sure there are plenty more - perhaps you would add your favorite in the comments below.

In meantime, keep up the DAM good work, and let's promise to keep each other in the loop!