5 Things Thursday: Card Sorting, Get a Job, ALA, DAM, Rock and Roll

Here are 5 things. What a week!

1. Is online card sorting even better than the real thing (meaning real index cards)? I have done both and each has its pros and cons.
2. Here are some tips for new students looking for library jobs. The only other thing I would add to this list is to make the job search like a mandatory course for your last semester/quarter of the MLIS. Make a spreadsheet, set up automatic feeds for job listings, network your patootie off...
3. The Association for Library Collections &Technical Services (ALCTS) and the Library Information Technology Association (LITA), with the support of Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), divisions of the American Library Association, are pleased to announce the formation of the ALCTS/LITA Metadata Standards Committee. Great news for those concerned about bibliographic standards.
4. Here is a glimpse how digital asset management can help with municipal budgets. I don't know about you, but my focus is creative assets leaves me intrigued by how other types of organizations use DAM.
5. Did you know that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a library and archive? From Clive Davis' correspondance to the Soul Asylum collection, this could be very interesting.

 

DAM and the Tao of Taxonomy: Webcast Review

I listened to a great webcast this morning presented by Picturepark featuring David Riecks - photographer, metadata master and creator and owner of the Controlled Vocabulary site amongst other taxonomy related talents.

As I listened with one ear and actually edited metadata on my own DAM system with the other ear (or hand or brain), I was reminded about why I got into digital asset management in the first place and what I find fascinating and challenging about vocabulary.

David also reminded me of several awesome resources for those working with DAM and taxonomy. Certainly, his site has a resource page with all manner of CV marvels, but he also specifically mentioned Taxonomy Warehouse. This site has very useful information including many vocabularies, thesauri and taxonomies that offer suitable starting points for many DAM systems in all manner of industries.

David mentioned the Visual Thesaurus, a super cool tool which creates word trees when you type in a term. One of the audience questions had to do with deciding on categories or broad terms and David mentioned card sorting - an information architect trick using either old fashioned 3x5 index cards or a software application. I have used cards as well as Optimal Sort in the past to great success when deciding on website navigation.

I really enjoyed this webcast and I am pleased to have finally heard David Riecks speak after months reading his material and following his tweets. Bravo!

 

 

5 Things Thursday: DAM, IFLA, Grateful Dead and the Simpsons

Here are 5 things to discuss and consider:

1. From Digitization 101, a video about the Grateful Dead archive at UC Santa Cruz. Although I did not have time to watch it all, it is always fascinating to hear how collections based on popular culture come together from acquisition to processing. And, imagine the crowdsourcing possible with that loyal fan base...
2. Should library catalog metadata be open licensing or public domain and what are the major differences? This post on Creative Commons spells it all out for you as well as making a good case for simply sticking with the CC0 Public Domain Dedication for catalog data. I agree!
3. Just for fun, the difference between data and metadata as illustrated by the Simpsons.
4. Another great DAM article from Henrik de Gyor on version control - a topic that many people do not adequately understand especially in regard to the importance in a DAM system. If I had a penny for every time I tried to explain the difference between a version of an asset and a variation, revision, rendition, etc. I would have many pennies.
5. From the recent IFLA conference in Helsinki, a code of ethics for librarians and other information professionals. An interesting read for any librarian in any country pondering their place in the information dispersal business.

BONUS: Paper from IFLA from Daryl Green on Utilizing social media to promote Special Collections: What works and what doesn't. Practical ideas on harnessing the power of social media to promote collections and break free of the "age-old tweedy perception" of Special Collections.

PacaSearch: Fossilized Mammoth Dung

I've written about PacaSearch -- the federated search engine for the stock photo industry allowing access to over 173 million licensable images. Well, I just read an amusing anecdote on a swell blog Visual Connections.

Seems a photo researcher in the publishing industry was fruitlessly searching for an image of fossilized mammoth dung. When she ran into the PACA folks at the Visual Connections Expo in Chicago they located an image for her in about ten seconds all due to the crass amazingness of the PacaSearch tool.

The interview with Doud Dawirs from PACA in the blog post also reveals that current PacaSearch users are loyal, the simplicity of the interface will not change, support has been added for motion clips and that users should begin by watching the simple tutorial. Another search tip - sometimes it's what NOT to search for that matters most for relevant results.

Social Media Taxonomy

I was really excited to read this blog post by Chris Horton called Insight into the Emerging Taxonomy of Social Media.

I always get pretty excited about the word taxonomy and hoped that perhaps this post would suggest a way to better classify and manage personal interactions betwixt social media tools.

Alas, that is not the case, but this article does present a pretty accurate portrayal of the major players in social media and what differentiates the users and functionalities. As I suspected, I am not the only one perplexed by the efficacy of Google + (I am not partaking) or amazed by the skyrocketing success of Pinterest.

This post confirms that I am using my social media tools like everyone else, even to the point of separating personal and professional connections. Yahoo - how affirming! For social media marketers, this information is useful as well in terms of prioritizing where to expend effort. This is especially relevant for libraries with a social media presence that need a lot of bang for the nonexistent and short staffed buck.

 

 

 

5 Things Thursday: DAM, Music and Negative Librarians

Here are five things to ponder:

1. Does DAM success hinge on integration and vendor support? Irina Guseva of the Real Story Group thinks that "technology fit" and "partner fit" are two key factors. I could not agree more. The technology should fit not only user requirements, but integrate with existing systems or workflows if need be. And, since you'll likely be working closely with your DAM vendor for years to come, they should be responsive and helpful.
2. Should you consider use when choosing a DAM system? Irina Guseva of the Real Story Group stresses the importance of use cases in selection. Anjali Yakkundi, a researcher with Forrester Research Inc. urges DAM customers to identify the business problem they are trying to solve.
3. Are you a digital hoarder? Edward Smith from Extensis may be able to help you. With five simple steps to getting organized and the best place to start, this SXSW submission also includes a handy Slideshare.
4. Are you interested in a Wikipedia-like music encyclopedia? Check out MusicBrainz. You can contribute or use it as a search tool. My test search on Duran Duran brought up all recordings, tracks and even tags like 'new wave, pop, alternative, synth pop.'
5. Sick of negative nellies discouraging new MLIS graduates? Read this post on Hack Library School. Most library professionals have a love of knowledge sharing and are natural mentors, but others feel threatened by the new crop of librarians and change in general. I am going on record here to say thank you to all the librarians I worked with while in library school who shared their knowledge willingly. Now that I am out there, I would love to share mine with anyone who asks too.

Metadata Anyday: Video Advertising Metadata

This post and video from Ashley Swartz of Furious Minds has one of the best lines I've run across regarding metadata recently:

If content is king, then context is his queen.

Swartz discusses the discrepancy between greatly increased online video advertising spending, proliferation of video enabled devices (by 2015 two per every person on earth), and the lack of findability plaguing online video currently.

Tagging with relevant metadata will enable greater use and visibility. Ashley uses a great example of cross promotion via Jennifer Aniston's sweater. Opportunities are being missed because the content is not given proper context via the metadata.

Also valuable are the nods to companies that handle complex tagging for visual imagery like Watchwith and Veenome. File that under "I wish I thought of that idea" and take six minutes to watch this informative video whether you tag video, photos or documents the points are timely and thought provoking.

Bonus Thing: DAM and the Tao of Taxonomy

I just signed up for this amazing sounding webinar later in August (29th) called DAM and the Tao of Taxonomy. Picturepark teams up with some of my favorite folks for these webinars. I really enjoyed the one a few weeks back - Metadata Madness with John Horodyski.

Now, David Riecks (controlledvocabulary.com) and David Diamond (DAM Survival Guide) will be presenting DAM and the Tao of Taxonomy. Highly recommended!

5 Things Thursday: Now with Commentary!

Here are five things and my thoughts. Enjoy!

1. Yahoo! InfoCamp Seattle happens at the University of Washington on October 13th and 14th. This is an amazing opportunity for Seattle area information professionals to gather and even to present their own ideas. I will be trying to present alone or on a panel about Digital Asset Management.
2. Would you like to know 8 things about taxonomy, metadata and IA in SharePoint? Before you yawn heartily, check out this article by Seth Earley who breaks it down into digestible bits (use taxonomy and metadata to improve navigation, browsing and search - hooray!). If you use SharePoint, this is worth a read and a bookmark.
3. I love Adobe Lightroom. Here is a nice video tutorial on using metadata and keywords in LR4 as well as how to actually use the collections and smart collections.
4. Over on Metadata Matters, there is a lovely post about transitional librarians - those used to traditional cataloging practice and the current state of affairs with RDA and metadata and the like. There are links to some other resources including an article from the Cornell site on Metadata and Digital Collections as well as mention of NACO.
5. You know I love tagging, so will leave you with two things for the price of one - a Macworld review of Tagit productivity software and Tagasauris beta.

Metadata Anyday! Garbage In, Garbage Out

Here is an awesome article by Naresh Sarwan on DAMNews about automating asset metadata. In it, he comments on a recent CMSWire article written by a DAM vendor representative. The DAM vendor suggests various ways to automate metadata and/or to get out of adding a lot of metadata to assets.

Naresh seems to share my sentiment that if you put garbage in (i.e. inexact or incomplete metadata) you will get garbage out (bad search, frustrated users, assets in limbo).

The issue that no one wants to address with DAM is that we actually need people to run it and take responsibility for metadata quality. Catalogers with a highly technical background and well versed in metadata and findability. Librarians and archivists are pretty perfect for this, but simply installing a DAM system and populating it with assets is no guarantee that users will find what they are seeking.

"To do metadata entry properly requires a combination of both a literal description of what an asset is (i.e. what you can see) and any business/subject specific terminology. This implies either one person with subject knowledge and picture research skills (e.g. a ‘digital asset manager’) or if that isn’t available, a two-pass approach where the assets are catalogued by staff first and then worked on by expert keyworders who understand about cataloguing assets in a way that allows end users to be able to find them also."

Metadata Anyday! Metadata Games from Dartmouth

Play these addictive image tagging games from Dartmouth digital humanities. But, before you get started (and get hopelessly hooked), read the back story here at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

I love nothing more than crowd sourcing, metadata and a bit of archival material, so this project is really interesting. By creating a series of online games, like Alum Tag, where the goal is to recognize an alum in an old photo, the archivists at Dartmouth have created a method to propel findability.

In collaboration with Mary Flanagan, an artist-designer and digital humanities professor at Dartmouth, Peter Carini, the Dartmouth college archivist obtained a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the project launched.

Naturally, the tags must be vetted by real, live archivists to ensure viability, but the process goes a heck of a lot faster than waiting until there is time to apply full and proper metadata. In the meantime, as the games collect data, the collections open to a wider audience sooner than waiting in line for formal processing.

And, as long as the metadata is of sufficient quality (current stats point to 70-80% of tags are good), this is a win win situation.

 

Mod Librarian Survey Results

Thanks to all of you that participated in the Mod Librarian survey. It really helped me to make some decisions about the blog, from future content concentrations to posting schedule and added features.

Here are the most noteworthy changes and additions:

• No more Metadata Monday. Monday is bad enough without having to talk about metadata. Rather, I want to spend my weekends free of blogging and I always write Metadata Monday on Sunday. So, I would instead like to offer a new feature - Metadata Anyday! Anytime between Tuesday and Friday, a Metadata Anyday item may pop up. This adds spontanaity and up-to-the-minute timeliness.
• I am keeping 5 Things Thursday and adding more personal commentary to links.
• I will endeavor to post more often during the week when I notice relevant content especially on the top topics of digital asset management and metadata.

 

Thanks so much for reading and feel free to email me comments or leave them on my posts any time you'd like.

5 Things Thursday: Mod Librarian Reader Survey and More!

Here are five things to do and discuss:

1. Please help me out by taking the extremely brief yet insightful Mod Librarian Reader Survey.
2. What is an SMMI tool and do you need them for social media analytics?
3. Check out Ray K. Metzger at the Museum of Contemporary Photography site.
4. How can you use Pinterest to help your patrons?
5. Here's a cool webcast invitation from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers on motion picture metadata.