Adaptive Metadata

Adaptive metadata is a way to assign metadata automatically for certain files. For instance, when you upload an audio file, metadata would capture the length of the file, which would not be present when uploading an image.

Alt Text Generation

Alt text is appended to an image or video to describe its content, providing accessibility for the visually impaired through screen readers, appearing when an image doesn't load, and helping search engines understand your page's content. AI visual recognition tools can be used to generate alt text to reduce manual processing; however, AI alt text has the potential to misinterpret the context and/or content of an image.

Automation Engine

A system that allows users to build complex actions with a minimum of human interaction, such as transcoding and copying/moving files, sending notifications to users, running backup and archive tasks, based on watch folders and/or metadata flags.

Archive

An archive is a copy of media meant for long-term storage or in-perpetuity storage on LTO, cloud, or a second set of drives. Ideally, the archive copy should live in a different building than your primary storage for disaster recovery purposes.

Asset Manipulation

Asset manipulation refers to the alteration or editing of an original file to create a new file. The new file may be stored within the DAM or can be downloaded immediately.

Boolean Search

When you think of Boolean Search – think about how you can search on Google. Boolean Search enables you to identify a digital asset based on true or false queries. For example, you can search for all files with the keyword girl, but exclude the keyword family and add a date range.

Cataloging

Cataloging is another word for ‘ingestion’ – or more simply said – the process by which when you upload a digital asset, metadata from the file is automatically extracted, and you can add additional keywords and other metadata so it’s easily found in the future by searching.

Controlled Vocabulary

A controlled vocabulary is a strategically selected and streamlined list of terms users can select from, reducing typos and synonymous entries for quicker searches. It aids in organizing digital file metadata by providing predefined keywords for easier content retrieval, akin to a taxonomy.

Digitize

Taking a physical item (photograph, tape cassette, videotape, film reel) and scanning its contents to create as high-quality a digital version as possible. Since all physical media is susceptible to degradation and damage and the hardware to play them will continue to become obsolete, digitization is an important part of preserving your history.

Faceted Search

Faceted search is a way to refine search results by applying multiple filters, or facets, such as shoot date, file type, director, or anything that will narrow the search results, making it easier for users to find what they're looking for quickly and efficiently.

File Format

A file format refers to the standardized organization and encoding of data within a file, enabling software to interpret and process the content accurately. Examples include JPEG for images, WAV or AIFF for audio, PDF for documents, and HTML for web pages.

Ingest

The process of importing content into a DAM during which the system analyzes technical information from each file and users enter additional metadata.

Keywords (aka Tags)

Keywords are terms or phrases assigned to a digital asset to describe its content, context, or usage. Keywords help users categorize, organize, and search for assets efficiently within a DAM system.

Lightbox

A DAM lightbox is a tool within a digital asset management system for organizing, previewing, and sharing collections of digital assets like images and videos.

Linked Data

Relating multiple types of metadata to each other. A DAM system might allow you to relate fields such that if you select a specific name from a Brand field, you would only see associated values for a more granular Product field. More complex possibilities might allow your DAM to pull metadata from another system (such as Workfront or SharePoint) if you define a specific datapoint to work from (like a unique project number).

Metadata

Information that provides information about other information. Examples include a file’s size and name, the codec used to create it, a description of the contents, keywords of the people or products featured, the date the file was created or published, the people involved in a production, a transcript, or if any sort of rights management is in place.

Ontology

Defines/demonstrates the relationships and properties that exist between concepts in a particular topic. Often used in conjunction with taxonomy, but where taxonomy tends to use hierarchies for classification, ontology is concerned with the context that gives raw information utility and meaning for users and systems.

Pick List

A defined list of terms someone can select from within a field; a type of controlled vocabulary.

Proxy

A proxy is a smaller version of a full-resolution media file that allows for easy web playback and download using compression and sometimes lowering the pixel resolution.

RAW

RAW is a file format in digital photography that stores unprocessed data directly from the camera's sensor, including metadata like exposure settings. It provides photographers flexibility in post-processing without quality loss before converting to formats like JPEG or TIFF.

Restore

The process of bringing files back online that have been moved to some form of long-term storage.

Reuse

Reuse refers to utilizing existing digital assets, such as images, videos, or other media files, for new projects rather than creating new content from scratch, allowing organizations to save time, effort, and resources while ensuring consistency and maximizing the value of their digital content library.

Sidecar

A file, usually a small text file, which contains metadata about the main media file. This might be information about how that main file was edited, how it relates to other files, or manually entered information that a DAM system might be able to use to populate fields.

Tagging

The process of applying human or machine-learning metadata to a record.

Taxonomy

The classification of a subject area, usually using a hierarchy with parent/child relationships between different terms, categories, and sub-categories. Developing a taxonomy is usually an early step in an organized DAM process, to ensure that controlled vocabularies are used when applying metadata to media.

Transcode

To create a new version of a file that preserves the content of a file while changing other factors such as aspect ratio, codec, adding a watermark, etc.

Watch Folder

Any folder you have a system monitoring for changes. It’s common to upload files to a general watch folder and let a DAM system run automated ingest and file moving processes based on how a workflow is designed.

Watermark

A text, graphic, or audio message burnt into a file. Some use cases include making it clear a file is a low-res or proxy version, applying specific branding if there are copyright issues that need to be cleared, or if something is meant only for internal use.