EDAM Exploratorium Digital Asset Management Recollections Image by

EDAM Exploratorium Digital Asset Management • • • Recollections Image by N. Rodger IMLS funded 2001 -2003 Canto Cumulus Sun Sparc. Station 20 2 fte staff

Digital Assets • Science, Art and Human Perception • Hand-on science • 11, 000 assets • Images, PDFs, Word files, audio and video files • Medium Resolution. 25 -. 5 Mpix • High Resolution 6 Mpix Pinscreen Faces Image by A. Snyder

Audiences • • • Salt Piece Image by A. Snyder Educators Museum Partners Commercial Media Journalists Historical Researchers Staff

Departments • Media Production and Marketing: Learning Tools, Photography, Public Information, • Teacher Professional Development: Teacher Institute • Exhibit Services Rotunda at Night Image by S. Schwartzenberg

Catalogs • • Fracture in Granite Image by P. Doherty Central Catalog Learning Tools Photos (2) Marketing

Central vs. Departmental Catalogs • Central: best quality, both high and med resolution; full indexing; available to all staff and partly to external audiences. Copyright issue. • Department Catalogs: range of quality and resolution; partial indexing; limited availability. Designed to help departments control access to their material. Fracture in Granite Image by P. Doherty

Conceptual Framework Categories / Keywords Light Walk Image by S. Schwartzenberg • • By Audience By Conceptual Area By Exhibit Name By Phenomena By Date By Place By Event

Field Structure - 1 Bubbles Image by S. Schwartzenberg • • Asset Creator Other Contributor Caption Exhibit Builder Person Portrayed Master Format Master Location Asset Quality

Field Structure -2 • • • Copyright Model Release Form Questions Citation Categories Metadata automatically entered by Cumulus Bubbles Image by S. Schwartzenberg

Dissemination • NT Network (internal) • Cumulus Web Publishing Module (external) Brine Shrimp Ballet

Surprises • Took a long time to get started • Processing/Indexing time • Website blues • Less time to evaluate Anti-Gravity Mirror

Barriers Bubble Demonstrates Osmosis Image by S. Schwartzenberg • Physical organization of assets • Territoriality • Lost / Damaged assets • Lack of shared expertise • Museum priorities: creation vs. organization • Lack of intellectual property policies

Solutions • Help staff organize • Have patience with territorial feelings -new system will assert itself • Train and retrain; document; project website • Museum slowly changing priorities • New policies coming; slow train Argon Candle Image by N. Roger

Pleasant Surprises • Popularity of the digital assets with staff and external users • Creation of two new web resources designed for two external audiences Cracks in a Door Image by S. Schwartzenberg

Exnet

Press Office

More Surprises • Democratization of asset creation • Some of our best assets were created by non-media department staff Spinning Blackboard Movie by Katherina Audley

Even More Surprises • New resources to come out of project include exhibit crossreference database, event/exhibition database Colored Shadows Image by A. Snyder

Hidden Treasures Circumzenithal Arc Image by P. Doherty • Paul Doherty Collection • Staff scientist’s personal images • Demanded by teachers • Filled collection gaps: geology and astronomy • Agreement with him took over 1 year to craft; now a model for future agreements with staff

Letting Go Air Rings Image by S. Lani • What’s lost is lost; prevent future loss • We spent much more time on infrastructure than we intended; time well spent. • We need more time and expertise for testing and evaluation phase

Looking Forward Torn Edge of Typing Paper • More customization to external audience needs • More evaluation • Concentration on audio and video assets • New audience: scientific researchers