Copying Anselm Hannemann’s Web Development Reading List format, here’s the last month’s Digital Asset Management articles which had a lasting impression on me – picked from the constant stream of blog posts you can see float by on Planet DAM. For more curated DAM links, see the Digital Asset Management.com Links and Tracy Wolfe’s 10 things on the 10th.

Ralph Windsor writes at length about DAM in 2030 on DAM News – including an excellent analysis of the DAM UI usability dilemma: The minimalist interfaces vendors “currently over-obsess about” are hard to reconcile with the inherent complexities of DAM. And vendors may not even be trying to get this right since “devising applications that are both powerful and simple is expensive”.

DAM system user experience (UX) is what Theresa Regli talks about too. While she says vendors “are much better at marketing than user experience”, she sees UX being a hot topic among DAM vendors, and even names some which are getting it right.

If you enjoy screenshot/screencast-heavy DAM product walkthroughs as much as I do (as UX case studies), here’s Antra Silova and Linda Rouse on the Top 10 Canto Flight Features, Meg Prater on Brandfolder Advanced Video, and Kristin Twiford’s look at the new Libris Portal.

Getting deeper into UI details, Matt Piwowarski shares the why and how of a feature redesign in Image Relay.

Elizabeth Keathley has lots of good advice for the DAM Choice Committee on how to choose the right DAM system. To “DAM Champ” Robin Parisse, self-service customization and integration are among the most important factors in selecting a DAM vendor – choose a vendor who offers “out of the box configuration” and an “agile API that is easy to build off of”. Zapier might be an interesting option for integrating the DAM with other systems (a quick Planet DAM search shows which vendors support it already) – here Jose Proenca describes the new Widen Collective Zapier interface.

Laura Fu does a nice introduction to metadata, while Ralph Windsor argues that the more advanced asset/metadata model in DAM provides more value than the generic ECM approach. On Digital Asset Management.com, “DAM Champ” Kathleen Cameron knows how to get CEOs interested in DAM – can they “find images for their slide deck without calling anybody”?

Ian Matzen reminds us of the need for information governance – curation, not hoarding.

Fotoware CEO Christopher Frenning recommends that “DAM vendors should start looking at replacing their own file management layers and leverage the powerful platform of Box” instead.

Extensis collaborates with the IPTC on a video metadata standard.

Finally, a nice writeup of the pros and cons of Adobe’s AEM Assets by Theresa Regli at the Real Story Group.

I’m looking forward to this month’s DAM writing!