Stock Artists Alliance Releases 'Metadata Manifesto'

Those involved with digital images share the challenge of tracking and managing their own expanding collections as well as their clients”?. Embedding metadata into image files”?and preserving that data through to the end user”?is the key to addressing these challenges. Since metadata is typically under-used and under-supported, however, the Stock Artists Alliance (SAA) has proposed the adoption of a set of guiding principles and action items, and published these in its recent report, “A Metadata Manifesto.”?

The manifesto outlines how missing/incomplete metadata can waste resources, lead to lost opportunities, increase liability, and erode intellectual property rights. And, in order for metadata to be effective, it must be incorporated into the workflow at all phases of image production, distribution, and use. The SAA report proposes these three guiding principles:

“? Metadata is essential to identify and track digital images;

“? Ownership metadata must never be removed; and

“? Metadata must be written in formats that are understood by all.

In order for this system to work, the report states, image creators must accurately enter the metadata before image files are disseminated. Vital metadata to incorporate include ownership and creator contact information, rights data, captions, and keywords. And once created, the metadata must be preserved with the image by default

The manifesto”?which is available for download from the SAA website”?also details specific action items that the SAA says must start today”?including measures for industry leaders, image creators, image distributors, image users, and technology providers to implement.

STOCK ARTISTS ALLIANCE
www.stockartistsalliance.org