I was at Henry Stewart New York along with many other sponsors, vendors, and attendees. It is one of the largest gatherings of people in the DAM industry. Here are some observations.
This DAM event is outgrowing the venue. With more than 400 attendees (not counting exhibitors), space in the hall was at a premium, especially to sit down at a table for lunch.
We are seeing many more smart young people in the industry - a new generation moving in and taking over.
More focused on content operations than traditional DAM as a library or repository. This operational focus for DAM borrows principles from supply chain management and logistics.
AI and data are still conundrums getting sorted out in a variety of ways.
Lodging in Midtown Manhattan is ridiculously expensive.
The big questions, with zealots on both sides, were whether to store finished assets as well as work-in-progress assets in the DAM repository. Another major topic was whether AI will do away with metadata tagging. Yes, data is very important, in fact, AI is dependent on data, but so are analytics and reporting.
But I wonder about data quality. If you have worked with a database, you know the rule; garbage in garbage out. Large Language Models (LLM) trained on massive datasets are subject to data even if it is low-quality or bad data. Problems can arise from outdated information and factual errors, biased outputs, and lack of contextual understanding. As DAM metadata becomes part of these LLMs, the quality and accuracy of that data is critical. I think that DAM will need to take on content quality assurance to validate and cleanse the content assets to ensure metadata integrity. And with Generative AI looming on the horizon, we need to figure out now how to deal with provenance, ownership, and usage rights.
John Pagano’s keynote session on “Sliming Success - How the Nickelodeon Digital Team Transformed DAM with AI and a Kid-First Philosophy” was brilliant. He shared a phenomenal story about his successes in leveraging data and AI in streamlining and establishing data-driven workflows to enhance the productivity of producers. The results showed an increasing amount of viewing time for SpongeBob across all the global markets. Later, I had a great discussion with him about his efforts at Nickelodeon to increase the key KPI of viewing time.
With a laser focus on increasing that metric, what does it mean for the intended viewers? Since the audience is primarily children, is it a good thing to watch SpongeBob in ever-increasing amounts? Social media companies have been criticized for intentionally tweaking algorithms making it more addictive and even harmful to kids. If you’re a parent, you know this is a tough question.
Mr. Pagano acknowledged the issue and concerns, noting that Nickelodeon’s programming strives for wholesome quality content and there are guardrails that Nickelodeon maintains – to protect the brand and be a positive entertainment choice for the family. His efforts with the production process and data to increase the amount of content available and balancing that in the context of family, parenting, and kid’s entertainment choices is not easy. The good news is the awareness that this question is important for the organization. My takeaway? It’s essential to understand content in context, the audience, intent, and effect, but also that content does have consequences as well.
About the Author: John Price is a marketing professional with more than 20 years of experience. He is passionate about the practical application of technology and understands the value of content and its prime directive to help organizations move the needle.
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