CM Content Management
A system used for organizing, managing and editing digital content.

WCM Web Content Management
A sub-set of CMS used more specifically as a web application for the managing, editing and storing of HTML content.

ECM Enterprise Content Management
Content management within an enterprise which provides the necessary tools, methods, skills and strategies needed to manage, store and edit the company’s digital content.

MAM Multimedia Asset Management
A sub-set of digital asset management, which more specifically entails DAM with multimedia content.

MDM Master Data Management
The method and strategy of centralizing data within an organization in order to define and manage information making searching, consolidating and distributing data more efficient.

SEM Search Engine Marketing
The process of utilizing search engine visibility as a form of internet marketing to promote one’s company.

SEO Search Engine Optimization
The process of improving a website’s search engine ranking through a variety of techniques.

WM Web Management
A sub-set of a Content Management System that applies to content derived from the internet.

XML Extensible Markup Language
A specification used for writing structured data on the Web.

RDF Resource Description Framework
A framework for composing languages to allow the integration of metadata.

ROI Return on Investment
A measure of net profits generated by a company.

SaaS Software-as-a-Service
A software distribution model giving a provider the capability to develop and operate software for customers to use as a service. Often time referred to as software on demand because of the consumer’s ability to access it whenever needed.

IPTC International Press Telecommunications Council
An association of the world’s major news agencies and news industry vendors, headquartered in London, England. The IPTC defines a set of standards for improved news exchanged.

XMP Extensible Metadata Platform
A platform that creates a set of standards for applications to describe, create and store metadata files.

EXIF Exchangeable Image File
Data attributes to an image detailing the image file format used by digital cameras.

VAM Video Asset Management
A sub-set of digital asset management, which more specifically entails the previewing, editing, storing and managing of video content.

BAM Brand Asset Management
Management of marketing and sales related content by providing a database wherein content spanning from marketing, advertising, promotions and sales is stored.

DM Document Management
Very closely related to Content Management, Document Management provides a system used for organizing, managing and editing digital content. However, Document Management refers specifically to electronic documents and images.

BRM Brand Resource Management
A system designed for a brand owner to better streamline processes and speed up the exchange of information with their business partners through the utilization of a shared database.

MCM Marketing Content Management
A system used to manage content involving web marketing and promotion tools used for the acquisition of customers as well as for building brand loyalty.

KM Knowledge Management
The process of managing, organizing and storing knowledge data and information within a company. Knowledge Management allows for easier implementation and sharing of information among employees.

DRM Digital Rights Management
Copyrighting digital files within a system in order to control who is accessing the digital content as well as how it is being used.

WebDAM Web-Based Digital Asset Management
The most cutting edge, cloud-based digital asset management solution by WebDAM Solutions.

Controlled Vocabulary
http://controlledvocabulary.com/

The Controlled Vocabulary website, founded by David Riecks, contains a wealth of information on building vocabulary lists and keyword hierarchies for describing images in databases.  Available for purchase on the Controlled Vocabulary website is The Controlled Vocabulary Keyword Catalog which provides creatives with a thorough list of terms (over 11,000 to date) across a broad range of themes that can be utilized to annotate images accurately and consistently.

International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC)
http://iptc.org/

IPTC is a consortium of news agencies, publishers and industry vendors that develop and maintain the popular IPTC photo metadata standard which defines information such as copyright, location, and keywords. The IPTC website is a technical resource containing information about the latest IPTC standards as well the Photo Metadata Roadmap, describing current and future plans for photo metadata standards.

dpBestflow
http://dpbestflow.org/

An initiative of the American Society of Media Photographers, dpBestflow provides information on different kinds of metadata as well as how to handle your metadata issues. A few examples of the topics covered on the dpBestlow website include: metadata templates, extensible metadata platform (XMP), global positioning system data (GPS), ratings, and metadata handling among many others. This website serves as a great educational tool for anyone looking to get more insight into metadata.

The Photo Metadata Project
http://www.photometadata.org/

Fueled by their commitment to promote an industry wide use of standardized metadata in all digital files, the Stock Artists Alliance in partnership with the Library of Congress created the Photo Metadata project. By reporting on metadata issues and creating online resources and educational tools, the Photo Metadata Project strives to exemplify the ease and benefits of embedding metadata in digital photos.

Abobe’s Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP)
http://www.adobe.com/products/xmp/

Adobe XMP is another popular and widely adopted embedded metadata offering support across a number of file formats including tiff, eps and jpg. Adobe’s XMP website includes technical information on the XMP standard as well as a list of vendors that support XMP metadata.

Photo metadata can be a bit convoluted and overwhelming at first glance, especially since different standards exist for storing it. Things don’t get easier when you add in different applications that read, write, and handle metadata in various ways. Still, a consistent element exists with all photo metadata, and these simple concepts can help anyone get more out of their photos.

What is metadata?
A simple and very common definition of metadata is data about data. However, I much prefer the definition from Everything is Miscellaneous: Metadata is what you know and data is what you’re looking for.

What is photo metadata?
Photo metadata is a specific type of metadata that refers to the attributes of a digital photo. It is different from other types of metadata due to its embedded nature – photo metadata is typically embedded within the image header for additional functionality and usefulness. This provides flexibility, allowing the metadata details to travel with the photo independent of the application or environment. In other words, photo metadata is interoperable.

Let’s look at an example of photo metadata in action. If a photographer uses Adobe Lightroom for post-processing his images, he can add key metadata details such as location, copyright, and keywords using Lightroom’s captioning tools. He can then send the image to a client that uses Apple Aperture. The client can open the image in Aperture, and even though the application is different, the metadata is still accessible.

Without photo metadata standards, this simply wouldn’t be possible – each application would read and write in application-specific fields, meaning that information couldn’t be exchanged between Lightroom and Apple Aperture. It’s easy to imagine how this would create headaches for everyone involved.

What are photo metadata standards?
Photo metadata standards describe consistent available metadata fields so information can cross platforms. The standards provide instructions for application developers on how to read and write information to and from the image. The most common and widely adopted metadata standards are EXIF, IPTC, and XMP.

Why are there several different standards?
In any industry, communication is easier when there is a single standard to use. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened here, and it’s really just because that’s the way things evolved. The good news for consumers is that only application developers really have to deal with the different standards. As a user, the standards provide different types of information and benefits and most software applications handle these standards fairly seamlessly, providing the benefits of each sans the confusion. Let’s take a closer look at each of these standards:

EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format): EXIF is metadata embedded in an image by a digital camera when the image is first captured. EXIF data includes information such as camera manufacturer, model, focal length, color space, date, and time. Most EXIF fields are write-protected and can’t be edited by software applications; this is because any editing or updating of these fields would impact the integrity of the original photo capture information. EXIF metadata is supported in JPEG and TIFF files.

IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council): IPTC is the standard that defines information such as copyright, location, and keywords. Originally developed for news agencies in the 1990s, IPTC allows different organizations (such as news agencies) to exchange photo information by adding the metadata using photo management and capturing tools. IPTC metadata is supported in JPEG and TIFF files and has seen wide adoption by third-party software vendors.

XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform): XMP is an XML-based standard that supports a wider range of file formats (including JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PDF, AI, EPS, and DNG files). Developed by Adobe, XMP is generally easier to work with for software applications because of the extensible XML format. While XMP is viewed as a better platform by many in the industry, Adobe understood the need to work with previous standards. Because of this, Adobe integrated IPTC metadata into XMP to prevent older images from being left behind.

Despite the best intentions of Adobe to integrate IPTC into XMP, there’s still a gap in terms of compatibility. Some applications support XMP, some support legacy IPTC, and some support both. To make things more complicated, some applications may offer different levels of support for these standards (e.g. reading from both but only writing to one).

Other applications, WebDAM included, offer an all-encompassing solution by writing to both standards. This helps keep them in sync. For example, if you wanted to put metadata in your photo regarding country of origin, you could save “country=USA.” The application would simultaneously save the metadata to the legacy IPTC “country” field and the XMP “country” field for maximum flexibility regardless of application.

In terms of software, choices exist when it comes to compatibility. The popular Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, etc.) support EXIF, IPTC, and XMP, and even includes different types of functionality for handling images and associated metadata. Outside of Adobe’s products, hundreds of other applications, ranging from editing tools to photo database and digital asset management systems, support at least one of these standards.

Given the huge investment involved with annotating an image archive, your application of choice should include support for these widely adopted standards. The wrong choice could create a ripple effect through your digital media pipeline, forcing you to backtrack and make retroactive updates and corrections. If you’re considering software that uses proprietary standards for handling metadata, it’s best to let it be – those types of applications will only cost you valuable time and money in the end.