Descriptive Metadata for Television: An End-to-End Introduction [Paperback]

Mike Cox (Author), Ellen Mulder (Author), Linda Tadic (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240807308 | ISBN-13: 978-0240807300 | Publication Date: April 10, 2006 | Edition: 1

Descriptive Metadata for Television is a comprehensive introduction for television professionals that need to understand metadata's purpose and technology. This easy-to-read book translates obscure technical to hands-on language understandable by real people.

* Must-have information for video production in an IT world
* Introduces metadata to people who have only heard of the word
* Short and introductory--no technical knowledge necessary

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Finally, a book on metadata for the media professional!

About the Author

Mike has working in broadcast Standardisation for the past eight years before which he had 27 years experience in engineering and in operational management with the British Broadcasting Corporation, latterly at their network center in Bristol. BBC Bristol is home of TV feature programs such as "The Antiques Road Show" and of the BBC's world famous Natural History Unit. Mike managed the television resource base, including Post Production, Graphic Design and Television Operations, at this major production center. Mike has been responsible for the introduction of digital television systems into the program making workflow from the earliest days of digital working. He is a UK Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers and Chairman of the SMPTE's Wrappers and Metadata Committee.

Ellen Mulder worked for Dutch public broadcaster NOS for 21 years and moved to its resource company NOB for another 19 years. After 30 years in different functions in Television Production, management and R&D, Ellen became Strategy Consultant for the NOB board of Directors, and has actively participated in various standards organisations for the last 10 years. Ellen was very involved with the transition from black and white to colour television in the Netherlands and, later on, with the enterprise-wide introduction of digital production facilities. Ellen is a Fellow of the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers and served as SMPTE Governor for the Europe, Middle East and Africa for four years.

Linda Tadic has 20 years experience managing and cataloguing film, digital, and broadcasting collections. She is currently Director of Operations for ARTstor, a digital image library. Previous positions include Manager of the Digital Library at Home Box Office (HBO); Digital Projects Coordinator at the Getty Research Institute; and Director of the Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia. She was president of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) from 1998-1999, was chair of its Cataloging Committee from 1994-1997 and is currently chair of its Digital Initiatives Committee. Linda is an adjunct professor at the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program at New York University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (April 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240807308
• ISBN-13: 978-0240807300
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,051,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good information on an obscure issue, November 9, 2006

By 

David B. bogie "bogiesan" (Boise, Idaho USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Descriptive Metadata for Television: An End-to-End Introduction (Paperback)

If you are trying to justify a digital asset management system to your boss, you will need all the help you can get. If you are trying to rationalize the new system to your coworkers, you will need this book (and much more). If you don't know anything about metadata in the creative arts, this book is a decent place to start. It is practical education and the information is generally accessible. the topic gets esoteric quickly, though; DAM is a narrow field of database development and using DAM for television systems adds another level of specialization.
The authors present valuable lessons in the fundamentals of DAM usage, benefits from real world applications of DAM, metadata creation and entry, and descriptions of existing controlled vocabulary systems and taxonomy structures. However, this is only one piece of the metadata and digital asset management puzzle. You will need much more information and research to design, purchase and build a system that works in your facility or company.
What's missing? In-dpeth product evaluations and suggestions on how to select a decent solution. However, this really is not a not a fault of the work; the marketplace for DAM is not standing still so it's impossible to include timely information.

Check out Peter Krogh's "The DAM Bok" and Jens Jacobsen (et al) "Implementing a Digital Asset Management System for animation computer graphics and Web development." There are thousands of white papaers on the Web.

david boise ID

4.0 out of 5 stars Clear, precise introduction to media asset management, February 20, 2007

By 

M. Weland Solomon "Madi" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Descriptive Metadata for Television: An End-to-End Introduction (Paperback)

At first glance, this book resembles a survey course on how to use descriptive metadata to manage digital television assets. Touching on all the basics of metadata from identifiers to schemas to preservation, this comprehensive overview is a must for anyone tasked with implementing a digital asset management project. It offers an introduction to all the emerging standards from the library sciences to industry organizations along with sample metadata sets from several repositories (CNN, UCLA Film and Television Archive to name two).

The real value of this book, however, is in the collaborative efforts of the authors which created this unified whole. This collaboration mirrors the future business partnerships that must solidify in order to realize the promise and potential of metadata: the partnership between engineers, library science/information architects and archivists. As represented by Mike Cox, Linda Tadic and Ellen Mulder, this clearly articulated book itemizes each component necessary to manage the digital representation of a fundamentally collaborative medium.