Monthly Archives: March 2008
Destination ImagiNation uses Extensis Portfolio to manage event images
March 31st, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
We work with a wide variety of organizations at Extensis – from the largest Fortune 500 companies to sole proprietorships. In addition to for-profit companies, we also work with a wide variety of non-profit groups who each pursue causes close to their hearts.
We recently donated our Extensis Portfolio software to a group who works to foster creativity in young people. The group, Destination ImagiNation® organizes competitive events that allow students to work on problem-solving and creative skills.
I asked Wayne Kurtzman who volunteers as the Web Team Lead for Destination ImagiNation to tell us a little about his organization and how they utilize Extensis Portfolio to help them with their events.
“My team of volunteer photographers have the unique job of capturing the world’s largest student creativity tournament, Destination ImagiNation Global Finals. The top student creativity teams from most states and various countries advance through various tournaments to Global Finals.
Destination ImagiNation, or “DI” is a non-profit, school-friendly program where teams of up to seven students solve complex Challenges that incorporate core school subjects with a focus that is based in Technical and Mechanical Design, Structural and Architectural Design, Science, Theatrical/Literary/Fine Arts, Improvisation, Research, or International Studies – or a blend of several disciplines. This is the ultimate “kids hands-on; adults hands-off” program, as all the ideas, planning and execution must be done solely by the students.
No team solution is the same – an insane task for the photographers and videographers (and is part of the fun!). Their pictures must tell the story of Global Finals and DI – and transcend language, as many teams come from non-English speaking countries.
When we arrive at the University of Tennessee, host site for the 8,000+ students at Global Finals, we have a matter of hours to setup and test the infrastructure before the first photos start coming in. This requires us to use Portfolio to help us get everything done. Here’s our basic workflow:
- The photographer shoots, then catalogs the images with Portfolio using the Copy/Move/Rename feature to uploads their photos from their camera’s flash drive to a shared drive.
- From the large batch of images added to the catalog, the photographer uses Portfolio to create a gallery of images that are worthy to publish on the web.
- For the selected images, the photographer adds pertinent metadata: a full description of the images including school, city, state/province and country of children in the photo – no small feat with thousands of children at an event!
- When the photographer is satisfied that the gallery of images is ready for publication, the photographer then renames the gallery to start with an underscore. This puts it at the top of the list of galleries, and indicates to the editors that the gallery is ready for the next step.
- The editor takes the gallery of original images. as well as the preview images created by Extensis Portfolio, and implements a custom CSS for a web page that is compatible with the Linux web server.
- The entire package of images, preview, originals and HTML is then FTP’ed to the site and linked.
In addition to the competition, many other events ranging from speakers to an alumni meeting to sponsor showcases all add to the positive atmosphere where creativity is expected – and needs to be captured, cataloged, captioned and published. Quickly.
The down side of the methodology is tweaking something requires the album be republished and uploaded again. The team, made up of professional, amateur and talented program alumni, has gotten very good at getting their photos right the first time. Now, less than 0.05% of photos ever need adjustments to the text, image or otherwise.
The up side is huge: We have well organized photos with tags that can be easily recalled when making marketing collateral, need a web site image or a photo for a sponsor.
After the evening shoots (around midnight), the day’s photos are reviewed to see if we missed any good ones in our rush to get new content to the web.
During the event itself, GlobalFinals.org has over 10,000 unique visitor sessions an hour from families and classrooms around the US and the world. We compliment the photos with several live video streams, including that of opening and closing ceremonies.
We’re proud to help Destination ImagiNation with this event and wish everyone involved the best of success. If you’re interested in the event, be sure to check out the event site and volunteer opportunities.
- What: Destination ImagiNation Global Finals
- Web: www.GlobalFinals.org
- When: May 21st through May 24th
- Where: University of Tennessee
- To Volunteer: click here
For photos of last year’s event check out d2k7.globalfinals.org.
More information about Destination ImagiNation can be found at DestinationImagiNation.org.
Converting to Extensis Portfolio from Canto Cumulus
March 28th, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
It seems that we’re getting more and more inquires lately about converting to Portfolio Server™ from Canto® Cumulus®. There are of course many reasons why you might choose to switch to a digital asset management solution using Extensis Portfolio (award winning interface, excellent technical support, MySQL® 5 support, among many others) but I’m not here to pitch you with a hard sell. To see if Portfolio meets your requirements, and if you’d like to upgrade from Canto, check out all of the info over on the Portfolio pages of our website.
To whom I’m speaking here are those of you who are using Cumulus and are entirely ready to make a change. So, you’re ready, right. Yet, you’re probably the most concerned about how you’ll get data out of Cumulus and into Extensis™ Portfolio. After all, you did all that work entering metadata, why would you want to lose it?
The good news is, when converting you basically have three options. Which option you choose depends upon how your assets are stored, and how much work that you want to perform in-house.
Option #1 – Have Extensis perform the conversion for you
If you have a large quantity of assets that aren’t available online, or aren’t interested in the conversion process, it is possible for the Extensis Integration and Consulting Services (ICS) team to perform the conversion for you. Of course, this option is not without cost, but depending upon your knowledge and needs it may be the best choice.
Requirements:
- Willingness to help us understand your workflow to ensure an effective and useful conversion.
Process:
During the conversion process the Extensis ICS team uses a variety of specially developed processes to convert Cumulus catalogs into Portfolio catalogs. They can even convert Cumulus catalogs into powerful SQL-based Portfolio Server catalogs.
For more information on the upgrading process, you can contact any of our corporate sales reps, or check out our ICS options at the Extensis website.
Option #2 – Do it yourself with online assets
If you have all of your assets stored online, and don’t mind doing some basic metadata importing and exporting you might be able to do all of the work yourself.
Requirements:
- All files stored in an online, accessible location.
- Good knowledge of required metadata.
- Confidence with metadata export and import.
Basic overview of procedure:
- Install and configure Portfolio.
- Create a catalog.
- Using the online location of your files, catalog all of your files with Portfolio. If you are using Portfolio Server, this can be done automatically with AutoSync.
- Export all necessary metadata from Canto Cumulus.
- Import the metadata into Portfolio.
- Recreate any categories as required.
Option #3 – Do it yourself with offline assets
So, what happens if you have a quantity of offline assets (on CD, DVD, external drive, etc.) yet still want to do the conversion yourself? You can perform the conversion and recreate all of your preview files with a bit of help from those around your office. Distributing the task of re-inserting all of the discs in your catalog among many people can minimize each person’s effort and speed up the process exponentially. This option requires Portfolio Server.
Requirements:
- Offline files on CD, DVD or other media each with a unique disc name.
- Good knowledge of required metadata.
- Confidence with metadata export and import.
- Trustworthy coworkers or friends to which you’ll use in this distributed method of cataloging assets.
Basic overview of procedure:
- Install and configure Portfolio Server.
- Create a catalog.
- Catalog any online files with Portfolio.
- Distribute your offline media (CD, DVD, etc.) to your helpers.
- Have your helpers catalog their stack of media.
- Export all necessary metadata from Canto Cumulus.
- Import the metadata into Portfolio.
- Recreate any categories as required.
If all of this sounds a bit overwhelming, don’t worry. We’ve performed many Canto to Portfolio conversions and are confident in our technology. If for whatever reason you would rather not perform the conversion yourself, please feel free to call our corporate sales department. They can talk through your specific needs and how our ICS team may be able to help you.
Working at Extensis – won’t you be our Senior Accountant?
March 27th, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
Employee turnover at Extensis is pretty low. When people come to Extensis, they tend to stay for quite a while. So, it’s only on rare occasions that I’m able to announce new openings, and well, today is as rare as a three dollar steak.
Having recently lost one of our crack accounting team to the cherubic smiles of her newborn, we’re currently looking for a Senior Accountant to join our team.
If you have an extra special interest in holidays and are willing to go the extra mile for our annual Halloween decorating contest, you just might have an extra added edge. The marketing department has put the smack-down on the accounting department for the past two years, so I’m sure that they’d love to add someone with a creative flair to boost their chances.
If you think that you’ve got what it takes to wrangle the numbers for us, drop us a line with your resume and such over on our website.
OpenType and You (yes, you!)
March 27th, 2008 by Kelly Guimont
I came across a nice analysis of OpenType from Hoefler & Frere-Jones where they talk about the pros and cons of moving to OpenType. Part of the Font Management Best Practices talk that I give talks about the different types of fonts, and while I would love to get in-depth about the different flavors and open up a whole discussion about that, most of the time I only get an hour for the whole thing so I have to speak briefly about each type of font and then move on.
Most importantly they are not Adobe or Microsoft (responsible for the OpenType standard) but they are a foundry with a lot of knowledge and experience so it feels less like you’re being sold a whole new set of fonts and more like someone who just knows a lot more than you is laying it out the way it is.
I am thrilled to pieces about OpenType, mostly because at my house we have both Mac OS and Windows in varying flavors and with OpenType I can make certain that anything I’m working on will look the same no matter what machine I’m at. I don’t have to worry about making sure the same font is available in a Windows version and I don’t have to worry about matching up pieces of PostScript either. OpenType strikes me as a very obvious thing that should have been done ages ago. I’m glad it finally happened.
If you want to know more, you can check out Seneca Design’s list of OpenType resources, and some neat and interesting tips from CreativeTechs about OpenType and things you may not have known it could do.
How to fire an agency
March 25th, 2008 by Amanda Paull
I fear this may get me tarred and feathered… But I’m a realist. I’ve worked with agencies of all sizes and this is simply a necessary evil of my job. You know in your gut that I’m right: Agency relationships go stale. Even the best teams fizzle out after some time. Even the ubiquitous Business Week did an article on this topic last Summer. My crystal ball says: The bigger the delta between agency mass and client size, the faster the fizzle. It goes something like this:
little + little: you part friends over a beer and stay ‘LinkedIn’
little + big: that gig was a long-shot. cherish the memories.
big + little: everyone knew it wouldn’t last. (well, everyone but you.)
This is not limited to creative agencies: PR is notorious for this. I’ve ‘released’ more PR agencies than I’ve hired (figure that one out). So imagine how happy I was to uncover DearAgency.com. Yes, it is a ‘Dear John’ service for clients who wish to fire their agency. Very funny. Simply answer a few questions and it will generate a ‘dear agency’ letter that you can forward on. It offers pithy choices like:
What animal has been suggested to “take your brand to the next level?”
- monkey
- lizard
- meerkat
Seriously, remember that just because an agency isn’t cutting it now does not mean they were a genuinely bad choice at the start. Like all relationships, these things come in waves. At the moment you’re in a very deep trough.
(That line is from a movie. Name it and I’ll send you an uber Extensis tchotchke bag with some funny creatures from the land of the rising sun…)
DearAgency.com is courtesy of ‘Citrus Marketing‘. (Of course.)
Feeling Competitive?
March 25th, 2008 by Nicole Andergard
The publishers of DG magazine – formerly Design Graphics – are currently calling for entries into their annual publication DG Portfolio 2008. As always, the DG Portfolio will showcase a wide range of images from around the world.
The DG Portfolio 2008 will feature rich computer graphics, imagery from design and advertising studios, internet and new media design, photography and illustration. The contest is open to designers, design studios,advertising agencies, corporate marketing departments, clients,digital artists, graphic designers, photographers and illustrators. If you are in this market, check it out as it is a great vehicle for exposing your talent to a worldwide audience. The deadline is April 11, 2008 – entry form can be found here.
The benefits of defining a naming convention when managing your files
March 24th, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
When cataloging files with in any digital asset manager, it is best to start out by organizing your files by filename. To start out, your files may have a wide variety of names. Filenames that come out of your everyday workflow can vary from the simple to very wild, anywhere from your digital camera’s default file naming (DSCN00043.jpg) to perhaps the final version of your most recent design project (Big_Newsletter_Project_final_final_final.pdf). You can see how having a common naming convention could definitely help keep your files in order.
In Extensis Portfolio, when you catalog files, you are given the option to rename your files as they are cataloged. Using this cataloging option allows you to easily move and change the name of files on disk. Using this option helps you create a specific strategy for how your original files are named — and stick to it. In doing so, you can more easily identify, locate and share those files.
For example, it is very helpful to include pertinent file information such as client name, project, product number, and date into the file name. The following are examples of easily replicated naming conventions with the filename followed by what that naming convention includes.
- Jones_newsletter04_001.jpg – Company name, project and sequential numbering
- axle_756452j_002.jpg – Part name, part number, sequential numbering
- Smith_040623_066.pdf – Company name, date (YYMMDD) and sequential numbering
For complete network compatibility across Mac, Windows and Unix, it is wise to use file names that are compatible with all platforms.
- Limit file name length to 32 characters.
- Use underscores instead of spaces.
- Format dates in a simple manner. For example the date June 23, 2004 can be represented as 040623. This helps keep the files sorted in order in the Macintosh Finder, Windows Explorer as well as within Portfolio.
For more digital asset management tips, be sure to check out our Managing Your Creative Assets Best Practices Guide. This guide gives you tips for how to use Extensis Portfolio effectively, but is also helpful for those of you who use other digital asset managers.
The coolest umbrella ever!
March 21st, 2008 by Lucien W. Dupont
Since I’m jammed fixing bugs, my never ending blog story, I know, I pulled this out of my “have this as a draft in case you don’t have any time to write anything original or surf the internet”. Yes, it has been that busy.
I did want to quickly point you to my Canadian homies in the north, in my hometown of Calgary, Alberta – Veer. And the Pitter Patter Umbrella. This is probably the coolest umbrella I’ve ever seen, not like all the boring kinds that are black inside and out. Here in Portland we often need umbrellas, so why not get one that will remind you of your love of fonts, be fun to look at, and start many conversations with your friends.. or strangers!
Disclaimer – I worked there once for a week (when it was called Image Club), answering the sales phones. I forget how I got the job, or if it was more than a week. But it was a ton of fun!
An AIGA event just in time for spring
March 20th, 2008 by Megan Banman
Hello out there in Extensis Blog land! I wanted to give everyone a quick update on an upcoming event that promises to be quite interesting for you creative and/or eco-friendly types:
At the end of March, AIGA is hosting their annual Y Conference (March 27-29 to be exact). The Y Conference was created to explore the “why” of design and features multi-disciplinary designers, commentators, and authors. This year’s conference has been labeled “Seeds of Change” and will examine how individuals, communities, nations, and the world are developing new paradigms for a more healthy and sustainable culture. Check it out if you think you can spare a trip to San Diego this month!
Won’t you be my neighbor?
March 20th, 2008 by Kelly Guimont
Today is the day Mister Rogers was born, 80 years ago. So if he were still in the neighborhood, he’d be 80 today. He is being honored in Pittsburgh with Sweater Day. I was reading about it and found out his mother knit each of his sweaters by hand. Now if only I could knit well enough to make a sweater worthy of a zipper and a pair of Keds! I also found an interview with Mister McFeeley about Sweater Day.
I watched a LOT of Mister Rogers when I was small. I watched him when I was older too, but I lived for the Neighborhood when I was very little. My mom told me once the first song I ever tried to sing was “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” And to this day I’m convinced the incidental music on Mister Rogers along with the Charlie Brown specials music by Vince Guaraldi are what made me the music nerd I am today.
What I like best about Mister Rogers is that he always just talked, and never acted like he was talking down to anyone or had a different tone of voice when he spoke to adults. In fact, his goodbye message was meant for everyone to hear, and I think it would be just as touching when I was very young as it is now.
I grew up with Mister Rogers, as did a lot of other people. I think Sweater Day is a great idea, and I hope they keep it around for every March 20th from now on. Maybe by the time it rolls around next year I will have my own Mister Rogers sweater all knitted and ready to go.
