(First in a series of five posts on this topic)
Lately I’ve had institutional memory and digital asset management on my mind. It’s not unusual to want to create order when you feel like your world is topsy-turvy. It’s a good idea anyway, but when everything feels a little out of control it can be particularly satisfying to organize something. Plus, I’ve been encouraging economic developers to gather as much audio and video as they can, not to mention capturing new data visualizations and the history of economic development initiatives and successes.
All of that stuff can be invaluable, but only if the right person can lay their hands on the right piece of information at the right time. One of the many lessons of these times is that nothing stays the same, and if you have to adjust to staff turnover, or even just their temporary absence, it sure is helpful to know you can find what you need if the person whose memory you rely on isn’t sitting right there.
When I get obsessed with an idea, I get curious. What are the best ways to keep track of photos, videos, visualizations, and stories? I decided to ask you what you do, and whether you think your current practice is best practice. I started with a few emails to friends and some conversations at Consultant Connect’s Economix Conference. Later this year, I’ll be gathering more input and sharing what I find through C2ER’s membership and Annual Conference.
For now, here’s what I’ve been asking and here’s you and your peers have been sharing:
It turns out that if you ask people how they handle digital asset management, the most common response is “in the cloud”. That’s when I realized I wasn’t asking the right question, or at least not the right set of questions. When I started to get feedback , it turned out I really needed to be asking these questions:
WHERE do you store this stuff?
What kind of FILE STRUCTURE do you use?
Do you employ FILTERS or TAGS to make things easier to find?
Then, once you have your system, is there SOFTWARE you recommend that helps with all this?
It turns out there is a lot to say about all of this, and we are only getting started, so I’ve turned the feedback so far into a series of four more posts I’ll release over the next few weeks, with more to come throughout 2021. There’s plenty of time to chime in – just message me at kate@katemcenroe.com or give me a call.