Nikon recently introduced a new camera, the D4. Considered the company’s new flagship with (according to Nikon) improved image quality and modest improvements in performance. I am excited, but not for the reasons you might think (but my colleagues do think I like my gadgets). Among the “new” features is the ability to add IPTC information to images in the camera. I Love It! Is this new feature revolutionary or evolutionary?
Last week we started to discuss what the checklist for types of searching should be. In essence, the things our customers look for when selecting a digital asset management system.
This week we’ll pick up with Faceted Searching. I had to look this one up. It was an unknown term to me. Faceted searching is using a search result and refining it using provided parameters. As it turns out, we have all probably used a faceted search without knowing what is was called. For example, search an online retailer for a camera. The initial results set lists ALL cameras, but also include suggestions to trim the results set by brand (so all available brands are listed), by category (the different camera types available are all listed), and maybe even price point.
As it happens, our new MetaCard function does something similar to this. For example, Merlin can provide a results-set based on one piece of data, for example a country, and then return results that help you find other related content. Our MetaCard feature can be based on any field, and then it displays keywords that have been assigned based on the targeted field, country in this example. It is a pretty cool feature and helps to suggest other searches.
What makes Merlin really cool is that with a little thought, very specific searches using nested Boolean operators may be created. And while Merlin allows for field specific searching, Merlin also allows for field level searching to occur as part of these complex searches. Interested in finding all pictures by photographers Michael Kullen or David Breslauer, shot within a certain date and time range, at Monument Valley, but not at sunset (and you are not sure how to spell Breslauer)? Here is how to do it… Example: “Byline has (“Mike Kullen” or “David Bres*) Monument Valley not sunset”.
To add a field specific search, including a date or date range, set the date parameter in the date window (and this includes searching for information in the last N days. That’s it. On my Merlin demo system, I found 11 items and it took less than 4 seconds searching across 450,000 items.
Other search features I take for granted…Merlin searches singular and plural by default, but it is easy for a user to tell Merlin to return just singular items or just plural items. Also, Merlin DAM users can take advantage of a thesaurus that is easily customized. Some of our customers want to search using case sensitivity. Other sites wish not to. No problem, a simple Merlin configuration change allows sites to choose how they want to use Merlin.
Found something you like and want to see more? A simple click on the “More Like This” button returns results similar to the selected item based on metadata.
I always knew that we did powerful searching in Merlin. As we continue to develop Merlin for our digital asset management customers, and our legal customers who need to review documents, we find that the search tools for one have relevance for the other, and as we continue to move forward, both types of users will benefit from each other. One good example of this is the ability to suggest new search terms. Built for our legal review tool, this feature will find its way into our DAM product in the future.
So, if you add the great search tools to a powerful set of workflow tools (batch download, resize on download, linking, batch edit, project management tools and integration with a great assignment management system) you end up with a pretty compelling, but easy-to-use DAM solution.
Want to learn more, or see Merlin’s digital asset management solution in action? Contact me.
Posted by David Breslauer
Flickr photo by kennymatic
My colleagues and I read a lot of blogs as we try to be knowledgeable about trends in our marketplaces. Our e-Discovery product, Merlin Legal 2.0, is focused on the requirements of lawyers who need to review tons of documents (remember TV shows or movies where lawyers would bury their opponents in paper – that is now done electronically, so it really is the electronic equivalent of tons). Well, I was reading a blog related to e-Discovery recently and the blog was asking about doing specific types of searching. The blog made it sound really complicated and used pretty scientific-sounding terms to describe different types of searches, that an e-Discovery should be able to handle; things like phonetic, proximity and faceted search, as if these were something new and unusual. And maybe for some they are.
Since MerlinOne’s tools are search-based, I was curious to read how searching legal documents differed from how someone might look for a photo to publish. MerlinOne has the legal-related product, as described, and a traditional digital asset management (DAM) product used by people who have lots of photos and publishing-related items to manage. Different needle – same haystack. I always knew our search tools were powerful, but as I read, the list became a mental checklist for me and our products.
Fuzzy and Wildcard Searching? Yep, Merlin does that. Merlin allows wildcards to be added to the front of a string (with at least two characters to follow), the middle of a string or the end of a string.
Merlin allows for phonetic searching, which some people call “fuzzy”. Not sure how to spell something, tell Merlin to search for things that sound like “your search term typed phonetically.” Pretty cool. Example: “like Mogadishoe”.
Keyword in Context Searching (KWIC)? Of course, Merlin has done that for some time. KWIC was added to Merlin years ago. Choose to show your results using KWIC and Merlin displays your search results with a line-by-line display, showing the words proceeding and following your highlighted search term. We now do the same thing with audio and video search results, playing relevant audio or video results including what was spoken 5 seconds before the found search term, to hear (and see) the search result in context.
Relevance Ranking of results? Again a “yes”. Our relevancy ranking is “density-aware” or “proximity aware.” That means we not only take into account how many times the searched-for terms appear in an object, we also rank the results higher if the terms are closer to each other.
While most of our customers are looking for contemporary content and tend to display results in newest to oldest order, any Merlin user may reorder the results by Relevance, Create Date, Input Date and even Published Date (in cases where this data is captured). Data may also be sorted by publication-related information such as page, section, zone and edition in a publication environment.
Proximity Searching? Indeed! My favorite demo search for this is “Clinton near 3 Monica” and the results show any items where the word “Clinton” is within three words of the instance of “Monica”. I still get a giggle from attendees on this one when the results appear. I expect that one day, many users will not get the joke. That is OK. There will be other political scandals to search for!
Ordered Searching? Want to make sure the word “George” precedes “Bush” and not the other way around? Merlin’s ordered operator solves the problem. Example: “George then Bush”.
This is just a few of the search types from the checklist. In next weeks installment, we’ll discuss more of the checklist and some of the addition features the Merlin digital asset management system has to offer it’s customers.
Posted by David Breslauer
Flickr photo by spacepleb
As another holiday season approaches our thoughts turn to those in need and how our Merlin Digital Asset Management System does its small part to help our charitable non-profit customers raise funds to continue to do their wonderful work. Using the Merlin DAM to show images and videos of the year’s projects helps showcase all the hard work and sometimes rewards of Read more…
In a previous blog entitled “HTML5 for Video Assets”, we discussed the most universal formats of video for deployment on the web. I wrote about HTML5, as it applies to video, and discussed the pros and cons of using it instead of what was once considered the most universal format for video on the web – Flash.
My colleagues Rande Simpson, Mike Kullen and I recently held a pair of Merlin User Group webinars for our customers.
A few years ago when we did these, our users were a fairly homogenous group, mostly newspapers (or magazines), people who spoke the language of sections, zones and editions.
As audio and video assets become more commonplace in business and everyday life (YouTube, voicemail, company videos, news media interviews) we recognized a need to make them useful in a digital asset management system.
How do you make a video/audio file searchable without paying someone to sit down and type out a transcript Read more…
Last time we discussed security – how can you be sure that your digital assets aren’t available for unauthorized eyes to see. This week we’ll discuss how the technology ensures that, even during a hardware failure, you never lose access to the files in your digital asset management system.
How are my digital assets protected from any outsiders? If my digital assets become public it would be a huge problem, why should I believe a system is safe?
First, let’s talk about “firewalls”. Basically firewalls are boxes thru which network traffic passes, and they look at each packet and decide (based on rules) whether to pass a Read more…
So far in this series, we’ve discussed the basics of databases, how to achieve increased speed, and how to maximize efficiency with relational databases. In this week’s installment we will discuss the architecture of a well-designed digital asset management system. OK, so someplace out there my database lives with all of my digital assets. I sit here with my laptop. Read more…
