Gert Says
a rather irreverent discusssion
Workflow - Library
How do you know when your images are part of a workflow or a library?
A workflow system tracks images through their creation, editing and placing process. It is concerned with version control, scheduling and cooperative team effort. It rarely is concerned with reusing the image or finding it again.
A library holds images which are to be preserved as an archive or to be used over and over again. It holds the images in a manner which makes them easy to find and access. It usually does this with meaningful descriptive terms, access to an original and citing publishing rights.
Depending on your purpose for managing images, the systems will be quite different. You can of course have both systems simultaneously. An image may be taken from a library of images and then placed in a workflow system as it is modified for a particular use. But in reality a workflow system rarely reuses images from a library and an image which is maintained in a library is minimally altered. Therefore either tracking or finding an image will be the primary basis for developing a management system.
There are some DAM systems ( see archives for a definition) which try to fulfill the needs of both a library and a workflow system, but most have committed one way or another. I advise you to do the same.
October 15, 2000
