Item: Acquia DAM (Widen)
Rating: 9
Author: Holly Fitzpatrick

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Acquia DAM (Widen) to archive, maintain, share, and add metadata to photos for university marketing purposes. Hosting images on Acquia DAM (Widen) allows users both in the department and externally to keyword search for the content they need instead of consulting directly with the staff archivists. Photos are marked if consent forms were acquired so users can judge whether the image is appropriate for their marketing campaign. Additionally, it's helpful to share collections of images in a link without the search interface.

Pros and Cons

Spotlight collections allow you to highlight your most sought after collections
Adding and replacing metadata in bulk is simple
Archiving saves space and keeps files available if needed in the future while also hiding outdated files from general search results
Flagged warnings are easily visible and notifies users of important information before they download

Keyboard functions: CTRL-A to select all, CTRL-D to deselect all
Slider to adjust size of thumbnails
Should be able to customize if the default after uploading files is "add" OR "replace" not automatically replace
Ability to bulk delete keywords
When editing metadata, include a "save and previous" function in addition to the "save" and "save and next"
Easy way to unarchive files

Return on Investment

The ability to standardize our metadata schema is crucial to day-to-day operations
Accessibility for users lets archivists focus on processing instead of reference
Bulk adding & replacing metadata is a huge time saver, lets archivists work faster

Support Rating

N/A

DAM System Solution

The ability to highlight collections on the front page with images most consistent with the brand story we're telling has proved very helpful in our department. It's much preferred to curate collections for many users- benefit than send hundreds of similar files and expect your coworker to sort through them all.

Other Software Used

Adobe PhotoShop, Clip Studio Paint, Audacity

Key Insights

Do you think Acquia DAM (Widen) delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Acquia DAM (Widen)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Acquia DAM (Widen) live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Acquia DAM (Widen) go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Acquia DAM (Widen) again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

Acquia DAM (Widen) is well-suited to any instance file sharing is needed with users but your department may be too busy to provide reference to individual users. They can search for the files they need before reaching out for assistance. Acquia DAM (Widen) would be less suited to entities with no metadata standards in place, or very few files to maintain.

Archivist experience with Acquia DAM (Widen)

Overall Satisfaction with Acquia DAM (Widen)