March 20th was the official beginning of spring and with that comes the annual tradition of spring cleaning. As a content owner or creator you no doubt have archives of analog content in various states of organization. The question is, what to do with it?
There are a number of options for getting your images and analog media into a digital format in the market place today.
Creating a clear plan outlining what you want achieve by digitizing your media assets is a good place to start.
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Why digitize?
Why should you digitize your images, especially since they require a fair amount of storage?
Because we live and work in the digital age, when prospective imaging consumers – and more than 60 percent of image buyers or licensees – go on the Web to find their content.
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Digitizing your images also allows for them more easily to be used, standardized, manipulated and distributed in ways that are not possible with analog images.
In addition, digitization allows you to:
- Improve organization and management of your media assets
- Add digital content to your stock image collection from your analog archives for monetization
- Preserve your content from deterioration
If you plan to invest your own time in this process, start by doing a cost-benefit analysis. Calculate the value of your media assets now and in the future and determine whether they are worth the investment in time, equipment and supplies to digitize them yourself. The following are a few things to consider in determining value:
- Marketplace value
- Historical archive value
- Personal value
- Relevance as Image Stock
What’s next?
Once you have a clear vision of what you want to digitize and why, the next step is to decide on an approach.
I can do this!
Plan to buy your own equipment and handle the process yourself? Be sure to check out all the scanner options before choosing the one that best suits you. Most retailers offer online user reports and reviews. It always pays to start your search online and narrow down your options. Once you have your machine, follow the manufacturer’s instructions on cleaning and do it regularly! Also try to create a work environment that is as dust-free as possible.
If you plan to go it alone, estimate how much time it will take you to digitize all your content and ask yourself if you’re ready to dedicate the time to completing your project. Professionals in the image scanning industry estimate 10 to 15 minutes per image as a fairly good processing rate for a commercial operation. Based on that estimate, you may be looking at a significant time investment to digitize your images.
I don’t have time, who do I choose?
If you decide to go with a service provider / vendor to do the scanning, be sure to do some research and look for online reviews. There is always a risk that your raw assets could get lost or permanently damaged when dealing with a vendor so choose carefully. Below are a few factors to consider when choosing a company:
- Good security around shipping and processing
- Quality control safeguards (well defined standards on image quality and Pricing)
- Good customer reviews
- Images are scanned and cleaned by people (Auto-fed machines can damage your image assets permanently and the human eye is a better judge when it comes to cleanup and retouching).
Is it worth the hassle and cost?
Your analog assets are not working for you nor are they being accessed by potential licensors when they are sitting in a box in storage. Worse yet, they are probably in danger of being permanently damaged by the elements. And while your analog content may not generate immediate revenues as digital stock, gaining easy access to and protecting it from deterioration are key steps toward preserving future value.
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