The Stock Artists Alliance has just released a “Metadata Manifesto”, which calls for a standards in image file metadata. The group explains why the issue is so important:
Without effective systems in place for identifying and managing digital assets, everyone working with digital images is adversely affected. Resources are wasted, opportunities are lost, liability increases and intellectual property rights are eroded.
We’ve previously argued the merits of establishing a visual registry as a way to prevent work from becoming orphaned in the future. But creating standards in metadata is an even easier way for artists to protect their work sooner rather than later.
“This is SAA’s wake-up call to the photo industry,” says David Riecks, Chair of SAA’s Imaging Technology Standards committee. “Photographers need to add metadata to their digital images now, or risk losing future income. Without metadata, they may as well be putting their images in a black hole.”
The groups that have been most opposed to Orphan Works legislation have been those whose information is most easily separated from their work. Solutions like visual registries and mandatory metadata can prevent this problem and help photographers, illustrators and everyone in the digital world help themselves to maintain control of their work.
