IPTC's Photo Metadata Conference 2016 Will Cover Protecting Metadata While Using Social Media, Digital Preservation for Future Generations

LONDON, May 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The International Press Telecommunications Council's (IPTC) Photo Metadata Conference 2016, on May 26 in Zagreb (Croatia, Europe), will focus on how to "Keep Metadata Alive and Intact" throughout the life cycle of images. This annual event will address how information can be properly retained when images are moved from one person or system to the next, or through archiving processes. Speakers administrating the sessions - among the industry's most respected experts in image and data management, digital preservation, information architecture, and photography - will show how metadata is produced, used and preserved in new and innovative ways. 

"The topic of digital preservation for future generations will be introduced to the conference for the first time," said Sarah Saunders, event speaker and expert in procurement and implementation of Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems. Photo metadata is key for managing digital assets and protecting images' copyright and licensing information. Detailed and accurate descriptions ensure images can be efficiently retrieved through search, by users or machine-readable code, which results in precise tracking and smoother workflow.

The morning session will cover two topics with multiple presentations: "Protecting Metadata While Using Social Media," which will discuss results of the IPTC Social Media Photo Metadata Test 2016, including the finding that most photo metadata is removed when uploading or downloading images to many popular social media platforms. Some major media companies will discuss how they protect their metadata through this process. "Strongly Attached Metadata: What You Need to Know," featuring system vendors and speakers from photo businesses as well as a university, will cover how to apply and organize metadata in an efficient way, to keep it alive in distribution chains.

"Much time and money is spent to protect metadata in in-house systems," said Michael Steidl, managing director of IPTC and lead of its photo metadata workstream. "Therefore it is a business requirement to protect descriptive data and rights information from getting lost. This conference will raise awareness and share knowledge about how to keep metadata alive."

During the afternoon sessions, Steidl will present a close to final draft of the much anticipated "IPTC Video Metadata Hub," a new technical recommendation which has been in development by IPTC since 2014 and is usable across many existing video standards. Saunders will also present the "Cultural Heritage Photo Metadata Panel" for Adobe software, which supports a rich set of metadata for cultural heritage objects shown in images. The panel can be downloaded for free and installed on a computer.

The Photo Metadata Conference 2016 will be held again in conjunction with the annual CEPIC Congress, in Zagreb (Croatia). Photographers, small and large photo agencies and libraries, and trade associations from the photo business are all encouraged to attend. Registration is required, either as participant of the CEPIC Congress, or through the Conference's registration form.  For a detailed agenda, registration information and speaker bios, see http://www.phmdc.org.

About IPTC: 

The IPTC is a consortium of approximately 50 news agencies, newspapers and news system vendors that develops and publishes technical specifications to promote the easy, accurate and inexpensive sharing of news. The IPTC Photo Metadata Standard is the most widely used standard because of its universal acceptance among photographers, distributors, news organizations, archivists, and developers. The schema defines metadata structure, properties, and fields, so that images are optimally described and easily accessed later. IPTC standards are seamlessly integrated into more than 60 software products - often in subtle ways that are not obvious to customers. Visit the web site http://www.iptc.org or follow @IPTC on Twitter.

Media contact:
Michael Steidl, IPTC Managing Director
Phone: +44-(020)-3178-4922
Email: office@iptc.org