Digital Asset Management | MA | Part Time, Full Time | Admissions status: Open

The MA Digital Asset Management addresses the management of digital assets, an increasingly important area not just in public institutions such as libraries, archives and museums but also in the wider content industry such as publishing or social media. DAM consists of tasks and decisions surrounding ingesting, annotating, cataloguing, storage and retrieval of digital assets, such as text, video, audio and image files.

• For our teaching, we draw on a wide range of expertise, offering insights into curatorial and archival practices of dealing with digital assets as well as into technologies and wider socio-economic questions such as rights and project management.
• The tutors offer unrivalled expertise in technologies and processes that allow the quick and efficient storage, retrieval and reuse of digital assets. They come from a diverse and highly interdisciplinary background, having run digital archives or worked in the digital industries in the past.
• Through the internship programme students can have direct access to some of the world's most important culture and media institutions.
• Close links and regular speakers from the content sector give students insights and up-to-the-minute knowledge of the subject area.

Student destinations Programme leader/s Awarding Institution Credit value (UK/ECTS equivalent) Duration Location Year of entry 2012
Offered by Closing date Intake Fees Contact information Email Website

The aim of the MADAM programme is to prepare students for future development and innovation in society and business that rely increasingly upon the effective management and exploitation of a wide range of complex digital information and knowledge. Managing this digital information is presenting significant challenges for organisations and as a consequence there is an increasing demand for professionals with expertise in digital asset management. The MA in Digital Asset Management responds to this demand for digitally literate professionals to work in education and heritage institutions as well as wider industry by equipping students with a range of strategic, technical and practical skills to provide direction and leadership in this area.

There are very few institutions of any size and in any area of activity that do not create and depend on the management, exploitation and long-term preservation of digital assets.

There are important considerations of curatorial and technical standards that arise throughout the 'digital resource life-cycle', from creation through management, access and dissemination to long-term preservation. These considerations and this life-cycle are the core subject matter of the MA programme in Digital Asset Management. We want students to acquire a great deal of practical knowledge, but even more we want them to develop their critical and reflective capacities, and to acquire an understanding of the inter-dependence between the developments in digital processes, technology and curatorial practice.

The MA takes a comparative and interdisciplinary approach requiring students to explore and critically assess competing theories and practices from across library, archival, information science, and e-research thus providing a well-rounded understanding of the requirements across domains. Recent years have seen an explosion in the volume, complexity and range of digital content, often referred to as a data deluge or data tsunami, whilst government speaks of the digital economy as the engine of growth.

Reasons you should consider the MA in Digital Asset Management are:

• Cultural heritage organisations are digitising and making available digital materials relating to our history and culture.
• Archives and libraries are increasingly receiving born digital materials.
• Businesses rely on digital data and content to develop, run and manage their future prosperity.
• Research managers and data scientists work with large volumes of digital data, running experiments, simulations and visualisations.
• Employers are looking for skilled professionals with knowledge and expertise in managing these valuable digital assets.

Core programme content

• Introduction to Digital Asset Management
• Dissertation

Indicative non-core content
• Metadata in Theory and Practice
• Digital Preservation Theory and Practice
• Digital Asset Management Systems and Architectures
• Digital Publishing
• Digital Ecosystems of Information
• Advanced Text Technologies
• Structured Data
• Digital Visualization
• Material Culture of the book: digital models
• Material Culture of Art History and Archaeology

Lectures on theoretical topics; demonstrations; practical classes and exercises. The programme consists of a compulsory module worth 40 credits (Introduction to Digital Asset Management), options to the value of 80 credits, including an internship; a dissertation. Modules are assessed by coursework and/or examination. NB it cannot be guaranteed that all modules are offered in any particular academic year.




General entry advice

Your application will be assessed by two members of staff. Candidates with non-traditional qualifications or experience may be interviewed, either in person or by phone if overseas, and all applicants are welcome to call us to arrange a visit. We aim to process all applications within four weeks, although this may take longer in February and March and over holiday periods.

Personal Statement

AHRC, Graduate School and School of Arts & Humanities studentships and bursaries, self-funded, employer-funded.