Cultural Heritage & Digital Asset Management
279,628 assets consolidated with 99%+ AI metadata enrichment
Consolidated 4 legacy systems and 279,628 digital assets into a unified, AI-enriched platform safeguarding cultural heritage for research, teaching, and public engagement.
Higher Education, Cultural Preservation, Digital Asset Management
Product Design Lead
DAM Platform, AI Metadata, Collection Integration, Workflow Design
THE CHALLENGE
A major university's cultural and research assets — art, archives, specimens, historical collections — were scattered across 4 separate legacy systems. Each had its own interface, search capabilities, and metadata standards. Discovery was difficult. Assets were at risk of information loss. Digitization workflows required 3 steps where 1 should suffice.
WHY IT MATTERED
Cultural heritage is irreplaceable. When research assets are hard to find, they don't get used. Knowledge is lost, research is duplicated, and the public benefit diminishes. Making these collections accessible and discoverable was both a scholarly imperative and a public responsibility.
THE APPROACH
Centralized DAM & Migration
Migrated terabytes of data into a centralized DAM. Cleaned, standardized, and organized 212,970 assets (7,026 GB) across 3 major collections into a single source of truth.
Legacy Consolidation
Unified 4 legacy systems into 1 platform, dramatically simplifying the experience for researchers and collection managers.
Workflow Redesign
Reduced digitization from 3 steps to 1. Automated asset handling to minimize manual effort and free curators for higher-value work.
AI-Powered Metadata Enrichment
Implemented AI-generated keywords for 99%+ of assets, transforming discoverability from manual and inconsistent to automated and comprehensive.
THE OUTCOMES
Processed across 3 collections
Assets standardized and migrated (7,026 GB)
Removed, 25,707 files renamed, saving 500+ hours
Assets enriched with AI-generated keywords
Legacy systems consolidated into one platform