Ingesting assets individually or in batches and distributing them in a fast, easy and efficient manner is one of the core and basic functions of a digital asset management (DAM) system.
For a not-for-profit organization whose purpose it is to provide care and assistance for those around the globe needing help during a crisis, a DAM can be a lifeline. Fundraising is a critical part of their operations so they have the means to provide the supplies and staff to help out. And telling the story is key to fundraising.
Getting images, videos and stories from a disaster area can be especially challenging. But for World Vision, this is now much easier because of their hosted Merlin DAM.
According to John Leckie, executive producer of Digital Media Centre, “World Vision would not have had the success of donations after the Haiti earthquake if they did not have a centralized DAM where content was uploaded and distributed 24 hours a day.”
World Vision employs a creative staff of more than 250 around the world reporting stories, photos, and videos during emergencies. Their job is to get the word out to the rest of the world. Merlin made it a whole lot easier.
Fast distribution to news sources, international marketing departments, government reporting and the World Vision web was made easy with Merlin’s browser upload form and ftp drops and automatic resizing on output for the varied content uses.
Within minutes, sometimes even seconds, the world witnessed the crisis because of World Vision’s Merlin DAM and financial help was on the way.
Tom Costanza uses the BGAN in Cambodia to get the story out from a remote location. Photo ©2009 Heidi Isaza/World Vision
Earthquake damage is still evident one year after the devastating quake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo ©2010 Jon Warren/World Vision
World Vision Haiti physical therapist and counselor Jony St. Louis visits Demosi Louphine (age 32), who lost two limbs in the Haiti earthquake, in Corail IDP camp for earthquake victims, outside of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Jony helps Demosi exercise, massages her arm and helps her practice attaching her artificial leg by herself. Demosi received a World Vision transitional house in January, 2011, and no longer has to live in a tent. Photo ©2010 Jon Warren/World Vision
Children spend time dancing and singing at a World Vision Child-Friendly Space (CFS) in Petionville, which is a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This CFS opened soon after the earthquake hit on January 12th, 2010. Kary Perrault, a child psychologist and the lead volunteer at the CFS, saw the need for a safe place for children to come and advocated for camp to be set up in the area. They succeeded and since then World Vision has move alongside Kary and her staff by providing tarps, running seminars to train the volunteers in child protection and how to work with these children after a disaster. Photo ©2010 Paul Bettings/World Vision
Yulisa (age 8), whose mother, Barbe, received a 14-day ration of lentils, cooking oil, corn soy blend and soy-fortified bulgur from World Vision. ìIf this food had not come today I do not know what we would have eaten,î Barbe says as other homeless families gather around to listen to her story. Photo ©2010 Jon Warren/World Vision
Paramedic Victor Matamoros examines 3 month old baby boy Amadou. Mother Danielle Archile watches. Photo ©2010 Jon Warren/World Vision
Camp residents form a chain and race to quickly unload a truck full of Cook Kits (labeled “Canada”) before nightfall, for the 318 families of Haiti earthquake victims at Camp Accra IDP camp, Port-au-Prince. Previously they got blankets, hygiene kits, water containers, tarps and fresh water. Photo ©2010 Jon Warren/World Vision
Shattered homes on the hillsides of Port au Prince, Haiti, after the earthquake. Photo ©2010 Jon Warren/World Vision