Image Management: KE EMu

Last updated: 07 February 2008
Published in: Managing your digital resources |
Tags: delivery | digital collections | software |

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JISC Digital Media has surveyed a range of image management software developers to gather specific information about their systems. These are the responses from KE EMu.

Please note: The following information has been provided by the system developer/vendor in answer to a detailed survey carried out by JISC Digital Media, but has not been independently verified. It is provided to help you identify systems to evaluate in more detail, but you are advised to check with the system developer/vendor to see if the system has changed or there are later versions available.

There are a wide range of different image management systems available. To help identify those most suitable, we would recommend you also look at our introductory papers on Systems for Managing Digital Media Collections and Choosing a System for Managing your Image Collection.

To compare this system's features with those of others, please see the full list of systems who have responded to our survey on the Image Management Software page.

Information supplied: February 2008

KE EMu www.kesoftware.com
We asked the system developer to use 50-100 words to sum up and promote their system to a very broad audience: EMu has been engineered to support multiple discipline museum collections including digital assets. This means that EMu can readily support the broad range of disciplines represented in any museum collection - from art through to zoology. Each discipline contains the fields required to manage that specific collection. This means that users working within one area of the collection could see a different interface from those working within other areas of the collection.
Current version	3.05
Current version released	February 2008
Next version due (approx)	June 2008
Main sectors aimed at	Corporate or professional (private sector); Government (public sector); Charitable/not-for-profit
Main users aimed at	Picture Library staff; Archivists; Museum/Gallery professionals; Scientific researchers
Type of system		Folder viewer/image browser
		Web gallery system
		Image/photo management system
		Digital asset management system (DAM)
		Musem/gallery/library/achive collection management system
		Virtual learning environment (VLE)
		Content management system (CMS)
		Digital repository system
		Digital library system
Open-source/Proprietary?	Proprietary but incorporates open/standard technologies
Complexity	Complex 'off-the-shelf' system - will require IT or programming expertise to install and set up
Maximum size of the catalogue (e.g. number of records or filesize)	2.3 billion records
Handling of images
Image- object- or workflow-centric?	Object/record-centric - record can have more than one (or no) images associated with it
Adding images to system		Captures images directly from a scanner from within the system
		Captures images directly from a tethered camera from within the system
		'Drag and drop' into system
		Scans a computer for new images
		Scans external drives/memory devices for new images
		Scans network servers for new images
		Sets up automatically 'watched' folders
		Keeps system and folders in 'sync'
		Other
File formats supported		RAW formats
		DNG
		TIFF
		JPEG
		GIF
		PNG
		JPEG2000
		PSD
		PDF (Supported via other programs on user's computer)
		EPS (Supported via other programs on user's computer)
		Flash (Supported via other programs on user's computer)
		SVG (Supported via other programs on user's computer)
		Audio formats
		Video formats
Where can images be located?	Must be held within the system itself or a designated folder/location
Image management		Ability to manage original image files (e.g. move, copy, rename or delete) from within the system
		Ability to organise images into virtual 'folders', 'galleries' or 'categories' to aid management and retrieval
		Image versioning
		Rating system (e.g. star or numbers for best images)
		Automatic generation of thumbnails and preview images
		Ability to zoom image to 100% (full size) within data entry interface
Image editing provision	Images cannot be edited within this system
Specific image editing functions		Resizing
		Rotating
		Cropping
		Sharpening
		Red-eye removal
		Dust/noise removal
		Brightness and contrast adjustments
		Levels adjustments
		Curves adjustments
		Support for ICC colour management
		Creative filters
Other significant editing functions
Print templates
Auditing of who did what/when to image
Other image-related features
Handling of metadata
Metadata structure	Object-oriented database structure
Customising fields		Add new catalogue fields
		Delete catalogue fields
		Hide catalogue fields from data entry interface
		Re-label catalogue fields
		Re-order catalogue fields
Time saving features		Set up templates or defaults
		Clone or duplicate records
		Automatically catalogue images upon import
		Batch edit metadata
		Global find and replace
Controlled vocabularies		Create drop-down pick-lists
		Support for theasauri (with broader and narrower terms)
Spell-checking/validation		Spell-checking
		Validation of terminology
		Validation of dates and numbers
Support for UNICODE (non-Latin characters)
Importing		Import existing metadata in standard delimited formats
		Import existing metadata in XML formats
Exporting		Export of metadata in standard delimited formats
		Export of metadata in XML formats
Metadata interoperability (e.g. metadata harvesting, cross-searching)		Automatic exposure of metadata as OAI-PMH data
		Support for Z39.50 searching
		Support for search scripts
Embedded metadata support		Read IPTC metadata from within the image file
		Read EXIF metadata from within the image file
		Read XMP data
		Read other metadata from within the image file
		Write IPTC metadata into image file
		Edit EXIF metadata
		Write XMP data
		Write other metadata
Data-entry interface		Client-based/program-based data entry interface
		Web browser-based data entry interface
Reporting/auditing		Auditing of who did what and when to the metadata
		Editable templates or scripts for generating reports
Other metadata-related features		Supports SQL based querying
Delivery to users
Web browser-based end-user interface
Customisability of interface		System manager can customise interface
		End-user can customise their view of interface
Publishing of images		Publish as static gallery to Web
		Publish as dynamic searchable Web catalogue
		Publish to CD-ROM
		Email images from system
Search/browse features		Browse collection by categories
		Search the collection
		Search via thesaurus
		Advanced search features (e.g. Boolean logic, wildcard or 'sounds like' searching)
		Content-based image retrieval (CBIR)
Zooming functionality
User interaction		Users can 'bookmark' or store images
		Users can annotate bookmarked images
		Users can upload their own images to the system
		Users can create slide shows
Security/Digital Rights Management (DRM)		Access control based on roles or profiles
		Access control based on individual usernames and passwords
		Compatibility with standard educational authentication services (e.g. Athens or Shibboleth)
		Built-in Digital Rights Management technology (e.g. watermarking) - full rights management module and watermarking available on the fly.
Interoperability/interaction with other systems
Other significant delivery functionality		EMu Supports a wide variety of data exchange standards including: SPECTRUM METS/ Dublin Core Darwin Core MaNIS – Mammal Networked Information System OBIS - Ocean Biogeographic Information System ISAD(G) & EAD – Archives standards Open Archives Initiative OAI-PMH plus other OAI schemas DiGIR – Global biodiversity portal Web Services including the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) XML 1.0 data exchange format plus others
Company and support information
Country in which system developers are based	UK and Australia
Approximately how many UK users are there?	250+
UK office, representative or primary reseller	KE Software Canada House 3 Chepstow Street Manchester M1 5FW Tel: 0161 236 9209 Fax: 0161 236 4738
Independent user-group for this system?		The EMu user base in the UK is quite strong and pro active with more than 250 users spread over 30 different sites. Many of these organisations have been using EMu since 2000 and as such have a considerable amount of knowledge in the product. Regular meetings to combine resources and shared training sessions help keep the costs down for new and existing users alike. An annual meeting is held in the UK with further details available at http://www.emuusers.org
UK-based training available?		If you require KE to train all end users, then a suitable training program and schedule can be developed and costed to suit your budget. KE can provide all training material so further internal training can be conducted as and when required. Minimum training costs are £800 for up to 8 people.
System support		The Annual Maintenance service offered by KE entitles the customer to all new versions of EMu package free of charge. Annual maintenance includes unlimited use of the telephone; email or fax support service during the company's normal UK business hours. Annual maintenance includes KE Software staff resolving problems directly via Internet or modem, if available. Costs are 20% of the licence fee.
Other services available		Data migration, web development, batch image loading, project management, on-site implementation advice and technical support. Costs are dependent on project requirements.

Please note: The above information has been provided by the system developer/vendor in answer to a detailed survey carried out by JISC Digital Media, but has not been independently verified. It is provided to help you identify systems to evaluate in more detail, but you are advised to check with the system developer/vendor to see if the system has changed or there are later versions available.

There are a wide range of different image management systems available. To help identify those most suitable, we would recommend you also look at our introductory papers on Systems for Managing Digital Media Collections and Choosing a System for Managing your Image Collection.

To compare this system's features with those of others, please see the full list of systems who have responded to our survey on the Image Management Software page.

Last updated: 07 February 2008
Published in: Managing your digital resources |
Tags: delivery | digital collections | software |

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