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2.2 Assets

Summary

This tutorial is an introduction to the primary concept of Assets in Sanduq. Here, we dive deeper into what an Asset is comprised of, the various types of Assets, and a detailed reference to every metadata attribute of an Asset.

What is an Asset?

An Asset is the combination of a Media File, a Cover Image & the Metadata (explained in Glossary).

graph TD
    Asset --> MediaFile["Media File"]
    Asset --> CoverImage["Cover Image"]
    Asset --> Metadata

A common misconception is that an Asset itself is the media file. This is not true. An Asset consists of a media file, not the other way around. Similarly, an Asset consists of a cover image and metadata.

Note

An Asset can only consist of a singular media file.

Note

The Cover Image is auto-generated. However, a custom cover image can be uploaded optionally.

Types of Assets

There are 4 distinct types of Assets, each with their unique metadata attributes (i.e., form-fields). They are:

  1. Image
  2. Document
  3. Audio
  4. Video

Metadata Attributes

The metadata attributes of an Asset correspond to the fields in the Create Asset Form. This is the form that allows a cataloguer to create an Asset in Sanduq. We will dive into the details of how to fill the Create Asset Form in the Cataloguer Workflow section of the documentation. For now, let's just learn what the form contains.

But before that, it is important to remember that the creation of different types of Assets will result in the display of different fields on the Create Asset Form.

The following tables consist of the metadata attributes that are:

  1. General (i.e., for all Assets)
  2. Video Asset-Specific
  3. Audio Asset-Specific

General

Attribute Name Description Type Examples
Original Title The title as it is exactly shown on the original source Text {}
Transliterated Title The transliterated latin text of the original title (auto-generated) Text {}
Subtitle Alternate official title, if listed in the original source Text {}
Transliterated Subtitle The transliterated latin text of the subtitle (auto-generated) Text {}
Description A brief summary of the Asset Text {}
Content Language The languages featured in the media file Multi-select Uyghur or English
Suggested Thesaurus Terms Thesaurus terms relevant to the Asset Multi-select Mekke, Qaraqash, etc.
Rights Holders The People/Organizations that hold rights to the Media of this Asset Text UBC, Rachel Harris, etc.
Alt Text Brief descriptions of visual elements for the visually impaired Text {}
Identifiers The unique identifiers for the Video Object {}
Cataloguer Notes Additional notes by the cataloguers Text {}

Video Asset-Specific

Attribute Name Description Type Example
Video Type Type of Video Single-select Documentary, Clip
Recorded Devices (Video) The Video-recording devices used Multi-select DSLR, Phone
Recorded Date The date the Video was recorded (Month and day are optional) Date 2006/01/01
Recorders The People who recorded the Video Multi-select Ayshemxan Xelpet
Who Is/Are In The Video The People who are featured in the Video Multi-select Ayshemxan Xelpet
Recorded Location The Places that are featured in the Video Multi-select Mekke, Qaraqash
Short Note About Participants General or scholarly notes about the participants in the Video Text {}

Audio Asset-Specific

Attribute Name Description Type Example
Audio Type Type of Audio Single-select {}
Recorded Devices (Audio) The Audio-recording devices used Multi-select Voice Recorder, Casette, etc.
Recorded Date The date the Audio was recorded (Month and day are optional) Date 2006/01/01
Recorders The People who recorded the Audio Multi-select Ayshemxan Xelpet
Who Is/Are In The Audio The People who are featured in the Audio Multi-select Ayshemxan Xelpet
Recorded Location The Places that are featured in the Audio Multi-select Mekke, Qaraqash
Short Note About Participants General or scholarly notes about the participants in the Audio Text {}

What We Learned

The Asset is the primary concept in Sanduk. It is what actually contains the media file (the cultural material) and the associated metadata. Now that that is clear, for the rest of the documentation, we will use the terminology of "Asset" to replace "Cultural Material" as we have been using so far.