Wondering what will be appearing in the new contributor tools?

[Alamy]

Hi Everyone,

 

We wanted to give you an update on some upcoming features of the new contributor tools. We've been working very hard on this for the last year or so, taking into account the requests and ideas from you.

 

Please bear in mind that things are still under development and there is still further testing to be done, so things may change based on the outcomes there. We also wanted to mention that we've been working with several prototypes of the new tools already and we've undergone rounds of internal and external testing, including with a group of Alamy contributors. (No need to let us know if you want to be a tester, we will get in touch with you based on what we need, eg, number of images submitted / worked on with current tools etc)

 

We appreciate your first question may be - "When will the tools be ready?" - please appreciate that fixed timescales are not possible but the tools will be ready at some point in 2016. Could be sooner rather than later though, we'll let you know.

 

A few features of the new tools:

• A complete overhaul of Upload, Track Submissions and Manage Images
• No flash - it's gone 
• Simplified restrictions
• An "editorial only" tickbox (can be used for RF and RM images)
• Far fewer mandatory fields (you can get images live and searchable MUCH quicker)
• An "exclusive to Alamy" tickbox
• Ability to add / remove single / multiple keywords to batches of images without overwriting existing data
• Live feedback on the 'discoverability' of your images based on your data

+ many more we'll be able to share with you once further testing is complete.

 

Hopefully you're as excited as we are about this, but please appreciate we can't answer any further questions at this stage. It makes more sense to provide help and answer questions when you can actually have a play with the tools yourself!

 

Cheers

 

Alamy

[Matt Ashmore]

This is all good stuff!! Thank you!

 

Do we get more money if we tick the 'Exclusive to Alamy' tick box? :-)

[John Walker]

Looks good to me - especially - 

• Ability to add / remove single / multiple keywords to batches of images without overwriting existing data  

[DDoug]

Brilliant.

[Broad Norfolk]

Glad to see Upload is being overhauled. I've been having a lot of bother with FTP (File Zila) lately and have reverted back to Alamy internal upload. This is quite slow but at least doesn't keep throwing you out! Hope it will be speeded up in due course.

 

Good work.

 

Regards,

 

Jim.

[Martin P Wilson]

Pleased about the editorial only button, that will make it easier for events where accreditation restricts me to only using my images for editorial use.

[Angler]

Sounds like a great improvement.

[spacecadet]

Here's hoping the GUI isn't too different from the current one, learning curves and all that.

[Brian Yarvin]

Excellent! Delighted to see this!!

[Arletta]

Very nice changes are coming, can't wait and thank you Alamy!

[Doc]

• "An "exclusive to Alamy tickbox"

Good - hopefully that will result in a new Tab which buyers can click on to see images not available elsewhere - 

 

and also hopefully that can be applied to images already on sale, not just new ones

 

Kumar

•  

[Allan Bell]

Sounding pretty positive so far.

 

Nice one Alamy.

 

Allan

[Matt Ashmore]

 

• "An "exclusive to Alamy tickbox"

Good - hopefully that will result in a new Tab which buyers can click on to see images not available elsewhere - 

 

and also hopefully that can be applied to images already on sale, not just new ones

 

Kumar

•  

 

 

Yes, I hope we'll be able to apply this to existing images too as nearly all images I have on Alamy are only on Alamy. 

I assume that ticking 'Exclusive to Alamy' will somehow give these images a greater exposure one way or another over and above non-exclusive images.

 

I also hope to potentially add the 'Editorial only' flag to existing images and maybe even have the option of changing the license type (without having to contact Member Services) for existing images as a consequence.

[Allan Bell]

Ah, but would exclusive to Alamy prevent distributor sales?

 

Allan

[Vincent Lowe]

Ability to add / remove single / multiple keywords to batches of images without overwriting existing data

 

I hope that will include a 'find and replace' option, having just this morning discovered a spelling mistake in my keywords and captions of the name of a Scottish mountain.   I had to correct each one manually, about 25 images and twice in each.

[losdemas]

I'll hold fire on questions and opinions until the new systems are actually in place, but it all sounds very positive.

[John Mitchell]

These sound like great improvements. However, I'm a bit confused about what "exclusive to Alamy" will mean. Will it indicate that an "RM -- exclusive" license is available? Or simply that the image hasn't been submitted to another stock agency? What about images available through contributors' own websites or as prints on POD websites? Could these images be considered exclusive to Alamy?

 

Also, how do distributors factor into the equation? Most of us are signed up for the distributor scheme, so our Alamy images are on sale through distributors' websites as well. Is anything really "exclusive" these days?

[Craig Yates]

Hurrah thank you Alamy. Can we also have insight into images that have been put into light boxes by customers.

 

 

Regards

Craig

[Ed Brown]

RIP Flash - woof!

[Betty LaRue]

Exited beyond words. Anything that makes some of the boxes go away, thus allowing us to prep images quicker, is a huge time saver.

I'm eager to see just how much time this saves.

Ability to batch add or subtract keywords without losing what I already have is wonderful.

 

And I hope the upload process is ironed out. I'm tired of 34% image hangups and like yesterday, spending 3 hours to upload 14 images.

 

Alamy, thank you!!

[Ed Rooney]

Very good indeed!  And thanks for all the hard work.

 

Edo

[Richard Coombs]

This sounds good!

 

Especially that Flash has been abandoned, perhaps we can now keyword in Safari on iPad. That would be the biggest and best improvement for me!

[Reimar]

Will having the ability to choose editorial only for RF images help the now very difficult process of fixing RF images caught without the appropriate releases?  I am especially troubled by RF images that get silently deleted several months after getting flagged. 

[MariaJ]

Sounds great, especially the ability to add keywords easily to images in one's port.

[mickfly]

Excellent news, particularly dumping flash, I like to use my phone for some things and can't because of flash.
I also hope that the we can see bigger previews when keywording as if I'm using my laptop I can't get a big enough image to check the number of people or other details.