Alamy 594 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 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 Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Ashmore 1,162 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 (edited) This is all good stuff!! Thank you! Do we get more money if we tick the 'Exclusive to Alamy' tick box? :-) Edited April 6, 2016 by Matt Ashmore 2 Link to post Share on other sites
John Walker 272 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Looks good to me - especially - Ability to add / remove single / multiple keywords to batches of images without overwriting existing data 1 Link to post Share on other sites
DDoug 2,939 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Brilliant. Link to post Share on other sites
Broad Norfolk 206 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 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. Link to post Share on other sites
Martin P Wilson 1,142 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 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. Link to post Share on other sites
Angler 53 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Sounds like a great improvement. Link to post Share on other sites
spacecadet 4,055 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Here's hoping the GUI isn't too different from the current one, learning curves and all that. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Yarvin 455 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Excellent! Delighted to see this!! Link to post Share on other sites
Arletta 367 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Very nice changes are coming, can't wait and thank you Alamy! Link to post Share on other sites
Doc 2,124 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 "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 3 Link to post Share on other sites
Allan Bell 2,615 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Sounding pretty positive so far. Nice one Alamy. Allan Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Ashmore 1,162 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 (edited) "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. Edited April 6, 2016 by Matt Ashmore 3 Link to post Share on other sites
Allan Bell 2,615 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Ah, but would exclusive to Alamy prevent distributor sales? Allan Link to post Share on other sites
Vincent Lowe 765 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 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. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
losdemas 2,977 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 I'll hold fire on questions and opinions until the new systems are actually in place, but it all sounds very positive. Link to post Share on other sites
John Mitchell 4,934 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 (edited) 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? Edited April 6, 2016 by John Mitchell 6 Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Yates 1,905 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 (edited) Hurrah thank you Alamy. Can we also have insight into images that have been put into light boxes by customers. Regards Craig Edited April 6, 2016 by Craig Yates 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Ed Brown 81 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 RIP Flash - woof! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Betty LaRue 3,256 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 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!! Link to post Share on other sites
Ed Rooney 4,015 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Very good indeed! And thanks for all the hard work. Edo Link to post Share on other sites
Richard Coombs 58 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 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! Link to post Share on other sites
Reimar 444 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 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. Link to post Share on other sites
MariaJ 427 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Sounds great, especially the ability to add keywords easily to images in one's port. Link to post Share on other sites
mickfly 526 Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 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. Link to post Share on other sites
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