ONASIA DIGITAL’S KEYWORD DATABASE SETS INDUSTRY MILESTONE

OnAsia Digital Services has revealed that its proprietary keywording system now includes over 20,000 terms including synonyms, alternate forms and misspellings.

The Bangkok-based company has spent four years developing its keywording systems which include a database of terms that has been conceived and structured for the classification of imagery. A structured thesaurus of terms, also known as a controlled vocabulary, is seen as essential to effective keywording.

“As the migration of imagery online continues, we are seeing growing interest in our keywording services,´ said Yvan Cohen, a Director and co-founder of OnAsia Digital. “The depth and breadth of our term database is one of the factors that make our image indexing so accurate and comprehensive. It’s a process of continual enrichment. Today we have 20,000 terms but we are adding new terms all the time. When we start on a specialized collection we immediately set to work building up terms relevant to that area.”

Initially created to service Singapore-based picture agency OnAsia.com, OnAsia Digital has expanded to offer keywording and other digital image services (retouching, scanning, clipping paths and colour correction), to a range of external clients including Greenpeace, The International Committee of the Red Cross, The European Union and a host of picture agencies and private photographic collections.

‘High quality keywording enables users to retrieve the image they want from a huge database of images. Accurate search results save time, improve the user experience and ultimately create more opportunities for sales. Investing in comprehensive keywords is a way for archive owners to get much more from their collections,” added Mr. Cohen.

The company says it plans to showcase its keywording technology at upcoming industry events throughout 2006 in Europe and the United States.

To find out more about OnAsia Digital’s service visit: www.onasiadigital.com

About OnAsia Digital (www.onasiadigital.com)
OnAsia Digital is a leading provider of digital image services including keywording, scanning, retouching, color-correction and clipping-paths. The agency, based in Bangkok, Thailand, has provided services for more than 200,000 images to respected photo libraries, photographers, museums and NGOs from around the world.

About OnAsia (www.onasia.com)
OnAsia is the leading resource for Asian imagery and feature stories. Over 80,000 keyworded images are available for instant download in hi-res formats up to 12X18 inches at 300DPI. The agency also provides assignment services throughout Asia with its network of over 80 top editorial and corporate photographers.