Defense Media Activity (DMA) is the Department of Defense's (DoD) direct line of communication for news and information to U.S. forces worldwide. The agency informs DoD audiences, entertains DoD audience overseas, trains Public Affairs and Visual Information professionals, and manages the DoD's visual information. Defense Imagery Management Operations Center (DIMOC) operates the Department of Defense (DoD) Visual Information Records Center (DVIRC), which receives imagery from all the U.S. Military Services and in many formats, such as still and motion digital, film, audio, illustrations and more. DIMOC collects this VI on behalf of the DoD and in preparation for transfer to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), using the DoD VI Records Schedule as a guide to items of permanent historical value. The overall process from the point of creation by an individual, to its transfer to DIMOC, and consideration of the record's permanent historical value is called the Lifecycle Management of Visual Information (VI). This is a cradle to grave process and it starts with the VI Professional, as the photographer/videographer are called within the visual information community of the DoD. This paper will describe the lifecycle of visual information assets, both physical and digital.
April Alexander, "U.S. Department of Defense Visual Information Lifecycle" in Proc. IS&T Archiving 2016, 2016, https://doi.org/10.2352/issn.2168-3204.2016.1.0.54