DVD Association now "the International Digital Media Alliance"

March 6, 2009 - PRLog -- HOLLYWOOD, CA – Feb 18, 2009 - The DVD Association announced today that its Board of Directors unanimously agreed to change its name to the International Digital Media Alliance, The board further agreed to adopt a new mission statement:  “to promote excellence and foster best practices in digital and interactive media.”

The trade association’s roots date back to 1990 with the formation of the CD Interactive Association (CDIA) which in 2002 merged in the members of SIGCAT (Special Interest Group on CD Applications and Technology), and became The DVD Association (DVDA).

The expanded mission will encompass not only optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray Disc, but also the growing number of online and downloadable digital publishing forms.

“As DVD has become a successful and mature technology, the DVDA’s original mission has expanded by the addition of Blu-ray Disc and online formats like Flash, Silverlight, QuickTime and others” says Bruce Nazarian, IDMA President. “It was time to acknowledge the scope of our increased mission with a new name”.

The new alliance will also include the Media Experience Trade Association (META), an organization formed in 2005 to define common usability standards for the industry. The IDMA will create a new certification program to assist in standardizing expertise levels for digital media producers, authors, and programmers, as well as add a lot of material to its website to codify these best practices.

“It is gratifying to see the work of the META now being incorporated into the IDMA,” said Chris Brown, who helped form the META and will serve as IDMA Vice-president. “As digital media becomes more complex to both produce and consume, high quality user experience will only grow in significance. A satisfied audience is critical to the success of any new digital format.”

The IDMA Excellence Awards (the longest-running peer-judged awards programs) return in 2009 as part of the IDMA “Day of Excellence” program. Details are now online.

The DVDA.org web URL will remain active, as will the new IDMA URL, www.IDMADVDA.org.

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ABOUT THE IDMA:
The IDMA is a global community dedicated to promoting excellence and fostering best practices in digital and interactive media. The 2009 IDMA Excellence Awards open in early March, 2009, and the call for entries is now posted online. Further information about the IDMA and our awards can be found on www.IDMADVDA.org.