The Grid
Summary
The Guardian’s image management system, which provides a universal and fast experience accessing media that is organised and using it in an affordable way to produce high-quality content.
Parent organisation: The Guardian
Type of organisation: FLOSS software
Market share: One of the leading products (#3-7)
Pricing: Free
Skills needed to set-up: Needs tool/domain expert to configure
Skills needed to use: Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it)
Parent organisation: The Guardian
Type of organisation: FLOSS software
Market share: One of the leading products (#3-7)
Pricing: Free
Skills needed to set-up: Needs tool/domain expert to configure
Skills needed to use: Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it)
Pros
Open Source alternatives available
Transparent pricing model
Cons
Reliant on 3rd-party data APIs
Unclear data policies
Lacks accessibility statement
Does not share diversity data
Full Product Data Collection
Data collected January-February 2020
| Product name | The Grid |
| Product URL | https://github.com/guardian/grid |
| Parent organisation | The Guardian |
| Workflow category | Production & formats |
| Date product founded | 2015 |
| Product description | The Guardian’s image management system, which provides a universal and fast experience accessing media that is organised and using it in an affordable way to produce high-quality content. |
| What type of company or organisation is the product owned by? | FLOSS software |
| Is the company profit-making? | Not-for-profit model |
| How is this product funded? | Backed by a non-profit org or charity |
| What market share does the tool have? | One of the leading products (#3-7) |
| Is there an Open Source alternative in this product space? | Yes. ResourceSpace, digiKam. |
| When did the company last release new features? | Cannot tell |
| Have they shared details of the product roadmap? | No |
| Is there talk of the product raising further investment? | No |
| Is there talk of the product being acquired? | No |
| Have there been any newsworthy business issues or challenges in the last 12 months? | No |
| Is there a pricing model listed on the website? | Product is clearly listed as free |
| How clear & transparent is this pricing model? | N/A no pricing model listed |
| What is the range of prices offered? | N/A |
| What factors drive higher pricing? | N/A |
| What skills are needed to get this tool set up & usable? | Needs tool/domain expert to configure |
| What skills are needed to USE this tool day-to-day? | Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it) |
| Does this tool use proprietary file formats for saving documents & outputs? | Has proprietary file formats but offers open options |
| Is the product reliant on 3rd-party APIs or interoperability to function? | Yes. DynamoDB tables, S3 buckets and IAM users. |
| Have there been any newsworthy technical issues in the last 3 years? | No |
| How clear is the Terms of Service for users (i.e. publishing customers)? | No public TOS available pre-purchase |
| Does the product have a data collection & usage policy on its website? (Can be a GDPR statement)? | No (or cannot find) |
| Is their data policy “GDPR everywhere”? | GDPR N/A |
| Does the product require your audience to sign-in to use it? | N/A not an audience-facing tool |
| IF SIGN IN REQUIRED: Does audience sign-in use 3rd party platforms? | N/A not an audience-facing tool |
| Does the public product website mention how to export or transfer your data to another service? | No / cannot tell |
| Does the public product website mention how to delete your data? | No / cannot find |
| Have there been any newsworthy security breaches with this product in the last 3 years? | No |
| Does the company have an accessibility statement on its website? | No / cannot find |
| Does the company release information on the diversity of the workforce? | No |