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AMS Adviser *
Volume 3 Issue 6 - November/December 1998
Welcome to a new issue of the AMS Adviser.
AMS Christmas Closedown
We continue with the fourth part of our series on the Dynamics of Cost in
Image Capture.
Article
- Should Endangered Books and Documents be Filmed or Digitized?
Also, take special note of our new services.
Plus we have all the usual bits (Funny
Bit? and AMS Services).
AMS
AMS
Christmas Closedown
 |
We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. AMS
will close for Christmas between the 24th of December, 1998 and reopen on the 11th of
January 1999.
A skeleton staff will be available from the 4th of January, 1999.
Should you need our services over this period, contact us to make the necessary
arrangements.
Otherwise, have a safe break and we look forward to working with you in the New Year.
The Staff of AMS. |
The Dynamics of Cost in Image Capture (Part 5)
Use database lookups to fill in index fields
If your document capture software permits it, sometimes you can perform a database
lookup to fill in an index field. For example, you might take a last name and a reference
number, feed it into a customer master database, and retrieve the customer’s first
name directly from the database.
This is a good technique if the initial indexes can be used to check each other. In the
example above, if one of the first two indexes was mis-keyed, the database would reject
the query since the name would not match the reference number. This provides a double
benefit: the database is checking the accuracy of the first two indexes and
it’s filling in the third index automatically.
Define document characteristics ahead of time
Scanner operators should not have to set up scanner characteristics (resolution,
density, contrast, etc.) for each batch. Instead, the capture software should allow an
administrator to predefine different classes of documents so that the scanner operator
merely picks from a list when a batch is loaded into the scanner.
This technique reduces batch overhead from as much as 1-2 minutes to 30 seconds or less
and also helps reduce scanning errors. Instead of remembering different combinations of
scanner settings, the operator can pick from descriptive names such as "Purchase
Requisitions -- Parts Department."
In Ascent Capture, the administrator predefines
document classes, which contain detailed information about how to scan, index, and process
different types of documents. The scan operator merely has to pick the correct document
class from a list and then begin scanning the batch.
In the next issue we will look at other options for automating the
Indexing plus using image clean-up to improve results.
This series has been reproduced from a
Kofax white paper and will be continued over the next few issues.
As usual, the whole article is available for those impatient types. Just
contact AMS and it can be mailed, faxed or
e-mailed in full.
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Should Endangered Books and Archives be Filmed or Digitized?
 This is a short
excerpt from the final report of a working group of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
(German Research Association), which was convened in November 1995, chaired by Dr Hartmut
Weber of the State Archives Administration, Stuttgart, and translated by Andrew Medlicott.
The report was first available, in German, in the Autumn of 1996 on the Internet and was
published in January 1997. In July 1997 the European Commission on Preservation and Access
(CPA) published an English translation. The whole report is on :-
http://www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews
The reformatting of damaged or endangered books and archives is
an effective and economic conservation measure. Moreover, in contrast to measures to
preserve or restore originals, the transfer of information to age-resistant media can also
serve the objective of wider and better access.
Image conversion of endangered archive or library material to other media, for
protection or for the permanent replacement of the original medium threatened by
deterioration, requires systems that produce, over very long periods of time and
economically, the highest possible reproduction quality, availability and access. Compared
with other modern information media, microfilm has the advantage that the material
undergoes no fundamental technical transformation and is thus "future-proofed."
The analog-stored information is directly accessible, with relatively little effort, to
the human eye. Increasing national and international compatibility of microfilming systems
ensures acceptance across national borders. Microforms can be economically created,
duplicated, and distributed. Microfilm systems can be combined with electronic data
processing (EDP) access systems. But microfilm can also be efficiently digitized with
microfilm scanners. This will become more economical as the reproduction quality and
financial viability of digital access systems improve.
Microfilm is an analog and age-resistant storage medium whose accessibility can be
maintained with relatively few resources over long periods of time. Moreover, it remains
available at all times for further processing in digital systems. Thus, it has a place in
the digital media world. As a high- quality, intermediate storage medium, microfilm offers
new and attractive methods and levels of access to books and archive material, with the
help of digital access systems.
For the reasons given, it is advisable to film endangered material before digitizing,
rather than microfilming from the digital medium. There is a financial rationale for this
even when the only concern is digitization of material for new levels of access and use.
Because microfilm is a long-term storage medium, it can minimize heavy expenditures for
data migration and the frequent technical and organizational measures needed to preserve
readability in new systems environments of material available only in digital form. Over
the long-term, this justifies the resources invested in the preparation and handling of
microfilm.
When an original is to be digitized directly, it is important to remember that the
advantages of digital storage and processing must not be gained at the cost of
reproduction quality, low durability, or lack of compatibility or "future
proofing" of the information medium or of the hardware. A programme specifying the
technical and organizational steps involved in periodic migration, which can be constantly
refined, should be part of the system design. Here too, microfilm as a medium has a part
to play. In principle, it is possible to transfer digital image data to microfilm.
However, contrary to statements that sometimes appear in the professional literature,
converting digitized data to microfilm, which can then be used as an analog long-term
storage medium, involves a notable reduction in quality. Microfilm produced in this way
cannot be used for digitization with any guarantee of an acceptable result. Analog and
digital storage forms are thus not yet fully compatible.
In the next issue we will reprint an article entitled "From Digits to
Dust"
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Funny Bit?
One day there was a Girl walking down the street. She came across a coke machine and
having never seen one before she stopped.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a Dollar coin. She carefully put the Dollar
into the machine and then spent some time deciding what button to press.
Eventually she pushed the "Coke" button and out came a Coke.
Pleased with this she took out another Dollar coin, carefully inserted it into the
machine and again she stood there for some time before deciding to try the
"Fanta" button. Out came a Fanta.
She quickly found another Dollar coin and pushed it into the machine and pressed the
"Diet Coke" button. Out came a Diet Coke.
By this time a queue had gathered behind her, the man next in line tapped her on the
shoulder and asked if she was finished yet.
She replied, "No, not yet. I’m on a winning streak."
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AMS Services.
For the complete run down on what AMS can do for you, click on
the following link.
AMS Services
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Next Month
The first issue for Volume 4 we will continue with part six of the article on the
Dynamics of Cost of Image Capture.
In the next few issues we will have some new articles which will include the following:
- An article covering some concerns on the long term storage of information on digital
media.
- The benefits of Aperture Cards.
- A look at Alchemy’s New Version 6.0.
- Plus other topics of interest.
Plus all the usual bits & pieces.
Should you want a topic covered or need an article in full, please
feel free to contact AMS.
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Go to AMS HomePage.
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