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AMS Adviser *
Volume 5 Issue 3 - May/June 2000
Welcome to a new issue of the AMS Adviser.
AMS and Canon
Article: Digital Amnesia.
Canon MS 800 A3 Digital
Reader Printer
Plus we have all the usual bits AMS
Services, Funny bit???
AMS
AMS and Canon
AMS is now a distributor of Canon Micrographics equipment including their new Digital
Reader Printers and scanners.
If you are contemplating in replacing your current analogue A4, A3 or
A2 reader printer, please contact us so that we can demonstrate the versatility of these
new machines.
The Canon digital reader printer in standard configuration includes an
A4/A3 laser printer. This allows the unit to function as a standard reader printer, plus,
you can upgrade the machine with a computer interface and utilise any printer on your
current network including plotters and large format printers.
The Canon digital range of printers, available in three models and
multiple configurations has the flexibility to meet all your requirements now and in the
future.
To reactivate your microforms, solve your hard copy problems, develop a
disaster recovery file from your digital TIFF images, manage your office correspondence,
or implement an Imaging system, contact AMS for assistance.
With Canon equipment and the thirty years experience AMS has in the
provision of Imaging services and equipment, you cannot ask for a better combination.
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Digital Amnesia
It’s a disease associated with long-term information
storage.
But it’s a disease with a cure, so why are we ignoring it?
By Russ Burkel
Articles warning of digital obsolescence seem to be coming out
of the woodwork these days. All at once it seems the computer/digital experts are writing
about an issue that frankly, should have been obvious to them for years – digital
amnesia.
What I find strange is that they are still missing the root cause of
the problem. The pundits keep talking about life expectancy of storage media. But media is
not the real problem.
In today’s world there are two basic competing forms of
communication. One is human language, both written and spoken. The other is digital
languages and the systems associated with them. An obvious difference is that human
languages are standardised and digital languages are not. You may ask, why? The answer is
really quite simple.
The urge to communicate
Humans, by their nature, want to communicate with each other. They
do it by language. The specific language may differ from culture to culture but
there’s a common thread: language is a methodology that provides easy
"access" by humans without reliance on an external technology.
In the digital world things are quite different. Technology, rather
than human interaction, is primary. Standardisation that would facilitate access is way
down the list. The companies involved in digital storage products salivate at the thought
of the profit potential of proprietary systems – which are the opposite of a
standardised, universal language. An obvious example is Microsoft’s proprietary PC
operating system Windows.
The billions of dollars proprietary operating systems have made for
their inventors and marketers provide no incentive for the companies in control to create
standards. As a result, there are virtually none.
Long-term storage standards?
As for standards for reliable long-term digital storage, forget it.
I doubt you’ll ever see them. Why? Because people don’t demand them and the
companies producing digital operating systems see no reason to establish them.
Even if people want it, no company can be forced to produce an access
system that will endure even as technology changes. With human languages, people are the
access system. With digital systems there is no equivalent.
It’s time to face the fact that guaranteed access to digital
information is not going to happen.
It’s also time to look at something else that deserves but
isn’t getting attention. That is the fact that computers have the ability to
interpret human speech and the written word. A simple solution to digital amnesia is right
in front of us.
Store information in analogue form on high quality microfilm and
teach the computer to read it at high speed. In fact, reading high quality alphanumeric
COM with today’s OCR software is a snap. So it should be easy – and inexpensive
– to cure the patient of digital amnesia.
Russ Burkel, former vice president international sales and a founder of Eye
Communications, is now a consultant on microfilm and digital information systems. He can
be reached in the USA on 262 966-7511 or rburkel@juno.com
Should you require an article in full, please feel free to contact us.
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Canon MS 800 A3 Digital Reader Printer
Click here to go to the information page on the MS
800
Click here to go to the information page on the
MS 400/500
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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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Funny bit???
God created the mule, and told
him, "You will be mule, working constantly from dusk to dawn, carrying heavy loads on
your back. You will eat grass and lack intelligence. You will live for 40 years."
The mule answered, "To live like
this for 40 years is too much. Please, give me no more than 20." And it was so.
Then God created the dog, and told
him, "You will hold vigilance over the dwellings of Man, to whom you will be his
greatest companion. You will eat his table scraps and live for 25 years." And the dog
responded, "Lord, to live 25 years as a dog like that is too much. Please, no more
than 10 years." And it was so.
God then created the monkey, and told
him, "You are monkey. You shall swing from tree to tree, acting strange. You will be
funny, and you shall live for 20 years." And the monkey responded, "Lord, to
live 20 years as the clown of the world is too much. Please, Lord, give me no more than 10
years." And it was so.
Finally, God created Man and told
him, "You are Man, the only rational being that walks the earth. You will use your
intelligence to have mastery over the creatures of the world. You will dominate the earth
and live for 25 years." And the man responded, "Lord, to be Man for only 25
years is too little. Please, Lord, give me the 20 years the mule refused, the 15 years the
dog refused, and the 10 years the monkey rejected." And it was so.
And so God made Man to live 25 years
as a man, then marry and live 20 years like a mule working and carrying heavy loads on his
back. Then, he is to have children and live 15 years as a dog, guarding his house and
eating the leftovers after they empty the pantry; then, in his old age, to live 10 years
as a monkey, acting strange to amuse his grandchildren. And it was so.
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Next Month
In the next few issues we will have some new articles which will include the following:
- Canon DR-4080U
- AMSView the new version
- AMS and the Kodak 4800 Digital Archive Writer
- Articles and 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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