Archives and Digital Libraries
Archivists and Digital Librarians are confronted with a difficult problem ... how to
scan history in a way that is friendly to existing technologies
and also friendly to technologies that have yet to be invented.
For example, today's search engines search on text, and providing scans that maximize OCR
engine performance is a key consideration in an archive or digital
library digitization strategy. But in the future, it is likely that search engines
will also be able to search on images of faces, buildings, landscapes ... even the
texture of the paper may become an important attribute for preservation. Archivists
and Digital Librarians must consider both near and long-term use requirements in formulating the image quality levels required in their
digitization programs.
The amount of historical data earmarked for digitization
is staggering and represents a very significant investment in technology and resources.
Efficient tools to assess the quality of the digitized content, whether produced in-house or by an outside service,
simply don't exist in technology offerings of today.
Certifi Pedigree® addresses the needs of Archives and Digital Libraries by providing:
- The tools needed to assess image quality against standards - either internally
generated standards or those recommended by academic or governmental groups.
- The tools needed to immediately
understand the impact of image processing on the image quality.
- A robust image analysis engine that alerts the user when quality problems arise and
the tools needed to fix these problems.
- The tools for producing higher image quality, leading to improved OCR performance rates and assurance that your
scans will be ready for future applications.
Today, the number one obstacle to achieving high OCR rates is scanning your data
correctly and verifying through quality assurance.
- Quality measurements that are embedded directly in the image file so the quality state is always linked
with the image wherever it goes.
- Security features to prevent tampering of the image data, the image processing script used to
prepare the data, and the quality measurements for the image. An embedded digital signature
can be validated using a public key while you maintain the
private key, assuring you or anyone who uses your data that the data integrity has been maintained.