Scanners

Scanners are everyday devices set to change our lives. Using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, modern scanners can scan roughly one page per second, render items instantly searchable and even categorise and file each digitised document automatically. Character recognition software has combined with streamlined electronic processes to enable us to create and store digital documentation easily. It is more than likely that the scanner in an individuals home cannot currently perform such impressive tasks, but it is also more than likely that within the next 10 years it will. If everything is scannable, storable and searchable then why keep paper copies at all?

Advantages

• Digitising images improves access.
• A scanner can create digital documents at a faster rate than a human typing, therefore increasing efficiency.
• If all documents are stored digitally there is no need for paper copies, which require a lot of space to store.
• Even if a human must check documents to fix mistakes made by the scanner, productivity is still increased in most circumstances.

Disadvantages

• OCR is a flawed mechanism, as it doesn't necessarily recognise all the characters in a document successfully.
• Scanners are no very good with non standard layout. A computer isn't human and therefore can not make the decisions we can when working with text.
• This system doesn't work with handwriting.