The Gazette 1992

GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1992

Optical Imaging Technology and the Legal Profession Technolog y Noteboo k by John Furlong, Solicitor ing facilities. Others reh parallel system based on character recognition. Cc

y on a optical insider

how documents will be access- ed o r located. Th e proper indexing of optical images is a fundamental requirement i f the system is to return any benefit. • Most systems are Write Once and Read Many (Worm) which means that data once stored cannot be amended. While this is of benefit from a security o r archival point o f view, i tcan severely limit the applicability of the technology t o"wo r k i ng documents". • What quality o f materials d o you intend t o input? Optical storage requires control on the standard o f the input material both i ntheir original paper f o rmat an d their cap t u r ed op t i c al image. Check t h e capabilities o f the system i n respect o f double sided docu- ments; deed paper; pencil draw- ings; different coloured paper; old or mutilated documents etc. • What format disk is used by the system? Discs come i n5.25" and 12 " formats. Clearly the larger the disk the more data can be stored on it. Problems arise if all of the data cannot be stored on one disk. Where there are a large number of disks they will have to be identified, tagged and stored securely. They will have to be loaded manually or stored in an automatic or robotic feed system which involves consider- able extra expense. • What are the back-up capabil- ities o f t h e op t i c al disk technology? Clearly if the docu- ments are wo r th the original investment i n the technology, secure second copies will b e required in the event of damage or loss to the original disks. (Continued on page 34) 31

Most lawyers are acquainted w i th the concept of micro filming which preserves reduced copies of docu- ments in their original format. Micro filming has not been a technology to wh i ch lawyers have taken w i th any great enthusiasm. Yet, the legal profession i sbeing noticeably targeted at present w i th regard to optical imaging technology. This technology provides a means t o store, o n a computer system, a photographic image o r graphical content o f a document. Whereas micro filming retains a copy image in a physical medium, optical imaging allows for storage of copy images within the logical medium of a computer system. Nonethe- less, optical imaging is essentially another (i fmore sophisticated) method o f storing copy images. It i sclearly o f benefit where a lawyer requires t ostore vast amounts of graphical detail such as site plans, signatures, stamp duty detail on deeds etc. I t i salso o f benefit where the storage o f and access to copies of original docu- ments ar e required o n a n in - stantaneous basis by a number of persons. The technology stores such detail on an optical disk. Optical disks are physically similar t o CDs and the entry an d storage o f data i s effected by scanning the relevant document or item, logging i t to a specific physical disk; checking t he qua l i ty o ft h e capu r ed image and indexing i tfo r future access. The principal benefits o f optical imaging technology t o the legal profession are: • safe and secure archival storage of copies o f original docu- ments

• substantial reduction in storage space. 15,000 A4 pages can be stored on one 5.25 inch disk. 12 inch disks ca n store over 120,000 A4 pages depending on the quality o f the image required

• multi-user access to a copy of the same document

• portability between locations. This i so fsignificant benefit where large volume copies o f documents are required out of office (e.g. i n court) o r are re- quired in a number of locations at the same time. Certainly, these advantages com- bined w i th th e ase o f access which optical technology seems to offer can make i tseem an attract- ive option i n the development o f legal office technology. However, the technology suffers from a number of drawbacks. The follow- ing issues should b e addressed when considering the implementa- tion of the technology: • What are your business require- ments of such a system? Would they be adequately satisfied by the improved indexing o f the original documents or by use of a micro filming system? • Can you justify the investment cost which will include no t alone the software and necess- ary ha r dwa re ( i nc l ud i ng a scanner) but also the cost o f staff resources t oscan th e documents, control the quality and to index them. • What are the indexing capa- bilities of the sytem? How does it provide fo r access t o in -

dividual documen t s? Some systems provide limited index-