Digitising Data
Tech Snippet | Aakash
Aakash delayed again; specs by June-end The agonising wait for the much-hyped ultra low-cost Aakash tablet PC, to be launched by the Indian government, continues! Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has said the specifications for the Aakash 2 tablet PC will be finalised by this month. The minister had previously said that an improved version of the Aakash will launch in May—evidently, that did not happen. According to reports, the tablets and related apps are currently being tested at IIT-Mumbai. “During the course of this month, we will finalise the specifications and
Whether you’re a small college or a multi-campus university, the challenge of maintaining a balance between delivering quality education and managing the documents that come as part-and-parcel of this equation is ever present. In this issue, we look at the important considerations and choices you have to make while implementing a digital document management (DDM) solution.
Institutional Needs–Why Digital Document Management? As with any large turnkey technology implementation, the reasons why you would choose to implement a DDM solution vary based on your institute’s unique requirements. In general, DDM refers to a computer-based system that stores, tracks, and indexes your electronic and paper documents. While paper documents are imaged (scanned) and stored electronically, DDM brings in efficiencies even to your electronically generated documents by organising them for easy access, while eliminating walls of filing cabinets and providing for the utmost in information security and disaster recovery (with properly formulated backup processes). Some of the needs DDM solutions address are: Student Records Management: Digitise, index, and merge documents
TECHNOLOGy
technology for the Aakash project and move,” Kapil Sibal is quoted as saying. The minister expresses confidence that the government will provide the ultra low-cost tablet to every school and college student in the country in the next five to seven years. The device will also be available for individuals who wish to buy it. Speaking of the pricing, the minister revealed the device will be as cheap as USD 35, which is approximately Rs 1,960, or less. It may be recalled that Sibal had unveiled Aakash tablet in October last year amidst much fanfare.
for admissions, financial aid, and registration, and integrate them into your student information system for a cradle-to-grave tracking of a student as s/he passes through your education institution. Admissions Processing: Digitally automate admissions to provide fast, accurate, paperless processing and enable communications via a web interface, and integrate existing online applications and enable the index and capture of all supporting materials that are received. Streamline Application processing from weeks to a few days. Courseware and Copyright Management: Automate the process of requesting copyright clearance for electronic texts and courseware.
Key Components of a DDM Solution Any mature DDM solution should address the following key components and considerations: Metadata: Essentially, data about each document stored, such as the date the document was stored and the identity of the user storing it, metadata can also be extended to cover description of the document’s contents, either extracted automat-
ically or manually fed in. Advanced systems can use optical character recognition to scan entire documents and provide keyword based or full text search capabilities. Capture: Capture components refer to OCR and OMR solutions software and hardware to convert digital images into machine readable text, and the acceptance/storage of electronic documents and other computer-generated files. Versioning: The process by which documents are checked in or out of the document management system, allowing users to retrieve previous versions and to continue work from a selected point. Versioning is critical for documents that change over time and require updating, but it may be necessary or required by law to go back to or reference a previous copy. Storage: How will the electronic documents be stored (in terms of physical media and infrastructure), how long will they be stored, and when are they required to be destroyed (by law) – key considerations that decision-makers and planners have to make at the onset of planning a DDM strategy. Indexing, Retrieval and Search: While indexing looks at the science
DDM a computerbased system that stores, tracks and indexes your electronic and paper documents
July 2012 EduTech
35