Document Processing

A document is any written, printed, or electronically prepared
business communication that conveys information.
In the information age, documents are essential products
that are becoming larger and more complex. Document
processing involves the equipment, software, and procedures
for creating, formatting, editing, researching,
retrieving, storing, and mailing documents.
HISTORY OF DOCUMENT
PREPARATION
The advent of a writing system coincided with the transition
from a hunter-gatherer society to agrarian encampments
where it became necessary to count one’s
property—whether it was parcels of land, animals, or
measures of grain—or to transfer that property to another
individual or another settlement. Letters were being handwritten
as early as 2686 B.C.E. Prior to the inventions of
the typewriter and the computer, all documents were
handwritten, whether they were letters, bills of lading,
property deeds, or reports.
The invention of the typewriter changed the way
people communicated—moving from handwritten documents
to typed ones. The typewriter was invented in 1714
by Henry Mill. Christopher Latham Sholes, a Milwaukee
inventor, is the person most often associated with the
invention of the typewriter in the United States. In 1868
Sholes produced the first practical typewriter to be
patented.
At that time, however, correspondence was deeply
rooted in etiquette and penmanship. Individuals were of
the mindset that letter writing was the most private, complete,
and encompassing form of communication between
people. Individuals who dared to type letters risked rejection.
Typewritten letters were viewed as insulting, implying
that the recipient could not read. Even as late as 1922,
the etiquette authority Emily Post was still describing letter
writing as an art—even as she saw that art shrinking
until “the letter threatens to become a telegram, a telephone
message, a post-card” (Post).
Nonetheless, sales of the typewriter became lucrative,
and with its acceptance, individuals found the process of
preparing documents a far simpler one. The typewriter
gave operators a faster means of writing than a person
could do by hand.
In 1961 IBM introduced the first electric typewriter,
the Selectric. Instead of the standard movable carriage and
individual type strikers, this typewriter had a revolving
type ball. The use of the revolving type ball allowed the
Selectric to print faster than traditional typewriters. Following
on the heels of the electric typewriter, IBM introduced
the Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter (MT/ST)
in 1964. The MT/ST was one of the earliest attempts to
convert the regular Selectric typewriter into a word
processor.
TYPES OF DOCUMENT
PROCESSING
Different definitions have been ascribed to document processing.
Several business education courses with document
processing in their titles describe courses as being

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION 211
Document Processing
designed to teach students how to create a variety of computer-
based documents—anything from business, technical,
medical, and/or legal documents, tables, forms,
reports, presentations documents, to documents for electronic
publishing.
Nonetheless, computer science or library and information
science show marked differences in their definition
of document processing. In these areas, document
processing might “explore the issues involved in building
natural-language-processing applications that operate on
large bodies of real text such as the ones found in the
World Wide Web” (Dras and Cassidy, 2005, para. 2).
Others find document processing to relate to electronic
publishing—and to include such topics as typography,
computer languages, file formats, specifications for document
style and semantics, and electronic document standards.
Document processing has also been described as processing
text documents, including methods of indexing
for retrieving text based on content. Thus, document processing
appears akin to nonverbal language in that it is
learned terminology, one not easily or readily defined—
one whose meaning varies with the culture of the organization
and/or individual.
While an administrative assistant considers document
processing as using a computer to keyboard a letter,
memo, electronic mail (e-mail), or report, other individuals
see document processing as a means of coordinating
and conducting business transactions. An order submitted
to purchase a certain product, for example, becomes a
document for processing.
From the word-processing perspective, in its simplest
form the term document processing means the production
of paperwork. Originally the term encompassed all business
equipment concerned with the handling of text. The
term word processor came to represent stand-alone units.
In 1981, with the advent of the IBM personal computer
(PC), the playing field for word processors changed. Software-
based word processors gradually replaced dedicated
word processors. In this fashion, the term went from representing
hardware to referring to software.
THE FUTURE OF DOCUMENT
PROCESSING
In 1980 R. I. Anderson reported that “an even broader
concept of word processing is emerging which ties automatic
typing equipment into a communications network
for input and output” (p. 55). At this time, optical character
recognition, output to phototypesetting equipment,
output onto microfilm, or output routed to automatic filing
systems were separate units that were being tied
together into a total information system of which word
processing was a part.
Advances in technology have made it easier for individuals
to create and manage documents. Tablet PCs,
scanners, voice-recognition software, and the Internet are
all changing the face of document processing.
Doctors’ offices use wireless tablet PCs for inputting
patient data during examinations. Prior to this technological
development, patient reports would have been dictated
by the physician and transcribed by an assistant. The
hard-copy form of the patient’s report would have then
been stored in the patient’s file. The use of the tablet PC
also eliminates the need for storage space for hard-copy
records and makes retrieval of materials faster and simpler.
Also archiving stored records from a computer is a simpler
process because older files may be stored on compact
disks, jump drives, or external hard drives so that the data
is available if needed but is not consuming space on an
active hard drive.
Prior to the advent of scanners, documents were
stored in file folders, file cabinets, file centers, and departments.
Hard copies of documents can now be scanned
and stored in an electronic file. This technological
advance decreases the space formerly needed for document
storage. Also, when a customer or other individual
needs a document, a copy can be sent immediately by
scanning the requested document and attaching it to an email
message.
Voice-recognition software is an important development,
particularly to physically challenged individuals.
Through the use of a microphone, individuals can dictate
letters, memos, e-mail, and reports and have those documents
convert to type on the computer screen. The use of
voice-recognition software in industry reduces the number
of repetitive stress injuries (such as carpal tunnel syndrome)
and decreases the amount of time required to
input data.
Companies are using e-mail as their official communication
channel, thereby eliminating the need for hard
copies of interoffice memorandums. In addition to being
a faster means of communication, e-mail messages provide
a hard-copy record, when needed, by simply printing the
message. E-mail messages may also be stored electronically,
reducing the required storage space for hard-copy
documents.