Abstract

The value of legacy documents, important documents that exist only in printed form, is increased when those documents are transformed by an Electronic Image Management (EIM) System into digital form. The image quality observed from many of these systems is much poorer than that which is typical in the Graphic Arts field. This research has sought to understand whether the poor quality was due to the past constraints of slow computing power, high storage costs, and narrow network bandwidths. Users of EIM systems in Libraries and Corporate Information Centers were interviewed to assess their fundamental quality requirements relative to competing requirements for cost, turnaround time and speed. The process tool, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), was used to gather and process user requirements. QFD was chosen because of it's methodical structure for the interview process and subsequent analysis. The resulting requirements were organized into a QFD "House of Quality", arraying customer requirements against technical responses. Subsequent analysis of the House of Quality and transcripts of the customer interviews suggests that requirements for high speed and low cost, predominate over Graphic Arts quality for most users. The focus on speed and cost was most obvious for those applying EIM to commercial purposes in Corporate Information Centers. While Library users had a shared interest in speed and cost, they have a specialty application of EIM, preservation and conservation. In this application, EIM is used to preserve and save printed documents that are deteriorating. For this specialty application, quality is paramount. While cost and speed are still important, they cannot be sacrificed for quality or speed.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Document imaging systems; Digital preservation; Imaging systems; Scanning systems

Publication Date

5-1-1998

Document Type

Thesis

Department, Program, or Center

School of Print Media (CIAS)

Advisor

Cost, Frank

Comments

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works. Physical copy available through RIT's The Wallace Library at: HF5737 .B88 1998

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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