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DIGITISATION AND ENHANCEMENT OF RECORDS FOR OUTREACH
TCA is responsible for the long-term data for answering queries received from
preservation of its Records. Tata companies and research scholars.
Digitisation of Records in TCA was initiated The Photographic Collections are also
in 1999, with the specific purpose to protect being digitised and the images can now be
the originals from frequent handling, thereby disseminated through various mediums,
mitigating the risks to the Collections. the world over. TCA also digitally enhances
Three hundred thousand documents were its images which are showcased in various
digitised at 100 dpi in grey scale. This form of outreach programmes.
rudimentary digitisation could not retrieve the
information embedded in them. Digital information is more vulnerable than
paper. The process of digitisation comes
In later years, TCA invested in a document with its own problems as technology to
management software with the intent to store and retrieve digital records changes
retrieve information within the documents. over time. TCA has been transferring its
This necessitated scanning the documents digitised Records in a more secure storage
in a higher resolution and larger pixel size to environment thus ensuring that digital
enable optical character recognition. Over continuity is maintained. TCA’s aim is to
three hundred thousand documents have digitise every Record that comes into
been digitised, ensuring speedy retrieval of the Archives.
Before
After
TCA is adept at digitally enhancing images for outreach purposes. A digitally enhanced image of the Directors
of the Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited in 1917. Photograph courtesy Noshir Dastoor. $
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