Ablate: Describes the process by which laser-readable “pits” are burned into the recorded layer of optical discs,DVD-ROMs and CD-ROMs.

Ablative: Unalterable data. See Ablate.

Acetate-base film: A safety film (ANSI Standard) substrate used to produce microfilm.

ACL (Access Control List): A security method used by Lotus Notes developers to grant varying levels of access and user privileges within Lotus Notes databases.

ACM (Association for Computing Machinery): Professional association for computer professionals with anumber of resources, including a special interest group on search and retrieval. See http://www.acm.org.

Active Data: Information residing on the direct access storage media (disc drives or servers) that is readilyvisible to the operating system and/or application software with which it was created. It is immediately accessible to users without restoration or reconstruction.

Active Records: Records related to current, ongoing or in-process activities referred to on a regular basis to respond to day-to-day operational requirements. See Inactive Records.

ADC: Analog to Digital Converter. Converts analog data to a digital format.

Address: Addresses using a number of different protocols are commonly used on the Internet. These addresses include email addresses (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP), IP (Internet Protocol) addresses and URLs (Uniform Resource Locators), commonly known asWeb addresses.

ADF: Automatic Document Feeder. This is the means by which a scanner feeds the paper document.

Adware: See Spyware.

Agent: A program running on a computer that performs as instructed by a central control point to track file and operating system events, and take directed actions, such as transferring a file or deleting a local copy of a file, in response to such events.

AIIM: The Association for Information and Image Management, www.aiim.org – focused on ECM (enterprise content management).

Algorithm: A detailed formula or set of steps for solving a particular problem. To be an algorithm, a set of rules must be unambiguous and have a clear stopping point.

Aliasing: When computer graphics output has jagged edges or a stair-stepped, rather than a smooth, appearance when magnified. The graphics output can be smoothed using anti-aliasing algorithms.

Alphanumeric: Characters composed of letters, numbers (and sometimes non-control characters, such as @, #, $). Excludes control characters.

Ambient Data: See Residual Data.

Analog: Data in an analog format is represented by continuously variable, measurable, physical quantities such as voltage, amplitude or frequency. Analog is the opposite of digital.

Annotation: The changes, additions, or editorial comments made or applicable to a document - usually an electronic image file - using electronic sticky notes, highlighter, or other electronic tools. Annotations should be overlaid and not change the original document.

ANSI: American National Standards Institute, www.ansi.org - a private, non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system.

Aperture Card: An IBM punch card with a window that holds a 35mm frame of microfilm. Indexing information is punched in the card.

Application: A collection of one or more related software programs that enable an end-user to enter, store, view, modify, or extract information from files or databases. The term is commonly used in place of “program” or “software.” Applications may include word processors, Internet browsing tools, spreadsheets, email clients, personal information managers (contact information and calendars), and other databases.

Application Metadata: Data created by the application specific to the ESI being addressed, embedded in the file and moved with the file when copied; copying may alter application metadata. See also Metadata.

Application Service Provider (ASP): An Internet-based organization hosting software applications on its ownservers within its own facilities. Customers rent the use of the application and access it over the Internet or via a private line connection. See SaaS.

Architecture: The term architecture refers to the hardware, software or combination of hardware and softwarecomprising a computer system or network. The term “open architecture” is used to describe computer and network components that are more readily interconnected and interoperable. Conversely, the term “closed architecture” describes components that are less readily interconnected and interoperable.

Archival Data: Archival Data is information an organization maintains for long-term storage and record
keeping purposes, but which is not immediately accessible to the user of a computer system. Archival data may be written to removable media such as a CD, magneto-optical media, tape or other electronic storage device, or may be maintained on system hard drives. Some systems allow users to retrieve archival data directly while other systems require the intervention of an IT professional.

Archive, Electronic Archive: Long-term repositories for the storage of records. Electronic archives preserve the content, prevent or track alterations, and control access to electronic records.

ARMA International: A not-for-profit association and recognized authority on managing records and information, both paper and electronic, www.arma.org.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): The subfield of computer science concerned with the concepts and methods of symbolic inference by computer and symbolic knowledge representation for use in making inferences - an attempt to model aspects of human thought process with computers. It is also sometimes defined as trying to solve by computer any problem once believed to be solvable only by humans. AI is the capability of a device to perform functions that are normally associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning and optimization through experience. It attempts to approximate the results of human reasoning by organizing and manipulating factual and heuristic knowledge. Areas of AI activity include expert systems, natural language understanding, speech recognition, vision, and robotics.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange): Pronounced “ask-ee,” A non-proprietarytext format built on a set of 128 (or 255 for extended ASCII) alphanumeric and control characters. Documents in ASCII format consist of only text with no formatting and can be read by most computer systems.

Aspect Ratio: The relationship of the height to the width of any image. The aspect ratio of an image must be maintained to prevent distortion.

Attachment: A record or file associated with another record for the purpose of retention, transfer, processing, review, production and routine records management. There may be multiple attachments associated with a single “parent” or “master” record. In many records and information management programs, or in a litigation context, the attachments and associated record(s) may be managed and processed as a single unit. In common use, this term often refers to a file (or files) associated with an email for retention and storage as a single Message Unit. See Document Family and Message Unit.

Attribute: A characteristic of data that sets it apart from other data, such as location, length, or type. The term attribute is sometimes used synonymously with “data element” or “property.”

Audit Log or Audit Trail: In computer security systems, a chronological record of when users logged in, how long they were engaged in various activities, what they were doing, and whether any actual or attempted security violations occurred. An audit trail is an automated or manual set of chronological records of system activities that may enable the reconstruction and examination of a sequence of events and/or changes in an event.

Author or Originator: The person, office or designated position responsible for an item’s creation or issuanceIn the case of a document in the form of a letter, the author or originator is usually indicated on the letterhead or by signature. In some cases, the software application producing the document may capture the author’s identity and associate it with the document. For records management purposes, the author or originator may be designated as a person, official title, office symbol, or code.

Avatar: A graphical representation of a user in a shared virtual reality, such as web forums or chat rooms.

AVI (Audio-Video Interleave): A Microsoft standard forWindows animation files that interleaves audio and video to provide medium quality multimedia.