The Sedona Conference® Glossary, 3rd Edition, Copyright © 2010, Reprinted with permission.
Object: In personal computing, an object is a representation of something that a user can work with to perform a task and can appear as text or an icon. In a high-level method of programming called object- oriented programming (OOP), an object is a freestanding block of code that defines the properties of some thing.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition): A technology process that translates and converts printed matter on
an image into a format that a computer can manipulate (ASCII codes, for example) and, therefore, renders that matter text searchable. OCR software evaluates scanned data for shapes it recognizes as letters or numerals. All OCR systems include an optical scanner for reading text and software for analyzing images. Most OCR
systems use a combination of hardware (specialized circuit boards) and software to recognize characters, although some inexpensive systems operate entirely through software. Advanced OCR systems can read text in a large variety of fonts, but still have difficulty with handwritten text. OCR technology relies upon the quality of the imaged material, the conversion accuracy of the software, and the quality control process of the provider. See HRS and ICR.
Official Record Owner: See Record Owner.
Off-Line Data: The storage of ESI outside the network in daily use (e.g., on backup tapes) that is only accessible through the off-line storage system, not the network.
Off-Line Storage: ESI maintained or archived on removable disk (optical, compact, etc.) or magnetic tape used for making disaster-recovery copies of records for which retrieval is unlikely. Accessibility to off-line media usually requires manual intervention and is much slower than on-line or near-line storage depending on the storage facility. The major difference between near-line data and offline data is that offline data lacks an
intelligent disk subsystem, and is not connected to a computer, network, or any other readily-accessible system.
OLE (Object Linking and Embedding): A feature in Microsoft’s® Windows that allows the linking of different files, or parts of files, together into one file without forfeiting any of the original file’s attributes or functionality. See also Compound Document.
On-Line Review: The review of data on a computer, either locally on a network or via the Internet.
On-Line Storage: The storage of ESI as fully accessible information in daily use on the network or elsewhere.
Online/On-Line: Connected to a network or the Internet.
Ontology: A collection of categories and their relationships to other categories and to words. An ontology is one of the methods used to find related documents when given a specific query.
Operating System (OS): An Operating System provides the software platform that directs the overall activity of a computer, network or system, and on which all other software programs and applications run. In many ways, choice of an operating system will effect which applications can be run. Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. For large
systems, the operating system has even greater responsibilities and powers – becoming a traffic cop to makes
sure different programs and users running at the same time do not interfere with each other. The operating system is also responsible for security, ensuring that unauthorized users do not access the system. Examples of operating systems are UNIX, DOS, Windows, LINUX, Macintosh, and IBM’s VM. Operating systems can be classified in a number of ways, including: multi-user (allows two or more users to run programs at the same time – some operating systems permit hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users); multiprocessing (supports running a program on more than one CPU); multitasking (allows more than one program to run concurrently); multithreading (allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently); and real time (instantly responds to input – general-purpose operating systems, such as DOS and UNIX, are not real-time).
Optical Disks: Computer media similar to a compact disk that cannot be rewritten. An optical drive uses a laser to read the ESI.
Optical Jukebox: See “Jukebox.”
OST: A Microsoft® Outlook information store that is used to save folder information that can be accessed offline.
Outlook: See Microsoft® Outlook.
Over-inclusive: When referring to data sets returned by some method of query, search, filter, or cull, results that are returned overly broad.
Overwrite: To record or copy new data over existing data, as in when a file or directory is updated.
