Document

For other uses, see Document (disambiguation).

an emphasis on the technology of digital documents has

impeded our understanding of digital documents as documents (e.g., Levy, 1994[2] ). A conventional document,
such as a mail message or a technical report, exists physically in digital technology as a string of bits, as does everything else in a digital environment. As an object of
study, it has been made into a document. It has become
physical evidence by those who study it.

A document is a written, drawn, presented or recorded

representation of thoughts. Originating from the Latin
Documentum meaning lesson - the verb doce means to
teach, and is pronounced similarly, in the past it was usually used as a term for a written proof used as evidence.
In the computer age, a document is usually used to describe a primarily textual le, along with its structure and Value of document research exemplied: Aviation to
design, such as fonts, colors and additional images.
many is an esoteric subject. It is an intricate combination
The modern term 'document' can no longer be dened by of men, machines and environment. Because of the techits transmission medium (such as paper), following the nological faade that predominates aviation, people are
existence of electronic documents. 'Documentation' has almost unaware of its aesthetic make up particularly that
more meanings than a written or drawn presentation of of ight. This has serious implications for aviation education. Even the professionals handling safety of ights
thoughts.
and passengers are sort of realization of literary values of
The formal term 'document' is dened in Library and in- aviation that basically deals with ights. Scholarly interformation science and in documentation science, as a ba- vention for educating youths and aviation professionals
sic theoretical construct. It is everything which may be on matters of safety, too, is rare. The object of ones
preserved or represented in order to serve as evidence research may be the aviation documents dedicated to
for some purpose. The classical example provided by safety of ights and human beings that travel by air which
Suzanne Briet is an antelope: An antelope running wild contains plethora of concrete and symbolic indications
on the plains of Africa should not be considered a docu- of physical and mental phenomena that it has recorded.
ment, she rules. But if it were to be captured, taken to a These indications have not been addressed in a manner
zoo and made an object of study, it has been made into that could contribute to peoples arousal, awareness and
a document. It has become physical evidence being used interest towards aviation. The study may be designed to
by those who study it. Indeed, scholarly articles written claim that the deep structure of aviation safety documents
about the antelope are secondary documents, since the posit philosophical and literary features of high aesthetic
antelope itself is the primary document. (Quoted from and educational values, which the study seeks to explore.
Buckland, 1998 [1] ). (This view has been seen as an early These ontological and literary values can be elaborated
expression of what now is known as actornetwork the- in a way that facilitates creating rich aviation literature
ory).
having implications for disciplinary education of the aviation professionals at work for safety. The implications of
study for research intervention at tertiary university level
may also be discussed. A qualitative researcher may un1 The document concept
dertake to analyse the text inductively as well as deductively within post structural critical perspective utilizing
The concept of document has been dened as any con- interpretive auto-ethnographic strategy. (Baral, Saurabh
crete or symbolic indication, preserved or recorded, R., 2014. Aviation English: A study of the ontological
for reconstructing or for proving a phenomenon, and literary dimensions of aviation safety documents and
whether physical or mental (Briet, 1951, 7; here their implications for aviation education. A concept proquoted from Buckland, 1991).
posal for PhD in English. Self)
A much cited article asked what is a document and
concluded this way: The evolving notion of document
among (Jonathan Priest). Otlet, Briet, Schrmeyer, and
the other documentalists increasingly emphasized what- 2 Types of documents
ever functioned as a document rather than traditional
physical forms of documents. The shift to digital tech- Documents are sometimes classied as secret, private or
nology would seem to make this distinction even more public. They may also be described as a draft or proof.
important. Levys thoughtful analyses have shown that When a document is copied, the source is referred to as
1

IN LAW

the original.
There are accepted standards for specic applications in
various elds, such as:
Academic: thesis, paper, journal
Business and accounting: Invoice, quote, RFP,
Proposal, Contract, Packing slip, Manifest, Report
detailed & summary, Spread sheet, MSDS,
Waybill, Bill of Lading (BOL), Financial statement,
Nondisclosure agreement (NDA) or sometimes
referred to as; Mutual nondisclosure agreement
(MNDA)
Law and politics: summons, certicate, license,
gazette
Government and industry: white paper, application
forms, user-guide
Media and marketing: brief, mock-up, script
Such standard documents can be created based on a
template.

Developing documents

The page layout of a document is the manner in which information is graphically arranged in the document space
(e.g., on a page). If the appearance of the document
is of concern, page layout is generally the responsibility of a graphic designer. Typography deals with
the design of letter and symbol forms, as well as their
physical arrangement in the document (see typesetting).
Information design focuses on the eective communication of information, especially in industrial documents
and public signs. Simple text documents may not require
a visual design and may be handled by an author, clerk
or transcriber. Forms may require a visual design for the
initial elds, but not to ll out the forms.

History

A birth certicate from 1859.

rolled up as a scroll or cut into sheets and bound into a

book. Today short documents might also consist of sheets
of paper stapled together.
Modern electronic means of storing and displaying documents include:
desktop computer and monitor (or laptop, tablet PC,
etc.); optionally with a printer to obtain a hard copy
Personal digital assistant (PDA)
dedicated e-book device
electronic paper
information appliances
digital audio players

radio and television service provider

Traditionally, the medium of a document was paper and
the information was applied to it as ink, either by hand
Digital documents usually have to adhere to a specic le
(to make a hand-written document) or by a mechanical
format in order to be useful.
process (such as a printing press or, more recently, a laser
That documents cannot be dened by their transmission
printer).
medium
Through time, documents have also been written with
ink on papyrus (starting in ancient Egypt) or parchment;
scratched as runes or carved on stone using a sharp apparatus (such as the Tablets of Stone described in the bible); 5 In law
stamped or cut into clay and then baked to make clay
tablets (e.g., in the Sumerian and other Mesopotamian Documents in all forms are frequently found to be macivilisations). The paper, papyrus or parchment might be terial evidence in criminal and civil proceedings. The

3
forensic analysis of such a document falls under the scope
of questioned document examination. For the purpose of
cataloging and managing the large number of documents
that may be produced in the course of a lawsuit, Bates
numbering is often applied to all documents so that each
document has a unique, aribitrary identifying number.

See also
Realia (library science)
Subject (documents)
Commission (document)
Form (document)
Constitutional documents
Identity document
Identity document forgery

References

[1] Buckland, M. (1998). What is a digital document? In:

Document Numrique (Paris) 2(2), http://people.ischool.
berkeley.edu/~{}buckland/digdoc.html
[2] Levy, D. M. (1994) . Fixed or uid? Document stability and new media. In European Conference on Hypertext Technology 1994 Proceedings, (pp. 2431) . New
York: Association for Computing Machinery. Retrieved
2011-10-18 from: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/
download?doi=10.1.1.119.8813&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Further reading
Briet, S. (1951). Qu'est-ce que la documentation?
Paris: Documentaires Industrielles et Techniques.
Buckland, M. (1991). Information and information
systems. New York: Greenwood Press.
Frohmann, Bernd (2009). Revisiting what is a document?", Journal of Documentation, 65(2), 291303.
Hjerppe, R. (1994). A framework for the description of generalized documents. Advances in Knowledge Organization, 4, 173-180.
Houser, L. (1986). Documents: The domain of library and information science. Library and Information Science Research, 8, 163-188.
Larsen, P.S. (1999). Books and bytes: Preserving documents for posterity. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50(11), 10201027.

Lund, N. W. (2008). Document theory. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 43,
399-432.
Riles, A. (Ed.) (2006). Documents: Artifacts of
Modern Knowledge. University of Michigan Press,
Ann Arbor, MI.
Schamber, L. (1996). What is a document? Rethinking the concept in uneasy times. Journal of the
American Society for Information Science, 47, 669671.
Signer, Beat: What is Wrong with Digital Documents? A Conceptual Model for Structural CrossMedia Content Composition and Reuse, In Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER 2010), Vancouver, Canada,
November 2010.
Smith, Barry. How to Do Things with Documents, Rivista di Estetica, 50 (2012), 179-198.
Smith, Barry.
Document Acts,in Anita
Konzelmann-Ziv,
Hans Bernhard Schmid
(eds.), 2013. Institutions, Emotions, and Group
Agents.Contributions to Social Ontology (Philosophical Studies Series), Dordrecht: Springer
rom, A. (2007). The concept of information versus the concept of document. I: Document (re)turn.
Contributions from a research eld in transition. Ed.
By Roswitha Skare, Niels Windfeld Lund & Andreas Vrheim. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
(pp. 5372).

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

Document Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document?oldid=649178225 Contributors: Hfastedge, Patrick, Michael Hardy, Nixdorf,

Kku, Dcljr, Tregoweth, Andrewman327, Greenrd, Maximus Rex, Robbot, TimothyPilgrim, Pengo, Matt Gies, Kim Bruning, Tom harrison, Gamaliel, Pashute, Maroux, LiDaobing, Sam Hocevar, Neutrality, Addicted2Sanity, Eep, Shiftchange, Adambondy, Ivan Bajlo, Xezbeth, Sietse Snel, Cmdrjameson, Maurreen, Comic, Hooperbloob, Nsaa, Jumbuck, Walter Grlitz, Diego Moya, Leoadec, Ron Ritzman,
Woohookitty, Mindmatrix, Ruud Koot, SCEhardt, Haunti, Palica, DaveTheRed, BD2412, Dpv, Gmelli, Krash, Docether, FlaBot, Gurch,
M7bot, Jared Preston, YurikBot, RobotE, Bhny, NightWolfe, Joel7687, Jpbowen, Bota47, Everyguy, Zzuuzz, Closedmouth, LeonardoRob0t, Benandorsqueaks, Elijahmeeks, Eptin, Bill, Friman, Vanka5, SmackBot, Ohnoitsjamie, Lorian, Chris the speller, Bluebot,
Fplay, MalafayaBot, Deli nk, Jerome Charles Potts, CSWarren, Rybesh, DHN-bot, Jahiegel, Wezzo, Cordless Larry, Dreadstar, Phismith, Lester, NewTestLeper79, Onlim, IronGargoyle, Andr SC, 16@r, Xiaphias, MTSbot, JYi, Dreftymac, Martin Kozk, Linkspamremover, Tawkerbot2, Wolfdog, WeggeBot, Iokseng, Gregbard, Gogo Dodo, JFreeman, Alaibot, Ebraminio, Nol888, Z10x, Dgies, Piotr
Mikoajski, Wahabijaz, BenB4, GurchBot, Kirrages, .anacondabot, Geniac, Magioladitis, VoABot II, Avjoska, Carom, Oicumayberight,
Chrisguidry, Roswell Crash Survivor, Iamthenewno2, R'n'B, Jahnavijagannath, Nono64, J.delanoy, Maurice Carbonaro, Public Menace,
Jeepday, JClark2906, Erik Swanson, MW3915, Bonadea, VolkovBot, TXiKiBoT, SueHay, Vanished user ikijeirw34iuaeolaseric, Dendodge, Jackfork, Madhero88, Samuelforsberg, AlleborgoBot, SieBot, Faradayplank, Paustin14580, BenoniBot, StaticGull, VenkateshRao,
ObfuscatePenguin, Fragnet, Tanvir Ahmmed, ClueBot, Marcinjeske, Mild Bill Hiccup, TheOldJacobite, VandalCruncher, Jusdafax,
BirgerH, Chininazu12, SchreiberBike, Taranet, Versus22, WikHead, Galzigler, Marian Wilhide, Glane23, Tide rolls, Jarble, Irockursox11, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Bestiasonica, AnomieBOT, Dolly.Chitkara, SRU3-AZP8, JackieBot, Materialscientist, Hunnjazal, ArthurBot,
Xqbot, Ratish.123, Ms Tristan, GrouchoBot, Schlimmbesserung, Abuk SABUK, LucienBOT, Mark Renier, Sailorsun, Pinethicket, HRoestBot, Jauhienij, YH1975, Jonkerz, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, TjBot, AndyHe829, Superk1a, EmausBot, Cxw888, Digitalpenfan, Wikipelli,
SocialOntologist, Nghawes, Granite333, Donner60, ChuispastonBot, EdoBot, ClueBot NG, MelbourneStar, This lousy T-shirt, Widr, MerlIwBot, Cseanburns, Snaevar-bot, Mark Arsten, HMman, 21hattongardens, Bagoto, Pratyya Ghosh, Mullany14, ChrisGualtieri, Pavel679,
Codename Lisa, Mogism, AmaryllisGardener, Tentinator, Documentbd, Quenhitran, Jianhui67, AddWittyNameHere, Bobmanwasadogcalledbob, Dragon7391 and Anonymous: 162

9.2

Images

File:1912_Birth_Certificate_Ken_Baker.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/1912_Birth_Certificate_

Ken_Baker.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Scan of original. Original artist: British Government.
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:Edit-clear.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg License: Public domain Contributors: The
Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist:
The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the le, specically: Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although
minimally).
File:LL_Zamenhof_birth_certificate.jpg Source:
certificate.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
undetermined govt dept

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/LL_Zamenhof_birth_
The State Archive of Biaystok (www.bialystok.ap.gov.pl) Original artist:

File:Restraining_Order.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Restraining_Order.jpg License: ? Contributors: http://talionsystems.com/SafetyProfile/BartsRestrainingOrder.jpg Original artist: The Justice Court of Las Vegas township
File:Wachovia_National_Bank_1906_statement.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Wachovia_
National_Bank_1906_statement.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

9.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0