Digitization is the conversion of various forms of information to binary code. Since doing so converts the information into something that can be processed by a computer, it is also known as computerization. In the modern era, data digitization has brought immense benefits and has contributed a lot to the advancement of society at an alarming speed. This is because the sheer processing power of computers allows data that has been digitized to be processed much faster than humans can. So digitization has naturally been followed by automation, leading to much greater efficiencies most of the time.
An example of this can be electronic mail or e-mail. Some may argue that digitization in the literal definition of the word does not occur since the document does not become a digital representation. However, it should be noted that email has replaced the traditional type of mail, also now sometimes referred to as postal mail. As such, aren’t letters that would otherwise have been handwritten now digitally represented? So, in a sense, the rise of email can be called the digitization of postal mail. Now let’s look at some of the advantages of email. Many can be observed, but in the end they all have one conclusion: emails are much faster than postal mail. Instead of sending important news or warnings a great distance over several days, they can now be sent almost instantly. The invention of satellite phones means email can reach places that are unreachable or difficult to reach by the postal service.
The wonders of digitization are not only seen in email, but can easily be seen in the advent of digital cameras. Older cameras had to have photographic film inserted in them in order to take pictures. This film then had to be developed in order to obtain photographs. With the exception of Polaroid cameras, this process took some time and the images could not be viewed instantly. The digital camera got rid of this by digitizing the image projected by the camera lens and saving it as an image file. This can be seen instantly on the camera’s LCD screen. It also allows images to be heavily edited. Since most modern digital cameras come with a large internal storage memory, it significantly increases the number of photos that can be taken. On film cameras, it was limited to 30 images per roll. It goes without saying that digital cameras also eliminate the extra cost and inconvenience of buying photographic film.
Perhaps the most useful form of digitization is document scanning. Files such as cadastres, voter lists, information on citizens, etc. all can be digitized and stored on hard drives. Aside from the obvious benefit of consuming less space, they also become easier to manage. Software developed on computers makes it possible to organize large amounts of information according to the user’s wishes and to search and navigate it much more easily. It also makes it easier to back up than when stored as a document, for example the information can be stored on a virtual drive so that if the original copy is damaged it can be recovered from there. Digitization is truly one of the most useful recently developed technologies.
