DMLATEST

Dm CASE STUDY: THE VATICAN
Connecting with the whole world
The Vatican's Dicastery of
Communication has
digitised the historical
documents in its media
archive as part of a major
reform of the
communications efforts of
the Catholic Church
PFU (EMEA) Limited has been
appointed by the Vatican's Dicastery
of Communication to assist with the
digitisation of historical documents, dating
back over 100 years.
Established in 2015, the Dicastery for
Communication was created by Pope
Francis with the purpose of restructuring
communications to respond more
efficiently to the mission of the Catholic
Church. The Dicastery meets the needs of
the Church's evangelising mission through
the use of production models,
technological innovations and forms of
communication currently available and
those that may yet emerge.
"Little by little we are moving forward, one
step forward each day," explained the
Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication,
Paolo Ruffini, in an interview in 2015.
"There have been many misunderstandings
regarding the reform. It was not about
erasing history, but of giving it life. It was
not about amalgamating the output, but
of differentiating it according to platform.
Digital communication allows us to be
connected with the whole world which was
unheard of before."
As part of the move, a single digital
archive was formed to preserve all the
documents held by these departments
and provide a research resource. This
included a wide variety of document
types, from information bulletins bound
in volumes, to books, brochures, and
news reports from events in the Vatican
dating back over 100 years.
With long and detailed documents in
circulation, failure to digitise a single page
had the potential of damaging the
comprehension of entire documents and
important information. A solution capable
of precisely digitising several documents,
whilst ensuring delicate paper is preserved
was required.
A fi-7900 scanner, aided by Paperstream
Capture software package was selected,
automating the validation of information,
and enabling data extraction from a wide
variety of documents printed on varying
types of paper, with different formats,
thicknesses, materials, and sizes.
"The reliability demonstrated by this device
in the capture process has allowed us to
make scans without errors and
inaccuracies, safeguarding our documents,
from a single passage of text to substantial
volumes," explains the Dicastery for
Communication.
The digitisation of such a vast and
historically significant archive is a delicate
operation that needs careful preparation.
Curated by six people, the document
acquisition process involved the
digitisation of millions of additional pages
between 2021 and 2022.
The fi-7900 device has enabled the team
to minimise the time taken for manual
based tasks whilst ensuring 100%
accuracy, without risks of harmful losses of
content that would have compromised the
entire initiative.
"Historical documents such as those held
by the Vatican's Dicastery for
Communication provide a comprehensive
record of the history of the Catholic
Church," comments Hiroaki Kashiwagi,
President and CEO of PFU (EMEA). "I am
pleased that the fi-7900 was selected to
help the curators carefully, accurately and
efficiently record these important
documents, which will provide a valuable
research archive for years to come."
More info: www.pfu-emea.ricoh.com/
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