Cryptography Reference
In-Depth Information
1. Names are always listed in first name, last name order; both last names
and town names are written in capitals to facilitate rapid scanning of the
document.
2. Dates are written in longhand; numbers are padded with dashes to
prevent addition of numerals; white spaces at the end of lines are filled
with dashes. The number of words crossed out must be declared and signed
on the records. In addition to their signatures, parties and officers are
identified by their full names.
3. Pages are numbered “1 of .
. .
.” For multiple-page records, the top-left
corner of each page is folded on several levels, stamped with the seal, and
then stapled, so that each page carries the image of part of the seal.
4. Records are printed on security paper, containing dimensional informa-
tion, watermarks, and other features.
In the production of reliable records, language, typography, visual
design, and the material features of paper thus freely mingle in mutually
supportive ways. Evaluating the evidential qualities of such documents is
then a process of interpretation that apprehends content, visual form, and
media holistically, rather than as necessarily distinct systems of meaning.
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It is in this context that the SCEC has over the last two decades under-
taken various computerization projects aimed at simplifying the records
production process. First to be targeted were the records created by the
consular offices—about 200,000 records yearly. An in-house software
package lets officers create the records as plain-text ASCII files, with num-
bered sections establishing the structure of act. The most conspicuous
difference between traditional records and such electronic ones is the
absence of handwritten signatures from either the consular officer having
established the act or the officers having established the marginal notes
(the authentic paper copy delivered by the SCEC does bear the stamp and
signature of the delivering officer).
In 1999, the SCEC awarded an eighteenth-month contract to an outside
contractor for the digitization of 3 million consular and colonial records,
with the hope of eventually servicing electronically 80 percent of requests
for copies. The mass digitization effort brought the total of electronic
records managed by the SCEC to 5 million (3.5 as images and 1.5 as text
files). Under the name of SAGA, a series of software applications were
developed by the computer division of the SCEC to enable officers to clean
