Input and Output

Ergonommic Keyboard

*A keyboard that separates the keys into two halves shaped like a wide "V." Some keyboards have a fixed layout, while others are movable. To the touch typist, the layout feels odd at first, but it puts less stress on the hands and wrist and winds up being comfortable for most people.

Ink-jet Printer

*A type of printer that works by spraying ionized ink at a sheet of paper. Magnetized plates in the ink's path direct the ink onto the paper in the desired shapes. Ink-jet printers are capable of producing high quality print approaching that produced by laser printers. A typical ink-jet printer provides a resolution of 300 dots per inch, although some newer models offer higher resolutions.

Laser Printer

*A type of printer that utilizes a laser beam to produce an image on a drum. The light of the laser alters the electrical charge on the drum wherever it hits. The drum is then rolled through a reservoir of toner, which is picked up by the charged portions of the drum. Finally, the toner is transferred to the paper through a combination of heat and pressure. This is also the way copy machines work.

Magnetic-ink character reader (MICR)

*The machine recognition of numeric data printed with magnetically charged ink. It is used on bank checks and deposit slips. MICR readers detect the characters and convert them into digital data. Although optical methods (OCR) became as sophisticated as the early MICR technology, magnetic ink is still used. It serves as a deterrent to fraud, because a photocopied check will not be printed with magnetic ink.

Optical-character recognition (OCR)

*Ability of a software to convert scanned (digitized) image of printed or handwritten text into a form that can be recognized and manipulated by a word-processing program as alphabets, words, and numerals. OCR is employed in storing the contents of books and documents without the need of retyping or rekeying.

Optical-mark recognition (OMR)

*Short for optical mark recognition, the technology of electronically extracting intended data from marked fields, such as checkboxes and fill-infields, on printed forms. OMR technology scans a printed form and reads predefined positions and records where marks are made on the form. This technology is useful for applications in which large numbers of hand-filled forms need to be processed quickly and with great accuracy, such as surveys, reply cards, questionnaires and ballots. A common OMR application is the use of "bubble sheets" for multiple-choice tests used by schools. The student indicates the answer on the test by filling in the corresponding bubble, and the form is fed through an optical mark reader (also abbreviated as OMR, a device that scans the document and reads the data from the marked fields. The error rate for OMR technology is less than 1%.