The retrieval problem in photography (1932). Emanuel Goldberg (1881-1970)
Michael K. Buckland · Journal of the American Society for Information Science · 1992
A new approach to mechanized document retrieval is demonstrated using optical and photoelectric methods to retrieve indexed documents stored on microfilm. Microfilm can be used to store images of documents compactly with suitable index codes recorded on the film adjacent to the image of the document. The film can be passed through a “statistical machine” [microfilm selector] in which a combination of light source, search template, and photoelectric cell is used to scan the moving film, identify the desired index code, project or copy the associated document. The machine demonstrated can search at up to 35,000 documents per hour, which could be increased to 100,000 per hour. [Translation of “Das Registrierproblem in der Photographie,” a paper presented at the VIIIth International Congress of Photography, Dresden, 1931, and published in the proceedings in 1932.] © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.