Document

Document

Definition

Document, strictly, in law, that which can serve as evidence or proof, and is written or printed, or has an inscription or any significance that can be “read”; thus a picture, authenticated photograph, seal or the like would furnish “documentary evidence.” More generally the word is used for written or printed papers that provide information or evidence on a subject.

The Latin documentum, from which the word is derived, meant, in classical times, a lesson, example or proof (docere, to teach), and only in medieval Latin came to be applied to an instrumentum, or record in writing. The classical Latin use is found in English; thus Jeremy Taylor (Works, ed. 1835, i. 815) speaks of punishment being a “single and sudden document if instantly inflicted” (see Diplomatic documents here for more information; and see also Evidence here). (1)

Offenlegungsschrift in E.U. Patent System

An published unexamined German patent document (see Auglegeschrift).

Document in Legal Information Retrieval

The following is a basic concept of Document in relation to information retrieval. In addition to this, Document may be applied to legal texts, including case law, legislation and scholarly works. A document is a combination of text and medium. Texts cannot exist without embodiment in some medium, whether ephemeral, like airwaves, or longer lasting, like paper, film, or electronic media for digital data. Usually we use document to refer only to texts recorded in the longer-lasting media, and it is these documents that are susceptible to indexing and later retrieval.

Inverse Document Frequency in Legal Information Retrieval

The following is a basic concept of Inverse Document Frequency in relation to information retrieval. In addition to this, Inverse Document Frequency may be applied to legal texts, including case law, legislation and scholarly works. Inverse document frequency (IDR) is a measure of how infrequently a term occurs in documents in a collection or Information Retrieval database, hence the term inverse document frequency. Sometimes term frequency (TF) within documents does not help much in distinguishing one text from another within a single collection or Information Retrieval database. Take librarianship, for example.

The word library will probably occur in most if not all texts in a collection or Information Retrieval database on librarianship, so the mere fact that it occurs frequently in a text doesnt tell us very much. But comparing frequency counts in single texts with the overall occurrence for the same words in an entire collection or Information Retrieval database often helps to pinpoint the more important terms. We can identify words that are unusually frequent in particular texts — words that occur frequently in some texts but do not occur frequently across the entire collection. This relative frequency can be more useful in finding useful documents than simple word frequency within documents. The fewer the documents that have a term (or the lower its frequency in most texts), the higher the IDF score. The IDF score can be combined with term frequency (TF) within particular documents to help identify useful documents.

In the context of records management

Recorded information or object which can be treated as a unit. Source: ISO 15489 (draft international standard).

Note: a document may be on paper, microform, magnetic or any other electronic medium. It may include any combination of text, data, graphics, sound, moving pictures or any other forms of information. A single document may consist of one or several data objects.
Note: documents differ from records in several important respects. See electronic record.

Resources

See Also

  • Library
  • Law Library
  • Legal Deposit
  • Public Law Library
  • Information Science
  • Research
  • Investigation
  • Legal Research
  • Study

Resources

Notes and References

  1. Encyclopedia Britannica (1911)

See Also

Further Reading

Hierarchical Display of Document

Education And Communications > Documentation
Education And Communications > Information and information processing > Information > Information medium
Education And Communications > Documentation > Documentation > Provision of documents
Education And Communications > Communications > Communications systems > Telecommunications > Facsimile
Education And Communications > Documentation > Information service > Archives
Education And Communications > Organisation of teaching > Teaching materials > School textbook
Education And Communications > Communications > Communications industry > Book trade
Production, Technology And Research > Research and intellectual property > Intellectual property > Industrial property > Patent

Document

Concept of Document

See the dictionary definition of Document.

Characteristics of Document

[rtbs name=”xxx-xxx”]

Resources

Translation of Document

Thesaurus of Document

Education And Communications > Documentation > Document
Education And Communications > Information and information processing > Information > Information medium > Document
Education And Communications > Documentation > Documentation > Provision of documents > Document
Education And Communications > Communications > Communications systems > Telecommunications > Facsimile > Document
Education And Communications > Documentation > Information service > Archives > Document
Education And Communications > Organisation of teaching > Teaching materials > School textbook > Document
Education And Communications > Communications > Communications industry > Book trade > Document
Production, Technology And Research > Research and intellectual property > Intellectual property > Industrial property > Patent > Document

See also

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