By MARK BOIT
Recent reports that Lands ministry is planning to reintroduce typewriters and duplicators has caused a lot uproar – and rightly so. Countries and companies all over the world are spending millions of money to develop or acquire new technologies to improve efficiency and effectiveness, so it is baffling why such a crucial ministry might want go back decades ago.
This is especially because there has been a clamour for land documents to be digitised to streamline the ministry’s operations and weed out the rampant corruption associated with ‘missing’ or ‘misplaced’ files.
Although typewriters and computers use the same qwerty keyboard design, there are significant advantages with computers that make them superior to typewriters, especially when it comes to processing and storing land data.
One of the key attributes of computers is that everything typed data is stored digitally, as opposed to an analogue system, such as that on typewriters, where everything written is mechanically transferred to paper. This means incurring unnecessary expenses on paper and ink. Computers are also environmentally friendly.
Maps and other land documents can be quite bulky, hence take up a lot office space. Digital maps and documents, on the other hand, are stored in an unlimited virtual space.
Data resulting from survey and mapping guide decision making and plans for a particular piece of land. Once the maps are stored digitally in the form of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), their retrieval is just a click away. This is unlike rummaging through huge files and maps in a store. To ensure safety, the data can be backed up and stored in different locations.
Apart from allowing alterations, computers have many other features that allow formatting and improvement of the document.
Additionally, computers can add graphs and images using a simple word processor. Numbers and calculations can also be thoroughly processed and stored in spreadsheet programmes.
This is essential when analysing surveying data. Information for decision and managerial use require visual aids such as bar graphs and charts. Many people don’t just write documents for themselves; they are sent to other people.
With a physical document written on the typewriter, the only option is to deliver in person, by mail or by fax, which only works on very short documents. Computers, on the other hand, create digital documents that can be sent anywhere in the world via email.
A computer is capable of making calculations and some decisions without the direct input or effort of the operator. In fact, some computers do not require operators at all, only maintenance personnel. No matter how advanced a typewriter is, it cannot make any kind of calculation other than those required to produce a visual representation of letters on an LCD display.
Copiers versus duplicators
A colour copier’s reproduction process represents full-colour printing because all colours are applied in a single pass while a duplicator’s production process represents spot-colour printing because only one or two colours are applied in a single pass.
For example, a document with just black and one other colour (such as red for highlighting) would work well in a duplicator, whereas a document with rich, full-colour photographs would be better replicated on a colour copier.
Most copiers come with numerous paper drawers so that you can load standard inch copy paper in one drawer and a different paper size or paper type in another drawer, while most duplicators come with a single input tray.
Most copiers can automatically handle single-sided or double-sided copies, but duplicators print on one side of the paper per pass.
Colour copiers are more widely available and used than duplicators. There are also more copier manufacturers than duplicator manufacturers.
It is obvious that computers and copiers are superior to and more efficient than typewriters and duplicators.
The Ministry of Lands, therefore, has an uphill task proving that their move to acquire typewriters and duplicators is worth the taxpayers’ money.
— The writer is a GIS expert and a lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology
