# Machine-readable medium and data > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Machine-readable_medium_and_data > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Machine-readable_medium_and_data.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-readable_medium_and_data > Source revision: 1350260233 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Medium capable of storing data in a format readable by a machine [ISBN](/source/ISBN), a unique numeric book identifier, represented as an [EAN-13 bar code](/source/European_Article_Number). Showing both machine-readable bars, and human-readable digits. In [communications](/source/Communication) and [computing](/source/Computing), a **machine-readable medium** (or **computer-readable medium**) is a [medium](/source/Recording_medium) capable of storing [data](/source/Data_(computing)) in a format easily readable by a [digital computer](/source/Digital_computer) or a [sensor](/source/Sensor). It contrasts with [*human-readable* medium and data](/source/Human-readable_medium_and_data). The result is called **machine-readable data** or **computer-readable data**, and the data itself can be described as having **machine-readability**. ## Data Machine-readable data must be [structured data](/source/Structured_data).[1] Attempts to create machine-readable data occurred as early as the 1960s. At the same time that seminal developments in machine-reading and natural-language processing were releasing (like [Weizenbaum's](/source/Joseph_Weizenbaum) [ELIZA](/source/ELIZA)), people were anticipating the success of machine-readable functionality and attempting to create machine-readable documents. One such example was musicologist [Nancy B. Reich](/source/Nancy_B._Reich)'s creation of a machine-readable catalog of composer [William Jay Sydeman](/source/Jay_Sydeman)'s works in 1966. In the United States, the OPEN Government Data Act of 14 January 2019 defines machine-readable data as "data in a format that can be easily processed by a computer without human intervention while ensuring no semantic meaning is lost." The law directs U.S. federal agencies to publish public data in such a manner,[2] ensuring that "any public data asset of the agency is machine-readable".[3] Machine-readable data may be classified into two groups: human-readable data that is [marked up](/source/Markup_language) so that it can also be read by machines (e.g. [microformats](/source/Microformat), [RDFa](/source/RDFa), [HTML](/source/HTML)), and [data file](/source/Data_file) formats intended principally for processing by machines ([CSV](/source/Comma-separated_values), [RDF](/source/Resource_Description_Framework), [XML](/source/XML), [JSON](/source/JSON)). These formats are only machine readable if the data contained within them is formally structured; exporting a CSV file from a badly structured spreadsheet does not meet the definition. *Machine readable* is not synonymous with *digitally accessible*. A digitally accessible document may be online, making it easier for humans to access via computers, but its content is much harder to extract, transform, and process via computer programming logic if it is not machine-readable.[4] [Extensible Markup Language](/source/Extensible_Markup_Language) (XML) is designed to be both human- and machine-readable, and [Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations](/source/Extensible_Stylesheet_Language_Transformations) (XSLT) is used to improve the presentation of the data for human readability. For example, XSLT can be used to automatically render XML in [Portable Document Format](/source/Portable_Document_Format) (PDF). Machine-readable data can be automatically transformed for human-readability but, generally speaking, the reverse is not true. For purposes of implementation of the [Government Performance and Results Act](/source/Government_Performance_and_Results_Act) (GPRA) Modernization Act, the [Office of Management and Budget](/source/Office_of_Management_and_Budget) (OMB) defines "machine readable format" as follows: "Format in a standard computer language (not English text) that can be read automatically by a web browser or computer system. (e.g.; xml). Traditional word processing documents and portable document format (PDF) files are easily read by humans but typically are difficult for machines to interpret. Other formats such as extensible markup language ([XML](/source/XML)), ([JSON](/source/JSON)), or spreadsheets with header columns that can be exported as comma separated values (CSV) are machine readable formats. As HTML is a structural markup language, discreetly labeling parts of the document, computers are able to gather document components to assemble tables of contents, outlines, literature search bibliographies, etc. It is possible to make traditional word processing documents and other formats machine readable but the documents must include enhanced structural elements."[5] ## Media Examples of machine-readable media include magnetic media such as [magnetic disks](/source/Disk_storage), cards, [tapes](/source/Magnetic_tape), and [drums](/source/Magnetic_drum), [punched cards](/source/Punched_card) and [paper tapes](/source/Paper_tape), [optical discs](/source/Optical_disc), [barcodes](/source/Barcode) and [magnetic ink characters](/source/Magnetic_Ink_Character_Recognition). Common machine-readable technologies include magnetic recording, processing [waveforms](/source/Waveform), and [barcodes](/source/Barcode). [Optical character recognition](/source/Optical_character_recognition) (OCR) can be used to enable machines to read information available to humans. Any information retrievable by any form of energy can be machine-readable. Examples include: - [Acoustics](/source/Acoustics) - [Chemical](/source/Chemical) - [Photochemical](/source/Photochemistry) - [Electrical](/source/Electrical) - [Semiconductor](/source/Semiconductor) used in [volatile](/source/Volatile_memory) [RAM microchips](/source/Random_access_memory) - [Floating-gate transistor](/source/Floating-gate_transistor) used in [non-volatile](/source/NVRAM) [memory cards](/source/Memory_card) - [Radio transmission](/source/Transmission_(telecommunications)) - [Magnetic storage](/source/Magnetic_storage) - [Mechanical](/source/Classical_mechanics) - Tins And Swins - [Punched card](/source/Punched_card) - [Paper tape](/source/Paper_tape) - [Music roll](/source/Music_roll) - [Music box](/source/Music_box) cylinder or disk - Grooves *(See also: [Audio Data](/source/Audio_storage))* - [Phonograph cylinder](/source/Phonograph_cylinder) - [Gramophone record](/source/Gramophone_record) - [DictaBelt](/source/DictaBelt) (groove on plastic belt) - [Capacitance Electronic Disc](/source/Capacitance_Electronic_Disc) - [Optics](/source/Optics) - [Optical storage](/source/Optical_storage) - [Thermodynamic](/source/Thermodynamic) ## Applications ### Documents This section is an excerpt from [Machine-readable document](/source/Machine-readable_document).[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Machine-readable_document&action=edit)] A [machine-readable document](/source/Machine-readable_document) is a [document](/source/Document) whose content can be readily processed by [computers](/source/Computer). Such documents are distinguished from more general [machine-readable data](/source/Machine-readable_data) by virtue of having further structure to provide the necessary context to support the business processes for which they are created. ### Catalogs This section is an excerpt from [MARC standards](/source/MARC_standards).[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MARC_standards&action=edit)] [MARC](/source/MARC_standards) (machine-readable cataloging) is a standard set of [digital](/source/Digital_data) [formats](/source/File_format) for the [machine-readable](/source/Machine-readable) description of items catalogued by libraries, such as books, DVDs, and digital resources. Computerized [library catalogs](/source/Library_catalog) and [library management](/source/Library_management) software need to structure their catalog records as per an industry-wide standard, which is MARC, so that bibliographic information can be shared freely between computers. The structure of bibliographic records almost universally follows the MARC standard. Other standards work in conjunction with MARC, for example, [Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules](/source/Anglo-American_Cataloguing_Rules) (AACR)/[Resource Description and Access](/source/Resource_Description_and_Access) (RDA) provide guidelines on formulating bibliographic data into the MARC record structure, while the [International Standard Bibliographic Description](/source/International_Standard_Bibliographic_Description) (ISBD) provides guidelines for displaying MARC records in a standard, human-readable form. ### Dictionaries This section is an excerpt from [Machine-readable dictionary](/source/Machine-readable_dictionary).[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Machine-readable_dictionary&action=edit)] [Machine-readable dictionary](/source/Machine-readable_dictionary) (MRD) is a [dictionary](/source/Dictionary) stored as [machine-readable data](/source/Machine-readable_data) instead of being printed on paper. It is an [electronic dictionary](/source/Electronic_dictionary) and [lexical database](/source/Lexical_resource). A machine-readable dictionary is a dictionary in an electronic form that can be loaded in a database and can be queried via application software. It may be a single language explanatory dictionary or a multi-language dictionary to support translations between two or more languages or a combination of both. Translation software between multiple languages usually apply bidirectional dictionaries. An MRD may be a dictionary with a proprietary structure that is queried by dedicated software (for example online via internet) or it can be a dictionary that has an open structure and is available for loading in computer databases and thus can be used via various software applications. Conventional dictionaries contain a [lemma](/source/Lemma_(morphology)) with various descriptions. A machine-readable dictionary may have additional capabilities and is therefore sometimes called a smart dictionary. An example of a smart dictionary is the Open Source [Gellish English dictionary](/source/Gellish_English_dictionary). The term dictionary is also used to refer to an electronic [vocabulary](/source/Vocabulary) or [lexicon](/source/Lexicon) as used for example in [spelling checkers](/source/Spelling_checker). If dictionaries are arranged in a subtype-supertype hierarchy of concepts (or terms) then it is called a [taxonomy](/source/Taxonomy_(general)). If it also contains other relations between the concepts, then it is called an [ontology](/source/Ontology_(information_science)). Search engines may use either a vocabulary, a taxonomy or an ontology to optimise the search results. Specialised electronic dictionaries are [morphological dictionaries](/source/Morphological_dictionary) or syntactic dictionaries. The term MRD is often contrasted with [NLP](/source/Natural_Language_Processing) dictionary, in the sense that an MRD is the electronic form of a dictionary which was printed before on paper. Although being both used by programs, in contrast, the term NLP dictionary is preferred when the dictionary was built from scratch with NLP in mind. An ISO standard for MRD and NLP is able to represent both structures and is called [Lexical Markup Framework](/source/Lexical_Markup_Framework).[6] ### Passports This section is an excerpt from [Machine-readable passport](/source/Machine-readable_passport).[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Machine-readable_passport&action=edit)] A [machine-readable passport](/source/Machine-readable_passport) (MRP) is a [machine-readable](/source/Machine-readable_data) [travel document](/source/Travel_document) (MRTD) with the data on the identity page encoded in [optical character recognition](/source/Optical_character_recognition) format. Many countries began to issue machine-readable travel documents in the 1980s. Most travel [passports](/source/Passports) worldwide are MRPs. The [International Civil Aviation Organization](/source/International_Civil_Aviation_Organization) (ICAO) required all ICAO member states to issue only MRPs as of April 1, 2010, with all non-MRP passports expiring by November 24, 2015.[7] Machine-readable passports are standardized by the *[ICAO](/source/ICAO) Document 9303* (endorsed by the [International Organization for Standardization](/source/International_Organization_for_Standardization) and the [International Electrotechnical Commission](/source/International_Electrotechnical_Commission) as ISO/IEC 7501-1) and have a special *machine-readable zone* (*MRZ*), which is usually at the bottom of the identity page at the beginning of a passport. The ICAO 9303 describes three types of documents corresponding to the [ISO/IEC 7810](/source/ISO%2FIEC_7810) sizes: - "Type 3" is typical of passport booklets. The MRZ consists of 2 lines × 44 characters. - "Type 2" is relatively rare with 2 lines × 36 characters. - "Type 1" is of a credit card-size with 3 lines × 30 characters. The fixed format allows specification of document type, name, document number, nationality, date of birth, sex, and document expiration date. All these fields are required on a passport. There is room for optional, often country-dependent, supplementary information. There are also two sizes of machine-readable visas similarly defined. Computers with a camera and suitable software can directly read the information on machine-readable passports. This enables faster processing of arriving passengers by immigration officials, and greater accuracy than manually-read passports, as well as faster data entry, more data to be read and better data matching against immigration databases and watchlists. Apart from optically readable information, many passports contain an [RFID](/source/RFID) chip which enables computers to read a higher amount of information, for example a photo of the bearer. These passports are called [biometric passports](/source/Biometric_passport) and are also described by ICAO 9303. ## See also - [Paper data storage](/source/Paper_data_storage) - [Symmetric Phase Recording](/source/Symmetric_Phase_Recording) - [Open data](/source/Open_data) - [Linked data](/source/Linked_data) - [Human-readable medium and data](/source/Human-readable_medium_and_data) - [Semantic Web](/source/Semantic_Web) - [Machine-readable postal marking](/source/Machine-readable_postal_marking_(disambiguation)) Look up ***[machine-readable](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/machine-readable)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [http://-07-22](http://-07-22). {{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: Check |url= value ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#bad_url)); Missing or empty |title= ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#citation_missing_title)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["HR4174"](http://stratml.us/references/HR4174.htm#Agency_Responsibilities). *stratml.us*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["HR4174"](http://stratml.us/references/HR4174.htm#machine-readabilty). *stratml.us*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Hendler, Jim; Pardo, Theresa A. (2012-09-24). ["A Primer on Machine Readability for Online Documents and Data"](https://web.archive.org/web/20210320062134/https://www.data.gov/developers/blog/primer-machine-readability-online-documents-and-data). *Data.gov*. Archived from [the original](https://www.data.gov/developers/blog/primer-machine-readability-online-documents-and-data) on 2021-03-20. Retrieved 2015-02-27. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [OMB Circular A-11, Part 6](https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/a11.pdf), Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Gil Francopoulo (edited by) LMF Lexical Markup Framework, ISTE / Wiley 2013 ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-84821-430-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84821-430-9)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Last Week for States to Ensure Expiration of Non-Machine Readable Passports"](https://www.icao.int/Newsroom/Pages/Last-Week-for-States-to-Ensure-Expiration-of-Non-Machine-Readable-Passports.aspx). *ICAO*. Montréal. 17 November 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2024. This article incorporates [public domain material](/source/Copyright_status_of_works_by_the_federal_government_of_the_United_States) from [*Federal Standard 1037C*](https://web.archive.org/web/20220122224547/https://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/fs-1037c.htm). [General Services Administration](/source/General_Services_Administration). Archived from [the original](https://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/fs-1037c.htm) on 2022-01-22. This computer-storage-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Compu-storage-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3ACompu-storage-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Compu-storage-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Machine-readable medium and data](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-readable_medium_and_data) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-readable_medium_and_data?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.