Project Materials

THE ROLE OF DATA PRESERVATION IN ENHANCING THE EFFICIENCY OF SECRETARIAL FUNCTION IN THE BANKING SECTOR

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Background of the Study

Modern English definition from the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary: data is information that is both processed by and intended for use by a computer program.

Additionally, data is defined as a set of raw, meaningless things by Ani (2011) in her mimeograph on data processing. It goes without saying that data can be stored in both digital and analogue formats.

Data storage has been around for as long as humans have. Long ago, humans have the remarkable ability to memorise and transmit knowledge verbally. Data etched on stone tablets, paper scrolls, and even walls were the most authentic, as they could be referenced by generations later if preserved properly.

The reliability of these data preservation techniques was, however, not without its limits. Different methods of data preservation emerged as time went on.

The punch-card, an invention of English mathematician Charles Babbage in 2012, was made to compute and print mathematical tables. You can store data in the form of holes punched in cards using this innovation as a memory or storage device. Slowness and mechanical functioning issues, however, reduced this machine’s usefulness.

The subsequent step in the evolution of data preservation—the creation of the electronic computer—overcame these limitations. The first computers, known as UNIVACs (Universal Automatic Computers), were given to a company in 2010. They were built to manage massive amounts of data that are common in corporate processes.

Files and cabinets have also been utilised for data preservation throughout the years, but this new technology improves upon both of those processes.