The Letter P: A Glossary of Technical Terms for the Home Office
The Letter P
Page Manager 7: A software offering from Presto!, Page Manager 7 offers users a multitude of functions for managing documents. Users access a simple graphical interface to perform functions like scanning, converting documents, and sharing within a network.
Paperless Office: Considered a bizarre (or at least out-of-reach) concept just a couple of decades ago, the paperless office is now a reality in many areas. Going paperless is promoted as beneficial both for the environment (reduction of paper waste) and for efficiency (computer accessibility, everything is searchable, no lost copies). Though being paperless definitely is beneficial, it also still carries a certain amount of risk. If the electricity is out, the server is down, or a virus infiltrates the network, vital information - with no paper back-up - can be lost or inaccessible. Frequent data back-ups eliminate the fear of actually losing information, but periods of inaccessibility cannot always be prevented.
Password: A password is a specific security key, usually assigned to one user, for accessing a computer, a software program, a network, or for enabling certain functions within the computer, program, or network. Passwords are rated from “weak” to “strong,” with the strongest consisting of a combination of capital letters, lowercase letters, and numbers.
Photo Editing Software: With the advent of digital photography and its increasing accessibility to even the average user, photo editing software has become a requirement. These programs provide a range of functions and vary from simple to incredibly complex. The simple photo editing programs will provide just a few options, usually enabling the user to resize, crop, adjust lighting, and save in different formats. The bigger programs provide a host of additional functions, from shading to layering to red-eye fixing to color adjustment and special effects.
Portfolio: A portfolio is an online documentation, accessible either to the public or to a select group of users, that is used in replacement of or in collaboration with a resume. A portfolio provides examples of work done, either over an entire career, topic, or venue, or just on a particular project. Many online portfolio websites offer users a free (or inexpensive) place to host their portfolio and make it accessible to potential employers.
Prints: Not fingerprints: in the home office tech world, prints refer to actual paper print-outs of digital photos. Prints can be made at home, on plain paper and on a normal printer, but these will be the lowest quality. At-home prints made on special photo paper, by a digital photo printer, will be of much better quality. Other options include getting prints made at a photography store by taking or sending the digital files to the store.
Processor: A processor is the part of your computer that executes programs; without a processor, you could have a hard drive full of saved documents, movies, and programs, but no way to activate or access them.
Productivity: An important term for the home office worker, productivity refers to the amount of work produced in a given time. As more and more people choose to telecommute or start their own businesses at home, more thought is being given to the different methods of productivity as they apply in the home office environment.
