Digitizing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The conversion of information from a physical format to digital data enables improved accessibility and manipulation of the content
2. The method of transforming analog representations into binary code facilitates easier handling and storage of information
3. Transforming physical documents or images into a digital format for use on computers

Etymology: The verb "digitize" is a fairly modern coinage built from two older parts. The noun "digit" comes from Latin "digitus", meaning finger, and passed into English through Middle English as a word for a finger or toe, and later for a single numeral, since counting was originally done on the fingers. The suffix "-ize" has a longer path: it was borrowed into Late Latin from Ancient Greek "-izein", passed through Middle French "-iser" and Middle English "-isen", and became the standard English way to turn a noun into a verb meaning to make or to convert into something. Put together, "digitize" means to turn something into digits, which is why the process of converting analog material such as photographs, sound or documents into binary code is the sense the word now carries. The "-ing" ending simply marks the continuous process, so "digitizing" names the activity itself as well as a single step within it.

Synonyms: converting, transforming, encoding, scanning, computerizing