Preface

The concept of standards for electronic imaging systems is hardly a new idea. Even television incorporates electronic imaging standards that date back forty and fifty years or more. However, what we are witnessing today are rapid advances in, and the integration of, technologies that have until recently been essentially separate disciplines. These changes necessitate a significant departure from the standards development process of the past, which was often the acceptance of current industry practices and other de facto standards. Today’s imaging industry’s requirements are anticipatory standards, which may, at times, lead the state of the art of the component technologies.

The American National Standards Institute’s Image Technology Standards Board (ANSI/ITSB) has identified eight major categories for image technology standardization. These are image acquisition, recording, processing, duplication, distribution, display, evaluation, and preservation. The papers presented in this session were essentially a progress report of standards developments in these areas, as well as a sampling of the integration of these standards into certain application areas such as facsimile, medical diagnostic imaging, and the graphic arts. We hope that you will find these papers informative, thought-provoking, and a bellwether of future standards progress in electronic imaging.

As described in the program, a “Critical Review [conference] convenes a group of recognized experts, each of whom presents an ….invited paper on his or her specific field. The collection of presentations is intended to be an authoritative overview of the technology, including its developments, current status, and projections for future directions.” We believe that the papers presented in the conference fulfilled this promise. Our sincere thanks to the authors for a job well done.

Michael Nier

Eastman Kodak Company

Marilyn Courtot

Association for Information and Image Management