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FOSDIC
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<h2 id="technology">Technology</h2> <p>A series of systems were developed for use in the 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990 U.S. census. The first system, delivered in 1954 used <a href="/facts/Vacuum_tube/VHd1BNLq">vacuum tubes</a> and analog processing. Later versions used software control with a <a href="/facts/PDP-11/9HkGUzFn">PDP-11</a> minicomputer. FOSDIC used a <a href="/facts/Flying-spot_scanner/C3NCF9Hm">flying-spot scanner</a> to detect marks on forms that had previously been photographed on microfilm. Other applications included digitizing unemployment data, EPA Pollutant charts, NOAA Underwater current meter records and . The U.S. Postal Research Laboratory used a surplus FOSDIC system to make high-resolution images of dead-letter mail to create a data base for evaluating character-recognition techniques<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> </p><p>The FOSDIC system was also use by the <a href="/facts/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration/WB8bwYVU">National Archives</a> to digitize the images of Army enlistment records on <a href="/facts/Punched_card/44WsPulQ">punched card</a> that were stored on 1,586 rolls of microfilm.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="sources">Sources</h2> <p> This article incorporates text from a <a href="/facts/Free_content/jHYHARSN">free content</a> work. Licensed under Public Domain as a work of the U.S. Government. Text taken from , U.S. Census Bureau. </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>US Census Bureau, Census History Staff. "FOSDIC - History - U.S. Census Bureau". www.census.gov. Retrieved 2021-05-26. <a href="https://www.census.gov/history/www/innovations/technology/fosdic.html" target="_blank">https://www.census.gov/history/www/innovations/technology/fosdic.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"Digital Equipment Corporation PDP 11/20 used in the FOSDIC system". retrotechnology.com. Retrieved 2021-05-26. <a href="http://retrotechnology.com/pdp11/FOSDIC.html" target="_blank">http://retrotechnology.com/pdp11/FOSDIC.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>The World War II Army Enlistment Records File and Access to Archival Databases, Theodore J. Hull, Prologue Magazine, Spring 2006, Vol. 38, No. 1, accessed 2017-7-19 <a href="https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/aad-ww2.html" target="_blank">https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/spring/aad-ww2.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>