You know you want to get rid of the paper and the file cabinets and the endless hours of searching for lost records, so you’ve decided to go paperless. Why stop there? Scanning papers just guarantees that you’re going to have a bunch of image files on your network, but you can search a picture. To run searches, you need text. That’s where OCR software comes in.

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It’s the function that interprets graphical marks as letters forming words. Of course, that recognition is seldom 100% perfect, but it’s getting better. What you will want is an application that will run the OCR function in the background and then append the recognized text to the PDF image to create one searchable file.

Several OCR softwares are available, including OmniPage, Readiris, Presto, and Microsoft Office Document Imaging. What you will want to do is implement a solution that you can use in conjunction with your high-volume copier/scanners.

I’ll be writing more on this topic soon. Really, the point of this entry is to alert you to the fact that not all PDF files are the same: some are searchable and some aren’t. If you want the searchable kind (recommended for a paperless office), you’ll need OCR software to get it.

On March 2, 2007, I watched ABC’s Good Morning America and specifically a segment between Diane Sawyer and Juju Chang, correspondent for 20/20, another ABC “news” show. They talked about dangerous videos posted on YouTube and its posting policies and guidelines. YouTube prohibits posting offensive or dangerous videos. The company asks community members to flag videos that don’t follow these guidelines so YouTube can review and potentially remove these videos. GMA focused on the video trend of running into fences. Cheap thrills!

Sawyer and Chang criticized YouTube for not self-policing its content and for instead leaving this function up to the public. In other words, the community could not be trusted with the responsibility of helping to block videos that might compel teens to do stupid and dangerous acts just to get their “15 megabytes of fame.”

I’m going to be honest and tell you I’m a fan of GMA. I genuinely enjoy watching Diane Sawyer and the GMA team and generally find them to be entertaining and at least relatively balanced. But on this occasion, Sawyer and Chang’s position was problematic on so many levels. First, how hypocritical! As a press organization, ABC News, which owns and operates GMA and 20/20, presumably supports free speech. Apparently this civil liberty doesn’t extend to the younger members of our society. Moreover, ABC thinks little about promoting responsibility and accountability, and certainly doesn’t hesitate to televise the same “dangerous” YouTube videos to puff up ratings for GMA and to plug its “in-depth coverage of this ‘news’ story” on 20/20.

Sawyer and Chang were wrong to criticize YouTube. YouTube’s policy of having its members flag dangerous or offensive videos is a far more democratic way to balance free speech and community safety. It puts the responsibility on the consumers and the video posters where it belongs.

A better alternative during GMA’s coverage would have been for Sawyer and Chang to criticize the kids themselves and their inane willingness to risk hurting themselves for a little YouTube fame. As a society, we continue to shift responsibility away from the person doing the act — especially when it’s a young person — whether the act is posting the video or consuming it. We ignore that young kids aren’t mindless. They make judgment calls and sometimes they use poor judgment. Why not point that out? Why not hold them accountable? Nothing makes kids more self-conscious than looking stupid; and frankly, watching a teenage boy hurl himself towards a fence and catch a board in his crotch looks really stupid — and painful. Yeah, real cool, dude.

YouTube, MySpace and other web 2.0 communities continually urge their members to flag questionable content. That’s an excellent way for communities to operate. It parses out the responsibility of maintaining a healthy community to all the individual members. No one person, and certainly no corporation, can be expected or trusted to maintain a community standard. That’s not democratic, feasible or socially responsible. At some point consumers, even young ones, have to decide not to consume garbage.

Part of being a member of a democratic society and a web 2.0 community is acknowledging that it really does take a village. But don’t expect media conglomerates to stop showing this garbage when it suits them. Showing these videos on network television under the guise of criticizing YouTube and the kids in the videos is hypocritical and socially irresponsible. It extends the audience for the videos just to garner better ratings for ABC, no matter how much Sawyer and Chang criticize those dumb kids for their dumb stunts. After all, you don’t really think the kids in the videos called up their friends after watching these ABC reports and said, “Boy am I embarrassed.” More likely they called everyone they knew and said, “Dude, I’m on national television!”

When you need legal advice, you should get it only from a qualified licensed attorney. Seriously, there’s no substitute. To help you learn a little more about legal issues that affect you and to find a qualified attorney in your area, definitely visit FindLaw.Com, an excellent resource on legal matters.

In some instances, however, you’ve already made the important legal decision (about starting a business, protecting your intellectual property, filing for bankruptcy, writing a will), and you just need a little help on procedures. NOLO.com can guide you to the right procedures and the right forms, even simplified divorces (no children and little property). NOLO is an excellent resource for forms and procedures, how-to articles, tips. As one attorney said, if you feel insecure or are in a specific or complex situation, seek counsel. Another approach is to review the NOLO resources with the confidence that you can figure it out, and if you can’t, see a lawyer. Excellent advice!

In addition to forms and procedures, NOLO.Com provides a helpful newsletter and frequent podcasts by attorneys on a number of legal issues. Take a listen to NOLO’s recent estate planning podcast: Do You Need a Will or a Trust? by Attorney Denis Clifford, author of Plan Your Estate. Living Trust is an issue I’ve been exploring now for some time. I may not have much to leave behind, but the possibility of helping my family avoid the costs and complexities of probate is really appealing to me. As for estate taxes, learn from Attorney Clifford that most of us won’t be liable for estate taxes . . . unless we’re millionaires. Really, only about 1% of the U.S. population will have to pay estate taxes (erroneously referred to as “the death tax.”)

Even if you ultimately go to an attorney, it’s best to be as informed as possible so that you know what questions to ask, what forms you might need, and what directions you want to explore with your counsel. It could make a lot difference in your bottom line when you get your attorney’s by-the-hour billing statement. Being informed is not only cost-effective, but improves your ability to effectively communicate with your attorney. That’s always a good thing.

If you have serious legal issues and no money, your area may also provide free legal aid. In South Florida, for example, and in particular in Broward or Collier counties, definitely visit LegalAid.Org, an excellent organization that provides help to indigent people in domestic violence issues, restraining orders, AIDS/HIV programs, tenant actions, certain immigration issues and more. If you’re outside Broward and Collier, just do a search for “legal aid” and your city, county or state, or visit Legal Services Corporation’s web site. For free legal aid matters, look especially for a web site name (domain) that ends in “.us,” “.gov,” or “.org” which are more frequently used for U.S. government resource sites and non-profit organizations, respectively.