A
Accessible:
(DoDI 5040.7) Containing either open or closed captions, and/or audio description.
Accessioning:
(DoDI 5040.6) The acts and procedures by which records are taken into the physical custody of a records center, archival agency, or other records repository.
Acquisition:
(DoDI 5040.2) In VI, the process of recording VI in a camera; creating it by hand, mechanically, or on a computer; or obtaining it by purchase, donation, or seizure.
Agency:
(OMB Circular A-130) Any executive department, military department, government corporation, government controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of the Federal Government, or any independent regulatory agency. Within the Executive Office of the President, the term includes only OMB and the Office of Administration.
Archival Master:
(DoDI 5040.6-M-2) The best available version of a VI record in the custody and under the intellectual control of a VI records center. It is typically stored on durable media because of the record centers determination to preserve and protect it.
Archival Set:
(DoD 5040.6) A master set of media created by a VI records center to preserve VI records.
- For motion media, this set consists of an archival master, a dub master, and a reference or window dub.
- For film based still photographs, this set consists of the camera original negative or transparency, a captioned print (if available), an internegative (if available), and a digital image copy with caption.
- For digital still images, this set consists of the uncompressed high resolution digital image with a caption; otherwise, if a high resolution image is not available, a compressed digital image copy of the high resolution digital image with a caption.
- For other still pictorial records, the original and either a reference copy (a copy suitable for use or viewing by either staff or public) or a digital copy (if a reference copy does not exist) and a related caption.
Audio Description:
(DoDI 5040.7) Speech, synchronized with the picture, describing a production’s visual content. Audio description is specifically designed for visually impaired and blind persons. Typically, appropriate portions of the audio description are narrated during what would otherwise be natural silences in a production.
Audiovisual (A/V) Production:
(OMB Circular A-130) A unified presentation, developed according to a plan or script, containing visual imagery, sound, or both, and used to convey information.
C
Caption:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) Short explanatory or descriptive data accompanying imagery. A caption should answer the who, what, when, where, how, how many, and why questions relative to the imagery.
Captions:
(DoDI 5040.7) Display of spoken dialogue as printed words on a television, computer, projection, or other type of screen. Unlike subtitles, captions are specifically designed for hearing impaired viewers. They may include information regarding on- and off-screen sound effects, such as music or laughter. Captions come in two forms: open and closed. Open captions are displayed automatically as part of the video, without selection by the user. Closed captions normally do not appear unless the user has selected them to appear.
Caption Data:
(DoDI 5040.6) Short explanatory or descriptive data accompanying imagery. Caption data records include DD Form 2537, "Visual Information Caption Sheet" [Enclosure 5 of DoDI 5040.6], shot sheets/lists, camera operator's notes in either paper or machine-readable form, and, in digital still images, embedded International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) header captions.
Clearance for Public Release:
(DoDI 5040.7) The determination by responsible officials that a DoD production and the information contained therein are not classified; do not conflict with established DoD or Federal Government policies or programs; and comply with applicable laws and regulations, and, therefore, are releasable to the public.
Combat Camera:
(DoDD 5040.4) The acquisition and utilization of still and motion imagery in support of combat, humanitarian, special force, reconnaissance, engineering, psychological, legal, public affairs, and other operations involving the Military Services.
Combat Camera (COMCAM):
(DoDI 5040.8) The providing of imagery-related support to combat and other military operations by members of military units specifically trained, organized, equipped, and tasked to provide such support.
Combat Camera Forces:
(DoDD 5040.4 & DoDI, 5040.6) U.S. military personnel trained and employed to acquire, process, and transmit still and motion imagery in support of classified and unclassified air, sea, and ground military operations.
Combat Camera Imagery:
(DoDD 5040.4 & DoDI 5040.6) Still and motion imagery of military operations, equipment, and people acquired by COMCAM Forces, regardless of the medium in which the images are acquired, transmitted, or displayed.
Commercial Activity:
(DoDI 5040.8) A process resulting in a product or service that is or could be obtained from a commercial source.
Compilation:
(DoDI 5040.7) A type of DoD production that includes a selection of discrete items of imagery and/or audio, text, and graphics arranged according to a common theme or subject and organized as a single deliverable product. Compilations are usually viewed non-linearly. Examples are the DoD CD-ROM products, "Allied Force" and “War and Conflict."
D
DD Form 1995: "Visual Information Production Request and Report”:
(DoDI 5040.7) The primary authorization and reference document used for the life-cycle management of DoD productions. For example, all production, distribution, and clearance instructions are derived from the information on the form.
Decision Logic Table (DLT) for Recording and Handling Imagery:
(DoDI 5040.6) Guidelines for VI personnel and accessioners for acquiring and managing imagery.
Defense Automated Visual Information System (DAVIS):
(DoDI 5040.7) An online, unrestricted, full-text searchable, standard DoD-wide database containing content-descriptive, production, acquisition, inventory, distribution, currency status, archival control, and other data on the productions in the DoD inventory.
Defense Instructional Technology Information System (DITIS):
(DoDI 5040.7) A standard DoD-wide database containing content-descriptive information about Interactive Multimedia Instruction (IMI) products typically used in military training.
Defense Inventory Production:
(DoDI 5040.7) A production created or acquired at any level within the DoD Components that has a target audience broader than the audience at the creating or acquiring installation or activity. Defense Inventory Productions are held at a central DoD inventory point, from which they can be easily ordered. Discovery of such productions, as well as ordering, is through DAVIS. Local-Use-Only Productions expected to have long-term informational or other value may be declared Defense Inventory Productions to facilitate long-term discovery and ordering, even if only by users at the creating or acquiring installation or activity. See also Local-Use-Only Production.
Defense Visual Information Activity Number (DVIAN):
(DoDI 5040.8) A unique identifier assigned to each authorized DoD VI activity.
Digital Still Images:
(DoDI 5040.6) Electronically based images that are recorded (either as camera originals in a digital camera or as copies from an analog photographic or image medium) and stored as machine-readable digital files.
Dissemination:
(OMB Circular A-130) Government-initiated distribution of information to the public.
Distribution:
(DoDI 5040.8) In VI, the process of supplying an end product to its intended end users, by any means.
Documentation Imagery:
(DoDI 5040.6) Imagery depicting actual events, activities, phenomena, places, or people recorded primarily to create a record of the subject matter.
DoD Imagery:
(DoDI 5040.2)
- Imagery recorded or created by DoD personnel using U.S. Government-owned or –leased equipment and supplies.
- Imagery seized or captured by DoD personnel during or in the aftermath of military operations.
- Imagery acquired by DoD through contract, donation, or transfer. Imagery recorded or created by DoD personnel using privately-owned equipment and supplies is generally not considered DoD imagery.
DoD Production:
(DoDI 5040.7) Any production a DoD Component creates or acquires. See also: Production.
Dub Master:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) A duplicate of the archival master used to create copies for customers. Dub masters are created to minimize handling of archival masters.
Duplication:
(DoDI 5040.6) The making of copies from an earlier generation of VI materials. It includes all copies beyond the original or master copy.
E
Electronic Signature:
(Section 1709(1), Government Paperwork Elimination Act, Public Law 105-277, October 21, 1998 & OMB Circular A-130, Appendix II, "Implementation of the Government Paperwork Elimination Act") A method of signing an electronic message that -- (A) identifies and authenticates a particular person as the source of the electronic message; and (B) indicates such person's approval of the information contained in the electronic message.
End Product:
(DoDI 5040.8) In VI, visual information in the form of a finished deliverable immediately ready for its intended end users.
Equipment of a VI Nature:
(DoDI 5040.2) Equipment that records, processes, produces, edits, stores, displays, or presents VI, or which is integral to the VI end product production process.
G
Government Information:
(OMB Circular A-130) Information created, collected, processed, disseminated, or disposed of by or for the Federal Government.
Government Publication:
(OMB Circular A-130) Information which is published as an individual document at government expense, or as required by law.
Graphic Art:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) In VI, hand-, mechanically-, or computer-drawn art works or pictorial representations that are created rather than recorded in a camera. Examples include charts, posters, illustrations, photo montages, computer-generated pictures, drawings, paintings, animation cels, statues, bas-reliefs, graphs, brochures, displays, icons, logos, and exhibits.
I
Imagery:
(DoDI 5040.6) A visual representation of a person, place or thing recorded and stored in any format on a physical medium.
Information:
(OMB Circular A-130) Any communication or representation of knowledge, such as facts, data, or opinions in any medium or form, including textual, numerical, graphic, cartographic, narrative, or audiovisual forms.
Information Dissemination Product:
(OMB Circular A-130) Any book, paper, map, machine-readable material, audiovisual production, or other documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristic, disseminated by an agency to the public.
Information Life Cycle:
(OMB Circular A-130) The stages through which information passes, typically characterized as creation or collection, processing, dissemination, use, storage, and disposition.
Information Management:
(OMB Circular A-130) The planning, budgeting, manipulating, and controlling of information throughout its life cycle.
Information Resources:
(OMB Circular A-130) Both Government information and information technology.
Information Resources Management:
(OMB Circular A-130) The process of managing information resources to accomplish agency missions. The term encompasses both information itself and the related resources, such as personnel, equipment, funds, and information technology.
Information System:
(OMB Circular A-130) A discrete set of information resources organized for the collection, processing, maintenance, transmission, and dissemination of information, in accordance with defined procedures, whether automated or manual.
Information System Life Cycle:
(OMB Circular A-130) The phases through which an information system passes, typically characterized as initiation, development, operation, and termination.
Information Technology:
(OMB Circular A-130) Any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment, that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information by an executive agency. For purposes of the preceding sentence, equipment is used by an executive agency if the equipment is used by the executive agency directly or is used by a contractor under a contract with the executive agency which (i) requires the use of such equipment, or (ii) requires the use, to a significant extent, of such equipment in the performance of a service or the furnishing of a product. The term 'information technology' includes computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar procedures, services (including support services), and related resources. The term 'information technology' does not include any equipment that is acquired by a Federal contractor incidental to a Federal contract. The term 'information technology' does not include national security systems as defined by the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 (40 U.S. Code 1452).
Initial Screen(s):
(DoDI 5040.7) The first visual information an audience or user sees when viewing a production.
International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) Header:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) Caption data that is embedded into a digital still image as part of the image file, and conforms to the standard developed by the IPTC and the Newspaper Association of America.
J
Joint COMCAM Imagery:
(DoDI 5040.6) COMCAM imagery recorded in the Joint environment.
Joint-Interest Imagery:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2). Imagery that depicts subjects of known or probable interest to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or more than one DoD Component. All COMCAM imagery shot in the joint environment is assumed to be joint-interest imagery. Other imagery, both from COMCAM sources and other-than-COMCAM sources, such as Public Affairs and photojournalists, that depicts subjects of known or probable interest to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or more than one DoD Component, is also joint-interest imagery.
L
Local-Use-Only Production:
(DoDI 5040.7) A production created or acquired for use at a single installation or activity and assumed to be of no interest or value to audiences beyond the creating or acquiring installation or activity. See also Defense Inventory Production.
M
Machine-Readable Record:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) Any VI record requiring a computer or playback device and a television or monitor for a human being to see or perceive the record.
Media:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) Any films, videotapes, discs, or other physical objects that contain or are capable of containing visual information.
Medium:
(DoDI 5040.2 & DoDI 5040.7) In VI, any physical object, such as drawing paper, film, videotape, drive or disc, which contains or can contain visual information. VI media are typically transportable, to facilitate dissemination of the visual information they contain.
Mixed Media:
(DODI 5040.2) Imagery and non-visual information combined as a single informational product. Examples include a videotape with accompanying printed material and a map with embedded pictures.
Motion Depository Accession Number (MDAN):
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) An alphanumeric designator assigned by the Defense Visual Information Center to physical motion media records.
Multimedia Production:
(DoDI 5040.6) A non-linear, interactive VI product using imagery and any combination of audio, text, or graphics, that is developed according to a plan or script for they purpose of conveying information to a user.
N
National Security System:
(OMB Circular A-130) Any telecommunications or information system operated by the United States Government, the function, operation, or use of which (1) involves intelligence activities; (2) involves cryptologic activities related to national security; (3) involves command and control of military forces; (4) involves equipment that is an integral part of a weapon or weapons system; or (5) is critical to the direct fulfillment of military or intelligence missions, but excluding any system that is to be used for routine administrative and business applications (including payroll, finance, logistics, and personnel management applications).
Nonrecord:
(DoD Directive 5015.2) As defined in 36 CFR 1222.34 (36 Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter XII, "National Archives and Records Administration," Subchapter B, "Records Administration."), "Nonrecord materials are those Federally-owned informational materials that do not meet the Federal statutory definition of records (Section 3301 of reference (d) [Title 44, Chapter 33, United States Code]) or that have been excluded from coverage by the definition. Excluded materials are extra copies of documents kept only for reference, stocks of publications and processed documents, and library or museum materials intended solely for reference or exhibit."
Non-Record VI Material:
(DoDI 5040.6) DoD-owned VI materials that do not meet the Federal statutory definition of records. Non-record VI materials include extra motion film prints, video dub copies, photographic prints, dupe slides, production copy CD-ROMs and Digital Video Discs (DVD), most digital copies of still images, and material copied from DoD World Wide Web site postings.
O
Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR):
(DoDI 5040.7) Generally, the organization that requires a DoD VI production, seeks its creation or acquisition, and is the principal beneficiary, either directly or indirectly.
Official DoD Imagery:
(DoDD 5040.5 & DoDI 5040.6) All photographic and video images, regardless of the medium in which they are acquired, stored, or displayed, that are recorded or produced by persons acting for or on behalf of DOD activities, functions, or missions.
Other Than Local Production:
(DoDI 5040.8) A production of potential value to audiences or users outside the installation or activity that created or acquired it. See also: Local Production.
P
Photomechanical Reproduction:
(DoDI 5040.2) An image printed from a photographic matrix. Examples include lithographs, photogravures, and the half-tone prints found in newspapers.
Post-Distribution Evaluation (PDE) Instrument:
(DoDI 5040.7) An online questionnaire used to capture specific post-production evaluation data compiled by OPRs on the VI productions they create or acquire. The data gathered from the Instrument is used to evaluate the effectiveness of individual OPR production programs.
Preservation:
(DoDI 5040.2) In VI, the processes involved in protecting and conserving visual information. These include storage under environmentally-protected conditions, conversion from obsolete to current formats, copying to more durable media, protecting from physical damage, cleaning, and securing against accidental or deliberate erasure, alteration, or loss.
Primary Interest Component:
(DoDI 5040.6) The Component that is the primary subject in an image or scene. There may be more than one. For example, the primary interest Components of a photo or scene recorded by an Army camera operator of Air Force planes flying over a Navy ship would be the Air Force and Navy.
Production:
(DoDI 5040.8) In VI, a complete, linear or non-linear presentation, sequenced according to a plan or script, that is created from original or stock motion or still images, with or without sound, for the purpose of conveying information to, or communicating with, an individual or audience.
Production Approval Number (PAN):
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) The DoD-standard identifying number for Local productions. It consists of the Defense Visual Information Activity Number (DVIAN) of the supporting VI Activity, the last two digits of the fiscal year in which the production is requested, and a sequential number starting with 001 at the beginning of the fiscal year.
Production Decision Logic Table (P-DLT):
(DoDI 5040.7) An online instrument used to help determine the relative appropriateness of using the VI production as a medium to achieve a given communication objective under a given communication scenario. The P-DLT's determinations are based on research findings in the fields of instructional technology, learning theory, and other fields.
Production Folder:
(DoDI 5040.7) The textual record pertaining to a production. A production folder usually includes scripts, contracts, talent releases, copyright releases, and related material.
Production Identification Number (PIN):
(DoDI 5040.2 & DoDI 5040.7) The DoD-standard identifying number for Defense Inventory Productions. It is a six-digit number issued by a DoD Component’s VI Management Office. Example of a PIN: 505117.
Production-related Material:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) Camera original material shot for a VI production, whether it was completed or not.
R
Random Survey:
(DoDI 5040.2) A statistical study of a sample population in which every person in the population has an equal chance of being selected.
Record VI Material:
(DoDI 5040.6) The camera original and designated masters (including the master duplicating and viewing copy) of any official DOD imagery plus related caption data. A listing of record VI material by media is contained in Enclosure 3 of DoD Instruction 5040.6.
Records:
(Title 44, Chapter 33, Section 3301 United States Code & DoD Directive 5015.2) Records include all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, and other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an Agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that Agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, function, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of the data in them.
Records Center:
(Title 44, Chapter 29, Section 2901 United States Code) An establishment maintained and operated by ... [a] Federal agency primarily for storage, servicing, security, and processing of records which need to be preserved for varying periods of time and need not be retained in office equipment or space.
Records Disposition:
(Title 44, Chapter 29, Section 2901 United States Code) Any activity with respect to:
- Disposal of temporary records no longer needed for the conduct of business by destruction or donation
- Transfer of records to Federal agency storage facilities or records centers
- Transfer to the National Archives of the United States of records determined to have sufficient historical or other value to warrant continued preservation; or
- Transfer of records from one Federal agency to any other Federal agency.
Records Management:
(Title 44, Chapter 29, Section 2901 United States Code & DoD Directive 5015.2), The planning, controlling, directing, organizing, training, promoting, and other managerial activities involved with respect to records creation, records maintenance and use, and records disposition in order to achieve adequate and proper documentation of the policies and transactions of the Federal Government and effective and economical management of agency operations.
Run Sheet:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) A list of "as shot" scenes or shot segments that contains the starting and ending footage lengths or time codes, and the who, what, when, and where within the scenes or shot segments. Typically, a run sheet is generated by the camera operator immediately after completion of filming or video recording.
S
Still Digital Images :
(DoD 5040.6-M-2). Electronically-based images that are recorded (either as camera originals in in a digital camera or as copies from an analog photographic or image medium) and stored as machine-readable digital files. They include digital still videos, digital images, digital scans of photographs, and digital frame grabs of motion video or television broadcasts.
Still Images :
(DoD 5040.6-M-2). Visual representations or images that are recorded or rendered on a two-dimensional surface or screen by chemical, electronic, or artistic means. Still images recorded by camera operators in the field fall into three categories: Still Photographs, Still Digital Images, and Graphic Art.
Still Photographs:
(DoD 5040.6-M-1). Chemically based images recorded in a camera as either photographic negatives or color transparencies.
Stock Imagery:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) Existing motion imagery that has not been creatively edited.
V
VI Activity:
(DoDI 5040.8) An organizational element or a function within an organization whose principal responsibility is to provide VI products and/or services.
VI Activity Profile:
(DoDI 5040.8) A DoD-wide information system used to identify organizational information and the functions, products, and services that authorized VI activities provide.
VI Facility:
(DoDI 5040.8) Anything, either stationary or mobile, permanent or temporary, that houses a VI activity.
VI Functions:
(DoDI 5040.8) The individual VI processes such as production, documentation, reproduction, distribution, records preservation, presentation services, fabrication of training aids and displays, and provision of related technical services.
VI Management Office:
(DoDI 5040.8) A staff office at the headquarters level that typically prescribes VI policies and procedures and supervises or oversees VI functions.
VI Material:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2). Still and motion film, videotape, disk, or other media containing visual information. This includes the original, intermediate, master, and any duplicate, print, reference, or dub copy.
VI Media:
(DoDI 5040.6) Any films, videotapes, discs, or other physical objects that contain or are capable of containing visual information.
VI Product:
(DoDI 5040.8) A copy of a VI record, or a collection, compilation, or composite of such copies.
VI Program:
(DoDI 5040.8) The system of personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, policies, procedures, training, and logistical support that enables the acquisition, recording, transmission, storage, production, and generation of VI records and VI products in support of DoD missions.
VI Record:
(DoD 5040.6-M-2). VI with a related caption and identifying number designated as record material according to the requirements of Federal Law or Federal regulations. While a VI record resides on a physical medium (such as film, tape, drive or disk), the record is the informational content as distinct from the medium on which it resides.
VI Records Center:
(DoDI 5040.2) A facility where VI records are stored pending their ultimate disposition. Such facilities often have environmental controls and other features designed to efficiently house, preserve, and facilitate reference service on VI and related records.
Visual Information Record Identification Number (VIRIN):
(DoDI 5040.2) A DoD standard, alphanumeric designator assigned to a VI record other than a VI production. The life cycle number used for managing VI records.
VI Services:
(DoDI 5040.8) Providing support of a VI nature, such as maintaining VI equipment, providing presentation services, operating conference facilities, making loans of VI products, processing film, and copying VI records to VI end products.
Video:
(DoDI 5040.8) Motion imagery that is recorded or transmitted as either a digital or analog electromagnetic signal.
Visual Information (VI):
(DoD 5040.6-M-1). Information in the form of visual or pictorial representations of person(s), place(s), or thing(s), with or without sound. VI includes still photographs, digital still images, motion pictures, analog and digital video recordings, and hand- or computer-generated graphic art and animations that depict real or imaginary person(s), place(s), and/or thing(s), and related captions, overlays, and intellectual control data. VI excludes three-dimensional, alphabetic, symbolic, or coded data (such as printed text, signals, signs, maps and other geodetic products, numerical data, and icons), unless these items are part of larger pictorial representations, or contain pictorial representations (such as maps that include pictures). VI also excludes graphic art that depicts abstractions or abstract relationships, i.e., objects other than persons, places, or things (such as organizational structures, symbols, process flows, quantitative data, or logical relationships).
W
Weapons System Imagery (WSI):
(DoD 5040.6-M-2) Imagery depicting delivery, impact, and effects of ordnance. It is typically acquired by means other-than a hands-on camera operator. For imagery depicting delivery and impact, the camera platform is usually either the ordnance itself or the ordnance launch vehicle. For imagery depicting the effects of ordnance, such as Bomb Damage Assessment Imagery, the camera platform is typically manned or unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. WSI does not include space-based imagery.
Window Dub:
(DoDI 5040.6) A duplicate of a motion VI record created with a time code window to facilitate management of the record. The window dub is an element of the archival set.