<s>
In	O
communications	O
and	O
computing	O
a	O
machine-readable	O
medium	O
,	O
or	O
computer-readable	O
medium	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
medium	O
capable	O
of	O
storing	O
data	B-General_Concept
in	O
a	O
format	O
easily	O
readable	O
by	O
a	O
digital	O
computer	O
or	O
mechanical	O
device	O
(	O
rather	O
than	O
human	B-General_Concept
readable	I-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
result	O
is	O
called	O
machine-readable	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
or	O
computer-readable	O
data	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Machine-readable	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
must	O
be	O
structured	B-Application
data	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Attempts	O
to	O
create	O
machine-readable	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
occurred	O
as	O
early	O
as	O
the	O
1960s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
that	O
seminal	O
developments	O
in	O
machine-reading	O
and	O
natural-language	O
processing	O
were	O
releasing	O
(	O
like	O
Weizenbaum	O
's	O
ELIZA	B-Application
)	O
,	O
people	O
were	O
anticipating	O
the	O
success	O
of	O
machine-readable	O
functionality	O
and	O
attempting	O
to	O
create	O
machine-readable	O
documents	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
,	O
the	O
OPEN	O
Government	O
Data	B-General_Concept
Act	O
of	O
14	O
January	O
2019	O
defines	O
machine-readable	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
as	O
"	O
data	B-General_Concept
in	O
a	O
format	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
easily	O
processed	O
by	O
a	O
computer	O
without	O
human	O
intervention	O
while	O
ensuring	O
no	O
semantic	O
meaning	O
is	O
lost.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
law	O
directs	O
U.S.	O
federal	O
agencies	O
to	O
publish	O
public	O
data	B-General_Concept
in	O
such	O
a	O
manner	O
,	O
ensuring	O
that	O
"	O
any	O
public	O
data	B-General_Concept
asset	O
of	O
the	O
agency	O
is	O
machine-readable	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Machine-readable	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
may	O
be	O
classified	O
into	O
two	O
groups	O
:	O
human-readable	B-General_Concept
data	B-General_Concept
that	O
is	O
marked	O
up	O
so	O
that	O
it	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
read	O
by	O
machines	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
microformats	B-General_Concept
,	O
RDFa	B-General_Concept
,	O
HTML	B-Language
)	O
,	O
and	O
data	B-General_Concept
file	I-General_Concept
formats	O
intended	O
principally	O
for	O
processing	O
by	O
machines	O
(	O
CSV	O
,	O
RDF	O
,	O
XML	B-Protocol
,	O
JSON	B-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
formats	O
are	O
only	O
machine	O
readable	O
if	O
the	O
data	B-General_Concept
contained	O
within	O
them	O
is	O
formally	O
structured	O
;	O
exporting	O
a	O
CSV	O
file	O
from	O
a	O
badly	O
structured	O
spreadsheet	O
does	O
not	O
meet	O
the	O
definition	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Extensible	B-Protocol
Markup	I-Protocol
Language	I-Protocol
(	O
XML	B-Protocol
)	O
is	O
designed	O
to	O
be	O
both	O
human	O
-	O
and	O
machine-readable	O
,	O
and	O
Extensible	O
Stylesheet	O
Language	O
Transformation	O
(	O
XSLT	O
)	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
improve	O
the	O
presentation	O
of	O
the	O
data	B-General_Concept
for	O
human	O
readability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
XSLT	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
automatically	O
render	O
XML	B-Protocol
in	O
Portable	B-Application
Document	I-Application
Format	I-Application
(	O
PDF	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Machine-readable	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
can	O
be	O
automatically	O
transformed	O
for	O
human-readability	O
but	O
,	O
generally	O
speaking	O
,	O
the	O
reverse	O
is	O
not	O
true	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
;	O
xml	B-Protocol
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Traditional	O
word	O
processing	O
documents	O
and	O
portable	B-Application
document	I-Application
format	I-Application
(	O
PDF	B-Application
)	O
files	O
are	O
easily	O
read	O
by	O
humans	O
but	O
typically	O
are	O
difficult	O
for	O
machines	O
to	O
interpret	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
formats	O
such	O
as	O
extensible	B-Protocol
markup	I-Protocol
language	I-Protocol
(	O
XML	B-Protocol
)	O
,	O
(	O
JSON	B-General_Concept
)	O
,	O
or	O
spreadsheets	O
with	O
header	O
columns	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
exported	O
as	O
comma	O
separated	O
values	O
(	O
CSV	O
)	O
are	O
machine	O
readable	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
HTML	B-Language
is	O
a	O
structural	O
markup	O
language	O
,	O
discreetly	O
labeling	O
parts	O
of	O
the	O
document	O
,	O
computers	O
are	O
able	O
to	O
gather	O
document	O
components	O
to	O
assemble	O
tables	O
of	O
contents	O
,	O
outlines	O
,	O
literature	O
search	O
bibliographies	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Examples	O
of	O
machine-readable	O
media	O
include	O
magnetic	B-Architecture
media	I-Architecture
such	O
as	O
magnetic	B-Architecture
disks	I-Architecture
,	O
cards	O
,	O
tapes	O
,	O
and	O
drums	B-General_Concept
,	O
punched	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
and	O
paper	O
tapes	O
,	O
optical	B-Device
discs	I-Device
,	O
barcodes	O
and	O
magnetic	O
ink	O
characters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Common	O
machine-readable	O
technologies	O
include	O
magnetic	B-Architecture
recording	I-Architecture
,	O
processing	O
waveforms	O
,	O
and	O
barcodes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Optical	B-Application
character	I-Application
recognition	I-Application
(	O
OCR	O
)	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
enable	O
machines	O
to	O
read	O
information	O
available	O
to	O
humans	O
.	O
</s>
