Microsoft Word used with the Office 2000 software package is an excellent and low cost method to include demonstrative evidence directly in a document. For example, in a construction site injury case where the liability issue is whether a machine had an appropriately located muffler, a picture of the machine can be imported into the demand letter or brief. Several approaches are available to scan documents into the computer which are inserted onto the document or for display at trial. A scanner can be purchased which is reusable for photo imaging, or the photos may be sent to a photo lab which will copy the photos onto a compact disc to load into the computer. In auto cases, a scanner may be used to show the location of property damage to vehicles or to re-create the collision.
Most jurisdictions have aerial maps of roads available at nominal costs.
To illustrate a collision, the map is scanned into the computer, the image is projected onto a screen, and a witness points to the screen to indicate the movement of the vehicles. As a general rule of presentation, those exhibits which ordinarily would be passed among the jurors the experience of looking up close as they would if the exhibit were circulated in the jury box. Those items which would not be circulated in the jury box may be shown on a television monitor. Visual presenters or video imagers are the successors to overhead projectors. Elmo and Doar are two frequently used visual presenters.