IAEAInternational Atomic Energy Agency

OCR at INIS Database Production & Imaging Group

Yves ReynaudY.Reynaud-Pulido@iaea.org

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Some OCR features

We can find the needle in the haystack

• OCR offers a basic search from an unstructured document.

• OCR brings to life your digitilazed collection.

• OCR adds an extra value to your image.

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OCR is a computer technology software that

• Translate images handwritten or typewritten text into machine-editable text.

• Translate pictures of characters into a standard encoding scheme representing them (e.g. ASCII or Unicode).

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• Scanned Image (paper or micrographic)

• Vector Image (created from native application) here a raster image for sake of comparison

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“Do not see the trees (letters)try to see the forest (sentences)“

F0R 488UR1N6 7H3 L0N63V17Y 0F 1NF0RM4710N, P3RH4P8 7H3 M087 1MP0R74N7 R0L3 1N 7H3 0P3R4710N 0F 4 D16174L 4RCH1V3 18 M4N461N6 7H3 1D3N717Y, 1N736R17Y 4ND QU4L17Y 0F 7H3 4RCH1V38 1783LF 48 4 7RU873D 80URC3 0F 7H3 CUL7UR4L R3C0RD.

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Verdana

FOR ASSURING THE LONGEVITY OF INFORMATION, PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE OPERATION OF A DIGITAL ARCHIVE IS MANAGING THE IDENTITY, INTEGRITY AND QUALITY OF THE ARCHIVES ITSELF AS A TRUSTED SOURCE OF THE CULTURAL RECORD.

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Brush Script MT (Windows Font)

FOR ASSURING THE LONGEVITY OF INFORMATION, PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE OPERATION OF A DIGITAL ARCHIVE IS MANAGING THE IDENTITY, INTEGRITY AND QUALITY OF THE ARCHIVES ITSELF AS A TRUSTED SOURCE OF THE CULTURAL RECORD.

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PCs ≠ Humans

• OCR compares patterns and selects closer match, it can be forced to a specific context but requires customization.

• People adapt to circumstances and can circumvent misspellings if context is clear.

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True or false

Usually, an image is adequately sampled if each letter is at least two pixels in thickness:

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Zoom in

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ZoZooom inm in

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Results from OCR

It is in this context that I…

… and an additional protocol on the basis…

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Chinese in pixels

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Chinese vector images from OCR

滤器

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Arabic in pixels

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Arabic vector images from OCR

ا وشملتهذ

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OCR initiatives

IMPACThttp://www.impact-project.eu/home/

EUROPEANAhttp://www.europeana.eu/portal/

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Thank you