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Archiver > SOG-UK > 1998-07 > 0901363700


From: Barney Tyrwhitt-Drake <>
Subject: [SOG-UK-L] Transcription of SoG records
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 11:48:20 +0100


Many of you may have read the glowing review in Dick Eastman's latest
newsletter of the searchable book archive that Broderbund has set up on
a US server for access to around 600+ (and rising) genealogical records.

>From what he says, most of these sources appear to be family histories
written by US family members and privately published there. It's not so
much the contents, more the technology that interests me, as it may have
some relevance to what the SoG is thinking of doing for its own records.
To summarize they (Broderbund) are:

1. Offering access to the site to subscribers at a flat rate of $50 per
annum.

2. Scanning printed materials and doing OCR (Optical Character
Recognition) on them.

3. Including a search engine on the web site that allows you to search
for words or phrases. The search engine generates a hit list from which
you can view the original text in context as OCRed text rather than as
the original image. You can also gain access to the full reference to
the original work so that you can obtain an exact facsimile copy.

A number of UK universities, notably Queen's University Belfast, have
History Departments that own 'industrial strength' OCR systems, that
would kick sand in the face of the kind of personal use, PC-based, OCR
that many of us use today.

Should the SoG be exploring links with such universities as a cost-
effective resource for getting some of the library's documents indexed
and formatted for online searching?
--
Barney Tyrwhitt-Drake

Drake Software web site: http://www.tdrake.demon.co.u

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