Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software converts scanned images of printed or typewritten pages to searchable and editable text. We use a variety of software tools and have had great results with uncorrected OCR for clients.

Our standard OCR services are fully automated where powerful software analyses the digitised images and identifies the text within, avoiding the necessity for operator intervention. For more challenging material, W. & F. Pascoe also offers customised OCR services. This includes manual zoning of newspaper and journal text (where articles and headlines are not uniformly placed on the page) or isolating of marginalia and extracting abstract information from material.

We also offer the option of part-OCR of material, where specific parts can be OCR’d, eliminating extra costs for converting material that does not aid discovery. This is particularly useful in Journals and Magazines where advertorial content with artistic fonts is confusing the output.

That said, our OCR systems allow us to “Pattern Train”, whereby we “teach” the system how to recognise text of varying fonts in order to improve the accuracy of our conversion. Not all documents are suited for OCR, however. For example, the accuracy level of OCR on handwritten text is very poor and is often not usable.

For documents that are not suited for OCR, we offer transcription services whereby a mix of two typists and a third arbiter, or a typist and a verifier, type the same information. This is then compared and any discrepancies are highlighted and rectified.

As always, if there are any queries or you wish to discuss your specific requirements with us,  please get in touch with us to discuss what is possible for you.

W. & F. Pascoe’s transcription service essentially involves manual conversion of textual information from a digitised image into another form, usually a document, spread sheet or database. Suitable digitised images that could be transcribed might include handwritten documents, index cards, lists, scripts, typed fonts that do not OCR well or simple data like names and addresses. Two options are available – Double data transcription, or Single-entry transcription.

With double data transcription methodology, a data entry quality control process which involves two passes. In the first pass through a set of records, data keystrokes are entered onto each record as the data entry operator types them. On the second pass through the batch, an operator at a separate machine enters the same data again.

This information is then either fed through a computer verification program, or is checked by a person comparing the two blocks of data by comparing the second operator’s keystrokes with the contents of the record. If no discrepancies are found, the verifier accepts the data. If there are, a choice is made as to which is the best to choose from.

This can be handled by means of strict vocabulary dictionaries, customer-prescribed “rules” or entered manually by a data operator.
The accuracy for double data transcription should exceed 99.9%.

Where single-entry transcription is adopted, it is usually in the interest of simplicity as well as cost management. It is the more economical alternative simply because it does not require data to be entered twice, and then compared. However, expected accuracy will vary depending on the transcription method chosen and the quality of the originals and digitised images. We recommend a pilot be conducted on sample data to enable fine tuning of cost-estimates as well as to provide evidence of realistic quality and accuracy expectations.

The real value of W. & F. Pascoe in in this transcription process is in the significant troubleshooting experience we have in this area, as well as providing a Quality Assurance procedure for your digitised assets. As always, if there are any queries or you wish to discuss your specific requirements with us,  please get in touch with us to discuss what is possible for you.

Give new life to old or damaged books by turning them digital. View them online, on your tablet, on your eReader.

W. & F. Pascoe offer an eBook creation service with a range of output levels from the straightforward copy to the bespoke re-creation.

Pricing starts from $1 per page but can vary based on the number of pages and level of manual formatting and correction required.

A setup fee will apply to encourage you to do more than one title per batch.

We take all reasonable efforts to minimise inaccuracies however the e-books created may contain some text and/or formatting errors.

Naturally Copyright permissions will need to be managed if they apply and we can assist you here.

This is a fantastic way to breathe new life into “out-of-print” books responsibly, and a real opportunity for local historians to re-engage your community.

We can capture the full text content (and more) of digitised items including the contents of manuscripts, journals and books. We also can capture specific metadata such as author, dates, titles, descriptions, subjective information according to your rule set as well as other references and codes etc.

W. & F. Pascoe will work with you to establish a template for information indexing ensuring that the information that’s important to you is the information you receive. This extends to non-text originals such as photos, art or ephemera where you may wish to associate information recorded on the reverse, as a caption, or in an associated database or index.

We can customise filenaming by incorporating metadata, for example: ‘/author/book_name/pge001’. All metadata can usually be transcribed directly from the digitised images which means that there is no extra handling of your precious heritage items.