In article , Vir
Campestris wrote:
On 24/03/2016 13:06, Brian Gaff wrote:
I still have some old mags, but now of course cannot bloody read them!

Can't you OCR them, then use speech to text? Or is the technology just
not good enough yet?

I've been scanning a number of ancient magazine issues over the last year
or two. Getting a good scan and a good OCR can be quite time consuming for
some of the older examples in poorer condition. And of course, one factor
is that I have to examine by eye the scanned results to decide what to do
to alter the next scan attempt, etc.

For, say, mags from many decades ago, the paper will often be very yellowed
and dirty and probably also scuffed, etc. The printing may have also
smudged in some cases. Depends on the age and condition as well as the
paper and printing process used.

Have a look at the first image on
http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong.../ValveEra.html
for an example of some pages of the kind you may be faced with scanning and
OCRing. Possible, but requires some work.

So I fear that for someone with serious vision impairment, its sometimes a
chicken and egg problem unless the magazine is in excellent condition and
the text is crisp clear plain black on white. (Some more recent magazines
in colour can be a real pain as you may have to process out the colour to
get sufficient contrast, etc, for a good OCR.)

Jim

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