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Towards the interactive transcription of handwritings: anytime anywhere document analysis

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Abstract

This paper introduces the anytime anywhere document analysis methodology applied in the context of computer-aided transcription. Its utility is revealed for documents which are difficult to analyse, as in the case of handwritten texts. A special focus lies on the glyph separation problem which turns out to be particularly complicated. As automatic methods show fundamental limitations, a number of interactive methods are proposed which are based on the interplay between user and machine. These methods get along without any assumptions concerning underlying languages or appearances of texts. An evaluation in the context of palaeography and applied to a well-established data set illustrates how well handwritings are dealt with, although they offer distinct differences in their regularity and shape.

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Acknowledgments

The described methods have been realised within the Diptychon system which has been implemented to a large extent by Jan-Hendrik Worch. We are thankful for his valuable contributions to this project. Moreover, we acknowledge the support of Prof. Dr. Michael Menzel, Lehrstuhl für Mittelalterliche Geschichte, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Prof. Dr. Michael Lawo, Centre for Computing and Communication Technologies, University of Bremen. Finally, we appreciate the valuable feedback provided by the reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Computing and Communication Technologies, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Björn Gottfried & Marius Wegner

  2. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, Germany

    Mathias Lawo

Authors
  1. Björn Gottfried
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  2. Marius Wegner
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  3. Mathias Lawo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Björn Gottfried.

Additional information

This work was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under Grant Numbers {GO 2023/4-1, LA 3066/4-2} and LA 3007/1-1 under the project name Diptychon and partially under Grant Number GO 2023/3-2.

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Gottfried, B., Wegner, M. & Lawo, M. Towards the interactive transcription of handwritings: anytime anywhere document analysis. IJDAR 18, 31–45 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10032-014-0234-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10032-014-0234-7

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