The Dangers of OCR

--or--
"Stoopid Computers."

For those who may not be aware, OCR refers to Optical Character Recognition and is usually part of a software program (Adobe Acrobat has an OCR option, as do some scanner software packages) or can be a standalone program like OmniPage or ABBYY Finereader. At it's best, OCR is artificial intelligence on a very small scale, using pattern recognition algorithms which it may or may not be able to adjust on the fly. At it's worst, it is a frustrating process which may actually add time to a project; I have read some studies that suggest simply hiring a good typist/data entry clerk to input the text, especially if the original is hand-written or poor quality.

At work, I use OmniPage which is very robust and very good at learning as it goes but still only manages about a 90-95% accuracy rate. Other readers are not so good; tests on Acrobat's functionality found it had about a 55-60% accuracy on English documents. Sometimes it is the fault of the copy -- smudges on the original or the use of multiple fonts in one document can confuse the software; sometimes it's the hardware or its operator -- dust on the scanbed or a crooked scan can instantly make a mess of things; and sometimes, well it's a mystery.

I have no idea what happened in this example from Neil Gaiman's Journal, but it sure is funny:

Incidentally, I think Amazon are using more Optical Character Recognition these days. At least, according to this description I just cut and pasted from their description of Sandman: The Doll's House, where I learned,

Excerpt - Back Cover: "... . ~~- ~. ~ . _ .. " N Neil Gaiman is the New Yak Times bat-sdrmg hWphor of Mnorkan rods ..."

And, of course, I am.

OoooooOoh....

new_camera
Originally uploaded by triviaqueen

Hubby and I got new cameras today -- matching Cannon EOS Rebel XTis!

This is my first ever forray into SLR (Single Lens Reflex) photography so there may be somewhat of a learning curve. Happily, the Rebel comes with some presets so hopefully I can take some acceptable photos before I figure out what all the camera can do.

Interestingly, the camera I will be using at work for upcoming digitization projects, the Cannon EOS 30D is only one step up from this one (at least that's how it looks from Cannon's SLR website)

By getting the same model of camera, however, hubby and I can share lenses and other accessories while still having "our own camera" -- I really want a macro lens of some sort one day, and if a telephoto lens came our way, I wouldn't be likely to complain.

While this won't likely become my "everyday" camera (it won't fit in my pocket) I do look forward to some dedicated "photo days" in the near future.

On art and translations...

There's a photo of a marvelous piece of art floating around out there in the blogosphere today. Its medium is porcelain, the artist is Lei Xue, and the title of the piece at its German gallery is "Tee trinken, 2007." The average English speaker would probably read that as "Tea drinking" which a quick Google search confirms is close to accurate ("to have tea" is the most common translation).

So why, then, are the objects pictured being described as beer cans or pop/soda cans? I presume because most people outside of Asia (and the Pacific Northwest/BC cities which boast large Asian populations) are unaware that tea and coffee are sold in cans, too.

Still, it's no excuse for laziness.

It even makes more sense as tea cans, because both the medium and the designs on the "cans" look like Chinese tea cups, thus the piece can be seen as a reflection or comment on modern convenience. I found another, larger piece by the same artist featuring even more porcelain tea "cans" at another gallery, unfortunately the page cannot be directly linked, but you can get to it from the artists' page by clicking on Xue.

***

As an aside, if you like these art pieces, you should also have a look at works by Ma Jun (see also Majun) who has in turn been compared to Charles Krafft (though Krafft's work has a much darker edge to its subversiveness). Incidentally, I would dearly love to have some of Krafft's Delft-like Disasterware™ plates hanging in my next kitchen....

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A year's progress on the Big List

I mentioned in the last post, our Big List o' Unfinished Projects. The idea was that we were supposed to work on projects from the list before starting other things... that didn't exactly happen but we did make some progress. I got more done than hubby but only because he had a ridiculously busy year work-wise and his projects were much bigger both in scope and time required. Oh, and I did get stuff done in between rounds of self-pity while I was laid up with my busted ankle.

What did I get done?

• I learned about Drupal; enough to launch and contribute to several websites (frugalvictoria.com, innerharbour.com, 951.cupe.ca, and thosedewolfes.com) and enough to help hubby with a book-to-be on Drupal, plus a beginners guide which, with a little more tweaking, will get posted online.
• I posted stock photos and created a calendar on lulu and crafts on etsy and I worked on my CuppaJoe Cozy site and our CafePress store. Unfortunately, I don't think I did enough with any of these items -- while I did list a lot of items on etsy, I have yet to make a sale and while I listed only 22 out of my goal of 100 stock images on lulu, I made two sales. I sold a few more cozies online but when I did try to get them into a store, that failed spectacularly. Our biggest sale from CafePress was when we bought a bunch of our own stuff but we have made other sales.
  
• I also finished the commissioned Doctor Who scarf and I prepared my Coffee Haiku minibook; I bound the first 13 of 40 (I have the rest ready to bind, I just have to "get to it"), sold some at the Libraries craft fair, and have some listed online.

The other projects -- about half of them -- remain unfinished. Over the year I decided to abandon a few projects but I also added or adjusted some others, so I figure it still works out to "about half." I will continue to work on the projects as they are listed and have pledged to help hubby with his projects, at least as far as my abilities allow.

My biggest goal for 2008 is to get my creative stuff out there -- both online and in local stores and/or galleries. This is not something I am good at (self-promotion) so it is going to take a lot of work.... but it is something I really need to do at this point... if for no other reason than to get the stock out of our house before we move.

Oh, that's the other goal this year: moving into a house of our own (buh-bye strata), but compared to self-promotion, that one seems like a cake walk. ;)

Looking back ...

In case you've just joined this blog, already in progress, here's a quick little overview of what I did in 2007:

Jan - started contributing to theVictoria Grid Project; drafted a big list o' unfinished tasks
Feb - managed to get very very sick for Valentine's day
Mar - designed the first of the Huggitz creatures
Apr - Drupalized and re-launched FrugalVictoria.com
May - travelled to Naramata; visited the Abkhazi Garden for the first time
Jun - cleared out the storage locker, reassessed our big list o' unfinished tasks
July - Spent an entire day reading Harry Potter; decluttered some more
Aug - had a fun, productive, busy, creative month then broke my ankle
Sept - recovered from broken ankle and relaunched 951.cupe.ca as a Drupal-driven site.
Oct - celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary; madeover my etsy shop
Nov - traveled to Parksville and Burlington; blogged every day for NaBloPoMo
Dec - sold lots at the Libraries craft fair; designed my first knitting pattern, the Ma Cobb hat.

Here's a mosaic of some of the many, many things I sewed, knitted, beaded and otherwise handcrafted in 2007...

Though there were many hurdles in 2007, we pulled through it with our health in tact, our home in one piece and our bellies... well, maybe a little too full.