At 02:21 PM 2/20/97 +0000, you wrote:
>Have any of you scanned enough text material in books and newspapers
>to know how long it takes when you're really in a production mode?
>
>I'm working on a proposal to scan historical publications (and possibly
>newspapers) for possible use on CD-ROM and/or the Web. I need
>rough estimates of time for scanning and proofing, probably by the
>page (please specify if it's a book page or a newspaper page).
>
>Any help will be appreciated; replies off-net will be fine.
>
>Thanks,
>Tom
>--
>
>Tom Vaughan    "The Waggin' Tongue"
><[log in to unmask]>   (970) 533-1215
>11795 Road 39.2, Mancos, CO 81328  USA
>Cultural Resource Management, Interpretation, Planning, & Training
>

Tom, if you are scanning the text, with the intention of importing it into a
searchable, text database, which then would make proofing an important part
of the process, you can estimate that when up to speed, you could spend at
least 20 minutes to a half hour per page (8 1/2 x 11, single space, no
columns, no graphics, etc.).  Your choice of scanning software is very
important.  I have used the recent version of OmniPage, and consider it
excellent for several reasons.  It is very good at character recognition,
has an excellent, thorough dictionary, allows one to use in conjuction with
it- foreign language dictionaries, and is very easy to use.

If you do not intend to use the text for searching, you may consider using
Adobe Acrobat to scan the text as "images", which allows people to see the
original format of the document, and will print out in that format as well.
Essentially, if you go this route, you will be just scanning, and not
proofing (no need to), so the speed of your project will be greatly
increased (30 seconds per page?).

I hope this short explanation helps, if you have any further questions, feel
free to email me.
Allison
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Allison A. Smith                ***
Registrar                          ********
Haggerty Museum of Art  ***
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