8.0163 Qs: OCR; Context; Stop Words; Article Sought; Reading

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 1 Sep 1994 17:45:44 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 8, No. 0163. Thursday, 1 Sep 1994.


(1) Date: Tue, 30 Aug 94 14:49:00 PDT (24 lines)
From: "John J Hughes" <XB.J24@STANFORD.BITNET>
Subject: Three Questions

(2) Date: Tue, 30 Aug 1994 22:24:48 +0200 (EET) (35 lines)
From: LKOSKI@finabo.abo.fi
Subject: request to the humanist network

(3) Date: Wed, 31 Aug 94 20:53:58 BST (18 lines)
From: v1z0gdav@cecomm.co.uk (Profesor Graham Davies)
Subject: Text reading aids for the blind

(4) Date: Thu, 1 Sep 1994 10:02:45 +0100 (33 lines)
From: J.A.Law@newcastle.ac.uk (John Law)
Subject: English tour de force (!)

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 94 14:49:00 PDT
From: "John J Hughes" <XB.J24@STANFORD.BITNET>
SUBJECT: Three Questions

I have three questions with which I would appreciate receiving help.

(1) What are some reliable OCR programs for scanning typeset material
(with a flatbed scanner) that consists primarily of English but that
contains some Hebrew, Yiddish, and Greek? The program needs to be
trainable, needs to be able to insert user-specified formatting codes,
and needs to provide an extremely high degree of accuracy.

(2) I am looking for articles that explore the topic of defining
"context" in concordances of modern English texts, especially articles
that discuss designing computer algorithms to define contexts.

(3) I am looking for articles about or lists of the most commonly used
stop words in concordances of modern English texts, for example, "a,"
"an," "of," "the."

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

John J. Hughes
BITNET: XB.J24@Stanford.BITNET
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------54----
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 1994 22:24:48 +0200 (EET)
From: LKOSKI@finabo.abo.fi
Subject: request to the humanist network

Dear Editors,

Please would you place the following quest in the humanities network for
members to respond to:

Hello!

I have managed to lose an article which I use extensively in my thesis. I have
tried all the usual means of tracing an article and drawn a blank. Can anyone
recognise it from the following quote:

The oral tradition remained the internal model for literate storytelling, which
sought to reproduce the communicative strategies and stylistic features typical
of oral poetry. In other words, literate storytelling obeyed the rules of
stylistics. As Walter Benjamin said, "Among those who have written down the
tales, it is the great ones whose written version differs least from the speech
of the many nameless storytellers" (Benjamin 1982 (1968): 84). Consequently,
the same stylistic principles apply, to a certain extent, to oral and literate
storytelling alike. All stories should, for instance, be easy to remember; this
is the only way they can be memorized and passed on.
(EWERS 1992: 172)

I have no other details other the surname, the year, and the odd quote like
this one.

If you can help, please send any details to: lena.koski@abo.fi

Many grateful thanks!



(3) --------------------------------------------------------------28----
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 94 20:53:58 BST
From: v1z0gdav@cecomm.co.uk (Profesor Graham Davies - EuroCALL - October 1993)
Subject: Text reading aids for the blind



<<MESSAGE from>> Graham Davies 31-AUG-94 20:53
v1z0gdav@cecomm
From Graham Davies, Thames Valley University
To CTITEXT
31.8.94
This is a general request for information on any known
computer aids for helping the blind read or access
textual information. I have had a request from a blind
student studying Spanish, Geography and American Studies,
who is having problems keeping up with her reading on
a BA Humanities course at TVU.
Any information or contacts will be much appreciated.
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------53----
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 1994 10:02:45 +0100
From: J.A.Law@newcastle.ac.uk (John Law)
Subject: English tour de force (!)

Does anyone know the author of a poem which has just been posted to the
Macintosh archives [in order to test out the Macintosh's Speech Manager!],
which begins as follows ...

>Dearest creature in creation,
>Study English pronunciation.
>I will teach you in my verse
>Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
>I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
>Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
>Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
>So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

... it goes on for several verses, and exercises even an excellent English
reader's pronunciation. Before propagating it to other groups, I would
like to acknowledge the author (nay - I would like to find out if it's
copyright!). The person who sent it to the Mac archives says that it
appeared anonymously at a NATO conference some time back. But *somebody*
wrote it - and a jolly clever somebody, at that!



John Law University Computing Service
Information Officer University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Phone: +44 91 222 8115 NE1 7RU
Fax: +44 91 222 8765 United Kingdom