Thread: What is the limitation of software?

Of course it is "possible", but this is not something you'd want to outsource for the cheapest price. This is very difficult to do with an accuracy.

Research optical character recognition (OCR). Here is a company I found quick that seems to be making software to read handwriting ICR and OCR Technology - The Beginnings of Handwriting Recognition

Edit: Also "a writer" just isn't plausible for something of this scope. You'd need a team of people which isn't limited to a programmer, for example a typographer would most likely be needed.

Thanks Icy. Rep+++

When I was going through some of the outsource sites, some of the contractors had entire teams and companies. Is this the type of situation I should focus on when finding a contractor or should I be researching in different areas other than odesk or guru.com types of sites? Also, what would you think the price range spectrum might be for qualified contractors?

edit: Just visited that site. I see what you're saying. This just put a different level of what's required if going through handwritten records. All I can say is wow, that's something I never would've thought about.

This is something I'd think you'd need to hire a team for your company rather than just have some outside people create it. I can't imagine people being able to perfect reading handwriting, especially in the first go, so it'd be something with constant revisions.

I don't have a clue as far as cost. Never built even a simple OCR so I can't say I truly understand the complexity of it. Default fonts I don't think would be too bad, but with hand writing it's another game entirely..

What if instead of scanning existing forms you create an online app that helps reduce handwritten forms by allowing people to fill them out online? Certainly older generations wouldn't be as eager to submit information online, but it's unbelievable to me the openness of people in my generation (90's) of giving out information.

The idea itself isn't revolutionary, but lets face it, computers are going to be doing the paper pushing soon.

*Obviously you'd need to research it (I haven't), but it seems to be in the same ballpark while developing for the future, not the present.

I know you've been in the trenches with this stuff for a bit so thanks again. And I really appreciate you making me aware of this because when I start asking my questions, it'll make me look knowledgeable!

From my experiences in the past with dealing with things thought to be expensive and next to impossible while on a limited budget and within a limited time frame, I've learned that by asking enough people I would sooner or later get things done that were effective and sufficient with cut rate prices or through bartering. An example is at one time I needed to clear a half an acre of trees and have a parking lot put in with drains and all that. Everyone I spoke with told me that it would cost thousands and thousands. Well, I first found out what the code was from the city and the requirements, and then put the word out and through all of my networking with clients and friends, I was able to find someone with the equipment and access to the paving materials, and I was able to get it done for around $3000! I've accomplished several things like this including putting a sewer line in below 12 inches of concrete, tied in additional power to the power lines on the road as well as having 40+ rooms snaked to, and wired into a panel, and truly an unbelievable amount of other things that should've gone well into 6 figures in costs that out of my pocket I got done for a fraction of that, and lots of bartering! (I'm writing all of this because I'm trying to contribute to the community a bit )

Anyway, I really do appreciate that info and what I think I may need to find is someone who already possesses the type of software you described who's licensed to use it for commercial purposes. I think this is going to be my starting point. I'm thinking that this situation has to be out there somewhere.

Additionally though, what I'd like to know then is, what if I wanted to have software designed to scour archived newspapers from over a century to up to now, as well as key words on the internet from perhaps Google's search engine without the need for handwriting recognition?

Would this type of software be able to be made with a high amount of accuracy?

Additionally though, what I'd like to know then is, what if I wanted to have software designed to scour archived newspapers from over a century to up to now, as well as key words on the internet from perhaps Google's search engine without the need for handwriting recognition?

Would this type of software be able to be made with a high amount of accuracy?

Definitely much more easy to get a high level of accuracy with that. The difference with newspapers is they have a font that they use, and "matching up" the letters off of that is a pretty simple thing. Heck, the worst that'd happen if it cannot figure out a word, simply screen cap it, and have a person just go through and figure out what the computer can't.

While Google doesn't allow scraping AFAIK (ironic, eh?) scraping websites is even easier than Newspapers. You can grab the source, and just parse it.