I had an email from Sweden this week, the questions asked have been something I’ve been working on since I accepted the SuperMemo Method. I’ll try to answer this questions to my best knowledge and experience. As always feel free to comment further.

Is it possible to outsource the complete learning process to supermemo?

I believe it is, but doing it takes a lot of time, from acquiring the necessary skills to make the input to supermemo worth the time invested. Currently the bottle neck of outsourcing this leaning process to supermemo, is the time needed to make the questions and this also means making questions trough Incremental Reading.

Incremental Reading is a way of learning with out the need to absorb every data in a text from the first time, you go to the text several times and you only worry about what is important at that moment, as you are sure this same text will come later in your daily repetitions you don’t have to strain trying to understand, let alone memorize from the first reading. However when studying in college this process would probably take a lot of time. Time is a precious commodity you don’t have in Medicine studies, so sadly I would not recommend Incremental Reading for every material you read, I would absolutely not use it for reading upcomming exams, you might leave something behind and not able to check it out before the exam, and even if notting is missing you’ll probably stress your self thinking it might be better to check it out.

I use a combination of the traditional reading and Incremental reading, every thing is done in the SuperMemo collection. As the time has passed, I have a huge enciclopedia in it.

Some text are read from top to botton, later on I summarize main point in the top of the article and only make questions of this summary. But I keep the rest of the text in my collection, this allows you to check previous information you read someday.

Incremental reading is use for some more leisure reading, and any topic of my interest, including medicine, but which has no time deadline of any kind. I make questions of this text but using the incremental method.

I was thinking about scanning relevant chapters in my textbooks and the OCR them and add them to supermemo.

If you are able to scan and OCR text to Supermemo with out much lost of time, I support this approach, as you can latter search very easily any information, I previously lost much time searching something to review on paper books. Be sure you include information that is vital, moderation is the clue to SuperMemo.

Traditionally I read my books and underline the stuff that seems relevant. The next logical step would then be to move that info from the books to SM. However, a lot of underlines tend to be forgotten and it is a tedious process.

A lot of the information you are tested on medicine school is only needed for, well, the tests. This is a reality we can’t deny. So as bad as it sounds a lot information must still be crammed to pass some tests, this includes a lot of biology numbers and other kind of related info.

Make sure whe reading your book, you use marks not underlining, underlining looks good, but also takes time (believe me, I’ve timed my self using marks vs underlining is much much faster, and is no less effective). After marking make the commitment to extract the 10 or 20 most important fact to supermemo, go for speed while typing this questions not form, but ALWAYS include some reference that lets you go back you text book any time later. This question should be made after you finish the section, chapter or lecture, as this also helps you consolidate more effectively you memory of the whole lecture.

Is there any possible time savings in using IR on i.e neural science and physiology books?

Neural Science requires two aspects a lot of mnemonics and visual imagination, you have to remember pathways a lot. Using pictures in Supermemo is great for this. Physiology is more about undertanding process, understanding the humanbody as a machine, if you understand the principles (and make relevant questions about this principles in Supermemo) it all comes much easy.

Summary:

Incremental Reading is a great tool but I would not recommend it for any reading with a time deadline.

Read, sumarize and supermemorize only the most important.

OCR if possible any reading you want, except texts not suitable for IR

Use the Supermemo Method progresively, start with the least demanding courses, this will build confidence in the method without building much stress from using a new aproach.

IRVINE, Calif., November 23, 2009  — PSIGEN Software, Inc., the innovative leader in advanced capture and scanning solutions, today announced it has signed a distribution agreement with Datafinity, a leading distributor of Document Management, Capture and Scanning Software in the United Kingdom.

“The addition of a distributor with great capture expertise, and a strong reseller base, will provide a local presence for PSIGEN in a market demanding our products,” said Stephen Boals, VP of Sales for PSIGEN. “Datafinity expands our European network, and is a key component in our strategic global distribution plans.”

“We are excited about our new partnership with PSIGEN and looking forward to offering the UK reseller market a new document capture solution that is both powerful and affordable. With document capture prices on the increase, it is refreshing to find a company that offers such a good return on investment for companies of all sizes. In particular, PSIGEN’s tight integration with Microsoft SharePoint provides this rapidly growing sector of the ECM market with the perfect document capture solution.” said Andy Dawson, Managing Director of Datafinity.

About PSIGEN

PSIGEN Software is the innovative leader in advanced capture, scanning and document management solutions. For more than 14 years, PSIGEN has provided software to improve all the processes around the conversion of paper to digital documents. The solutions focus on cost reduction, flexibility, standardization, and improved efficiency.   PSIGEN delivers these solutions through a network of resellers and distributors in the US and abroad. For more information, visit www.psigen.com.

“PSIGEN” is a registered trademark in the US, the EU and other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks belong to their respective owners.

CONTACT: PSIGEN Sales and Marketing: Stephen Boals, Vice President of Sales, 949-916-7700 x230.

About Datafinity

Datafinity delivers leading-edge document and data capture solutions for companies that need to improve the efficiency of business and document processes within their organization.  By providing a combination of innovative market leading technologies and expertise from trusted integration partners, Datafinity helps improve efficiency, save costs and enhance customer service whilst achieving a return on investment often within one year.  Visit www.datafinity.co.uk for more details.

Contact: Andy Dawson, Datafinity Ltd. Tel: +44 1428 776471. email: info@datafinity.co.uk

reCAPTCHA

En ole aivan varma kuinka monella eri tavalla tämä on mahtavaa (äkkiseltään mieleen tulee ainakin neljä), mutta reCAPTCHA on spämmintorjuntamenetelmä blogeihin ym. webbiin, joka samalla auttaa kirjojen digitoinnissa.

Homma menee näin: monien blogien kommenttilaatikoiden tai muiden webissä täytettävien lomakkeiden ohessa on sellainen tehtävä, jossa pitää kirjoittaa jokin vaikeasti luettava sana tai muutama pieneen tekstilaatikkoon. Idea on se, että tietokone on huono lukemaan tuollaisia vääristeltyjä tekstinpätkiä, mutta ihminen on luontaisesti sellaisessa erittäin hyvä. Tarkoitus onkin erotella ihmiset koneista kun ei haluta että mikään tietokoneohjelma käy täyttelemässä noita lomakkeita, yleensä roskapostin lähetystä varten. Tällaisen nimi on captcha.

Noniin, on olemassa sivustoja jotka tarjoavat näitä captcha-palikoita joita sivun ylläpitäjät voivat upottaa omille sivuilleen. Tyypillisesti juuri blogeihin, mutta myös erilaisiin äänestyksiin ja palvelujen rekisteröitymislomakkeisiin niitä laitetaan. Luis von Ahn katseli päivänä eräänä oman palvelunsa tilastoja ja mietti, että vaikka palvelu tehokkaasti estää roskapostin ja muun kuran lähettämistä webiin, joka kerta kun ihminen täyttää tuollaisen captcha-testin, hän tavallaan haaskaa 10 sekuntia elämästään. Ja kun sadat miljoonat ihmiset täyttelevät testejä päivittäin, aikaa valuu hukkaan todella paljon. Noh, Luis keksi että jos tuo captcha ei olisikaan joku koneen luoma tekstinpätkä niinkuin ennen, vaan sellainen sana  jota kone ei ymmärtänyt kirjaa digitoidessa, voitaisi roskapostia vastaan taistelevia ihmisiä käyttää samalla tekstintunnistuksen oikolukemiseen. Siitä syntyi reCAPTCHA. Lainaus webbisivulta:

But if a computer can’t read such a CAPTCHA, how does the system know the correct answer to the puzzle? Here’s how: Each new word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is given to a user in conjunction with another word for which the answer is already known. The user is then asked to read both words. If they solve the one for which the answer is known, the system assumes their answer is correct for the new one. The system then gives the new image to a number of other people to determine, with higher confidence, whether the original answer was correct.

Paraikaa meneillään on vanhojen New York Timesien digitoinnin oikoluku. Olen toki nähnyt noita captcha-palikoita vuosikausia, mutta en ole aiemmin tiennyt tästä oikoluku-aspektista. Tämä on sellaista kirjastotyötä jossa minä haluan olla osallisena!

Lähteenä CBC:n Spark jakso 91. Much love <3

Google tiene diversas herramientas por internet, una de ellas es el Google doc el cual permite trabajar con documentos al estilo de word por internet.

Dentro de sus funciones es el de poder convertir una imagen en texto usando la tecnología de OCR.

Para poder usar esta aplicación deberemos tener una cuenta de google (Gmail) y subir el archivo a convertir que debera ser con caracteres con un tamaño minimo de 10 pixieles, ser menor de 10 MB y menor de 10 Megapixieles.

║Enlace

OCR = turning the scan into a Word document or text.  Any good scanner can do it.  What you need is the software to convert the scan into images. Either of these scanners are awesome. (I own a very old version of the LiDE. Maybe I should upgrade….

You need A and B to OCR:

A:

Canon LiDE100 Color Image Scanner (2923B002) 57$

Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black) 89$

AND

B:

OmniPage 17 imaging software

http://www.nuance.com/imaging/omnipage/omnipage-standard.asp 149$

OR

B:

Free OCR solutions

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-free-ocr-software-tools-to-convert-your-images-into-text-nb/

Kein Lust mehr Manuskripte zu erfassen?

Es gibt eine Alternative.

Auf www.free-ocr.com kann man Manuskripte (PDF, JPG, GIF, TIFF or BMP) uploaden und ein OCR (optische Zeichen-Erkennung) durchführen lassen. Als Endprodukt erhält man einen reinen Text, welcher mittels Copy & Paste in ein Programm nach Wahl kopieren werden kann.

Viel Spass.

Image Search (Free OCR) image -> text：圖片搜尋，ocr辨識。免費。
itunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/image-search-free-ocr-image-text/id335548808?mt=8

by Carol Selvey

This week, my sister greeted me with a hand-written medical history our mother wrote when she entered a clinical trial for melanoma in 2005. It was the only record we had. She fought valiantly, but melanoma took our mother’s life in 2007, following participation in a clinical trial. By the time she was considered for the trial, she had little concern about her own privacy rights. My father had also readily shared his medical history. When he enlisted in the Marines, he admitted to having high blood pressure and a slipped disk in his spine, but they thought he was faking it so they accepted him; he was honorably discharged a few months later when he suffered temporary paralysis in basic training. After a life-long battle with hypertension, he succumbed to a heart attack at 42.

While not true “genetic” information, I have always freely shared my family medical history, even though it suggests that I may be genetically predisposed to cancer or cardiovascular disease. I never dreamed such information might impact my ability to receive medical benefits, but there is considerable concern about patient privacy and how sharing confidential medical history data may put consumers at risk.

In October, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) proposed a rule that expanded the privacy and confidentiality protections in the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).  GINA was originally enacted in May 2008, to promote non-discrimination in healthcare coverage and employment and defines genetic information as protected under the HIPAA Privacy Rule. It prohibits the use of genetic information in underwriting, determining benefits or eligibility, calculating premiums or contribution amounts, or imposing pre-existing condition exclusions. Despite its good intentions, the Disease Management Association of America:  The Care Continuum Alliance has protested that the rule impedes the ability of health plans to implement wellness and chronic disease management programs.

There must be a better way to protect our privacy rights while furthering the advancement of medicine. Our data cannot simply be locked away somewhere privately if it is going to be useful in developing clinical protocols and advancing evidence based medicine. Just recently we learned Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a rare form of leukemia. USA Today reported that “Normally private, he said he had no qualms about taking his health issue public.” Abdul-Jabbar said “Early detection and treatment really are the keys for anyone who has to deal with this condition…I wanted to educate people about how modern medicine works.” You can even look for his updates on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kaj33 and Facebook at http://bit.ly/1nmPTn.

Like my mother, Abdul-Jabbar is ready to share his experiences with others to help educate and hopefully ease some of the anxiety about the disease. So wouldn’t it be nice to have the ability to share what personal medical information you want, when you want and with whom? That would mean that you could participate in a clinical trial, continue to learn about new ways to treat your condition and further medical knowledge about it, but not make it known to the general public. Such privacy controls have been made possible by Private Access (https://www.privateaccess.info/), an advanced technology company that offers a consumer-centric platform allowing individuals to selectively provide access to confidential and sensitive personal information. It gives the consumer the ability to “control who can, and cannot, see all or selected parts of his or her personal information.” So while the debate over GINA continues, Patient Access makes it possible for patients to decide what information will and will not be shared and when.

4007 documents were added to the Library today bringing the total number of documents to 118,649. For a full listing of todays updates click here.

Featured in todays updates are:

• Calcutta Review Volume1 (1846) and Volume 4 (1844)
• Canada Universal Exhibition of 1855
• Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal
• Essays by Lord Bacon and Lord Clarendon
• Foreign Quaterly Review – Volume 3, 6, 10, 14, 21, 22, 32 and 33
• The American Naturalist
• The Bookman – A Journal of Literature and Life
• Some Personal Letters of Herman Melville – 1922

This brings the total documents in the Library to 118,649 with the total number of pages at 4,042,973 and the total number of Bookmarks now standing at 556,763.

IRVINE, Calif., November 10, 2009 – PSIGEN Software, Inc., the leader in advanced capture and scanning solutions, today announced the release of PSI:Capture 3.6.  The latest version of their industry leading capture platform provides auto-processing features for fax/image archiving, enhanced forms expression matching and SharePoint Migration enhancements.

The new Fax Archival feature set provides the ability to auto-archive fax images based on aging rules and date ranges giving organizations the ability to create searchable fax archive in just about any back-end Document Management or Enterprise Content Management system, including Microsoft SharePoint.  PSI:Capture 3.6 also provides enhancements to the Advanced Data Extraction (ADE) Module, allowing the capture of form specific data through expression matching, parsing and searching.

“We found that our customers and prospects were searching for a quick and easy way to create searchable fax repositories,” said Stephen Boals, Vice President of Sales for PSIGEN.  “This is just another example of our ability to quickly respond to market demands, and provide enhanced capture solutions to solve real business problems.”

About PSIGEN

PSIGEN Software is the innovative leader in advanced capture and document imaging solutions. For more than 14 years, PSIGEN has provided software to improve all the processes around the conversion of paper to digital documents. The solutions focus on cost reduction, flexibility, standardization, and improved efficiency.   PSIGEN delivers these solutions through a network of resellers and distributors in the US and abroad. For more information, visit www.psigen.com.

“PSIGEN” is a registered trademark in the US, the EU and other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks belong to their respective owners.

CONTACT: PSIGEN Sales and Marketing: Stephen Boals, Vice President of Sales, 949-916-7700 x230.

The majority of fax servers on the market today do not have robust Fax Archive functionality.  They will typically create their own archive, that can be searched through fax data fields.  PSIGEN has just released version 3.6 of PSI:Capture which provides an auto-import engine to automatically harvest fax images, make them searchable, and send them to any one of 35 supported back end systems, including Microsoft SharePoint.  For more on Fax Image Archiving, go to www.psigen.com.

OCR, which means ‘Optical Character Recognition’, is parallel to a gigantic scanner on steroids, as the experts put it. This machine is constructed to apprehend the words in your dispute letters and to even actually determine the meaning of dispute letters as they come in. And in addition, it’s also designed to database and mate dispute letters against the hundreds of thousands of other dispute letters that have already been retrieved and dealt with.

And because the credit bureaus’ response time is restricted only to 30-45 days (depending on how the consumer retrieved their credit reports), they really needed a speedy route to react to these consumers’ disputes. As a result, they created 2 computerized methods to carry out this mission.

The OCR software will instantly determine if it could be further processed through e-Oscar to the company reporting the incorrect data or classified as senseless and basically put into the waste basket. If the OCR machine establishes that the dispute letter is unique enough to be processed, the next automated machine kicks in – e-OSCAR – but if not, you’ve just wasted your time and energy.

Your personal credit score is so important that we must take a stand against our disputes being electronically processed in error. And therefore, your main goal in credit repair is to devise a plan to get around the computerized system so that your letters ultimately fall into the hands of a credit bureau staff member.

We have to assert that it should be real human beings who should be processing the information about our financial records and disputes because unfortunately, these super machines are just that – machines, and they don’t always grasp the complete concept of our what our disputes letters are about. This does not allow consumers to attain their rightful goals of success when credit agencies do not follow through on their obligations to hard working, good citizens like yourself as commanded by law (that’s why the law is there!)

Good luck!

-Blair

Las tecnologías OCR, ICR y OMR revolucionaron en su momento el mundo digital, al evitar tener que meter datos a mano en los ordenadores y reconocer automáticamente los caracteres tanto impresos como manuscritos, así como las marcas en determinados formularios.
A lo largo del tiempo han ido evolucionando y mejorando su efectividad, hasta que se han incorporado a nuestra vida diaria, ahorrándonos mucho tiempo y aumentando la productividad.

Las diferencias básicas entre ellos son las siguientes:

El reconocimiento óptico de caracteres (OCR- Optical Character Recognition):

El Reconocimiento óptico de caracteres permite convertir las imágenes de texto impreso en caracteres digitales. Cualquier libro u hoja impresa puede ser digitalizada como imagen y convertida a texto gracias al OCR. La precisión de este sistema al igual que el ICR, si están bien configurados, puede llegar al 98%, similar a la entrada de datos de forma manual.

El reconocimiento inteligente de caracteres (ICR- Intelligent Character Recognition):

El ICR a su vez, convierte los caracteres en letra manuscrita (no cursiva) en caracteres digitales que pueden leerse en un ordenador. La tecnología ICR requiere en el papel, de unos recuadros que deben contener la información manuscrita, siendo obligatorio un carácter por recuadro. Se utiliza para formularios que debemos rellenar a mano y tenemos que poner en letras mayúsculas una letra en cada recuadro.

La lectura de marcas ópticas (OMR- Optical Mark Recognition):

Este proceso de lectura no puede interpretar las imágenes, pero sí detecta la ausencia o no de estas, por lo que es ideal para la corrección automática de test, exámenes, encuestas o formularios. Esta tecnología es la más precisa de las tres, llegando al 99,9% de efectividad si se utilizan colores opacos para rellenar los campos. El color utilizado para rellenar los campos es uno de puntos que más puede influir para conseguir resultados satisfactorios, tanto para el OMR como para el ICR.

3315 documents were added to the Library today bringing the total number of documents to 114,642. For a full listing of todays updates click here.

Featured in todays updates are:

Chambers Pocket Miscellany.
The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science and Art.
Elegant Extracts by Vicesimus Knox, the English Essayist and Minister.
European Historical Collections by John Warner Barber the American Engraver who produced religious and historical books.
Fleet Papers by John Pavey. Written for the Clergy and Aristocracy regarding the insecurity of life and the authors views on the best mode of restoring Peace.
The Floricultural Cabinet and Florists Magazine conducted by Joseph Harrison the Gardener at Wortley Hall.
Illustrated Naval and Miliary Magazine
The British Merchant Service

This brings the total documents in the Library to 114,642 with the total number of pages at 3,979,172 and the total number of Bookmarks now standing at 549,300.

8563 documents were added to the Library today bringing the total number of documents to 111,327. We’ve also removed 2179 redundant documents. With the new additions and the removed documents the library is now more fluid and refined, providing more targeted results and a more enjoyable read and reference source.

For a full listing of todays updates click here.

Featured in todays updates are:

Many Encyclopedias including: The American Edition of the British Encyclopedia An Encyclopedia of Domestic Economy Chambers Encyclopedia The Military Encyclopedia

You may also enjoy reading    Calcutta Review The Catholic World Elementary Geology
Old Paths and Legends of New England Our Vanishing Wild Life

This brings the total documents in the Library to 111,327 with the total number of pages at 3,916,135 and the total number of Bookmarks now standing at 541,554

3619 documents were added to the Library today bringing the total number of documents to 104,943. For a full listing of todays updates click here.

Featured in todays updates are:

Catalogue of Medieval Literature

A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany

A Bibliography of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton

Catalogue of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters

The Southwestern Reporter

This brings the total documents in the Library to 104,943, with the total number of pages at 3,956,002 and the total number of Bookmarks now standing at 549,046

גוגל מציעה שרות חדש – OCR.

זיהוי תווים אופטי (באנגלית: Optical Character Recognition; בראשי תיבות: OCR) הוא תחום בתוכנה שבו מטרת התוכנה היא קידוד טקסט כתוב (בדרך כלל בדפוס, לעתים נדירות גם בכתב יד) למידע דיגיטלי טקסטואלי (כלומר, אוסף בתים) שמכיל טקסט זהה. התהליך כרוך בסריקה או בצילום של טקסט המקור לקובץ תמונה, והפעלה של תוכנה מתאימה שמזהה בתמונה את התווים השונים המרכיבים את הטקסט, וממירה כל אחד מהם לתו יחיד בקובץ טקסט. זהו תהליך הפוך להדפסת מסמך: בעוד שבהדפסה הופכים תווים מוקלדים לתמונה שאין בה הבחנה בין התווים השונים, בזיהוי הכתב האופטי ממירים ומפענחים תמונה שמורכבת ממיליוני נקודות (פיקסלים), לאותיות שיש ביניהן אבחנה כמו באותיות מוקלדות.

Wikipedia

אחרי הזדהות מול Google Docs בכתובת זאת מעלים תמונה ומקבלים קובץ טקסט אותו ניתן לערוך כמו קובץ טקסט רגיל.

כמו שאפשר לראות – יש עדין טעויות שנובעות, לדעתי, מאיכות סריקה, אך עדין זה יכול להיות שימושי. ניסיתי לעבוד עם תוכנה אחרת שיודעת לזהות שפה עברית, אבל התוצאה לא הייתה  מספקת. הרעיון שלי היה לסרוק תוכן עניינים של סיפורת לשם הכנסת שמות יצירות לקטלוג. ישנן ספריות שמצרפות לרשומות בקטלוג תוכן עניינים בתור קובץ *PDF, אבל זה לא פתרון מושלם, בעיניי, מכיוון שעדין זה לא מאפשר איתור ספר לפי שם יצירה.