Turn Books Into E-Text, Quickly and Affordably
Learn How to Do This Yourself
Have Us Do Just Part of the Job for You
Have Us Do the Whole Process for You
We can teach you how you can quickly and easily turn Books into E-text, completel
by yourself. Alternatively, we can do just part of this process for you, and
you do the rest of the work. A third option is for us to do the entire process
for you.
You can come to us for live training, or we can arrange to visit you. Alternatively, you can buy our DVD course on how to turn books into E-text.
Usually the best way to get started is for us to do just part of the job. We provide you with E-text which you clean up on any word processor. This cuts your overall cost in half from $2 a page to $1 a page. Turnaround time for this service can often be the same day as we receive the book (usually by priority mail). We will E-mail you the resultant text and charge your credit card. This way you do not need any special hardware or special software, and you do not need any knowledge about how to use these items.
We can also provide you with just the scanned images, or an OmniPage document, ready for you to zone as you wish and turn into E-text. Either of these two options cuts your cost to $.50 per page and also eliminates all need for special hardware. We send you a CD or DVD with the images on it. Each image is individually corrected to the right physical size and minimum-plus acceptable resolution for OCR software. These corrections greatly improve OCR accuracy. There is additional $5 cost per CD or DVD for burning all the images. Shipping by First Class mail is $1 per disk anywhere in the USA; Priority mail is more. We can also send the disk(s) by Priority mail with the returned book. This is very quick and inexpensive. This approach is not as fast as the preceding approach and you have to know how to OCR text and own or have access to OCR software. We work exclusively with OmniPage OCR software. This is the least expensive cost per page for us to help you.
We can also do the entire process for you. This is the most expensive alternative per page, but the quickest option for you. No additional hardware, or software or proofreading time is required by you.
We use an innovative and very superior approach to turning books into E-text. This approach is described below.
The PR Approach to Transforming Books into E-Text (Without the Use of a Scanner)
The PR approach to scanning books does not use a scanner. Instead we use a single lens reflex, 6 megapixel digital camera and OmniPage OCR software. Proportional Reading has pioneered this approach. This enables us to get much more accurate images and in shorter time and at less cost than can be obtained with a scanner by itself, or by a scanner and automatic document feeder together, or in combination with a copy machine. Books do not have to be taken apart or copied onto paper, and there is no cost for copy paper or toner, or time lost to page jams or poor copies. Also, there is no problem with page roll or page size. The digital camera can be used for all traditional camera uses as well (rationalizing additional equipment cost to almost zero). Space requirements are much less. Resulting images are then turned into E-text using OCR software.
Unfortunately, the resulting E-text still has to be cleaned up, no matter what approach you use. This process is time consuming. However, it can be done by anyone on any word processor, referring to the original book as one edits the computer text.
Cleaning up the text primarily consists of correcting OCR errors, adding page numbers at paragraph breaks, and knitting together text that has been spaced out by unwanted blank lines. Unwanted blank lines normally occur between pages and between columns of text. Blank lines can also occur after the OCR software has been unable to recognize a particular word in a paragraph.
Page numbers and unwanted blank lines must not interrupt a paragraph. Interrupting a paragraph is very disturbing when text is being read out loud, or even when read silently. In PR, all page numbers are placed above the first paragraph break of the current page. Consequently, the page number will often be seen partway down the page. This approach produces much better readability, while preserving instant correlation of E-text and the original book.
Furthermore, the PR approach is only meant to help people read the main body of text. The original book is meant to be referred to and used for all other text. We are not trying to eliminate books; we are only trying to help people read the main body of text who could not otherwise do so. Consequently, many items are not changed into E-text.
The following items are left in the book for the reader to refer to: all pictures, illustrations, diagrams, charts, graphs, tables, maps, captions, footnotes, equations, formulas, table of contents, outlines, references, indexes and glossaries. In children's books we also usually omit the forward, preface, dedication, and acknowledgements.
The OCR process is not perfect and some spelling errors will not be picked up unless the text is proofread word by word, which is not included in the price quote of our service. OCR does not handle math equations either.
Our goal is to help individuals read the actual book they want us to scan. Ideally, the actual book is placed on a lectern directly below the computer screen and referred to as the computer text is read above. We always try simultaneously to develop transferrable skills to enable the individual to read actual books independently. Most reading problems can be corrected very quickly with this approach. Some severe problems will require ongoing use of technology.
We also supply software for reading E-text and a specialized lectern for holding a book directly below the computer screen (monitor or laptop) while you read and/or type notes.
We require that the book you want turned into E-text is your personal book and the resultant E-text is exclusively for your personal use (ie, learning disabled, deaf, low vision, brain trauma, stroke recovery). If you are a school or college, you must have permission from the publisher for us to provide this service.
Please feel free to call us and discuss your needs.
PROPORTIONAL READING
7 Bay Street
Beverly, Mass. 01915
Toll Free 1-866-619-READ
Phone (978) 927-9234
Contact Person: John F. Adams
Internet: http://www.proportionalreading.com
Internet E-mail: proread@tiac.net