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Comment by AdieuToLogic

15 hours ago

> I don’t think I believe that OCR can’t do it but random humans can

Considering the people involved are experts in their field, are certainly aware of OCR capabilities, and have publicized a need thusly:

  ... the National Archives is looking for volunteers who can 
  help transcribe and organize its many handwritten records ...

Perhaps "random humans" can perform tasks which could reshape your belief:

> OCR is VERY good

16 comments

AdieuToLogic

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tptacek  15 hours ago

No. Sign up and look at the current missions. A lot of what they want transcribed is totally straightforward to OCR --- not even LLM, OCR. Whatever's going on, and I'm not second-guessing them, a pretty big chunk of their problem appears to be well within the state of the art. The appeal to authority isn't going to play here, because you can just click through to the archives and see what they're trying to figure out.

  • AdieuToLogic  14 hours ago

    > No. Sign up and look at the current missions. A lot of what they want transcribed is totally straightforward to OCR --- not even LLM, OCR. Whatever's going on, and I'm not second-guessing them, a pretty big chunk of their problem appears to be well within the state of the art.

    If it's that easy, then do it and be the hero they want.

    Or maybe, just maybe, "a pretty big chunk of their problem appears to be well within the state of the art" is a sweeping generalization lacking understanding of the difficulties involved.

jncfhnb  10 hours ago

Also, you seem to have taken issue with the phrase “random humans” because you’re confused at what’s being done here. It is random humans. Non experts.

Experts are asking for the help of non experts.

> Anyone with an internet connection can volunteer to transcribe historical documents and help make the archives’ digital catalog more accessible

jncfhnb  15 hours ago

There are conceivable reasons why they may be telling a half truth here. Just engaging the public is a worthy goal here.

  • AdieuToLogic  15 hours ago

    > There are conceivable reasons why they may be telling a half truth here. Just engaging the public is a worthy goal here.

    Asserting an ulterior motive without supporting proof is to engage in conspiracy theories.

    Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.[0]

    0 - https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/08/12/just-a-cigar/

    • jncfhnb  10 hours ago

      The alternative is me saying that appealing to their “expertise” is an appeal to authority fallacy that flies in the face of general evidence that modern OCR is far better than humans at character recognition. Especially random non specialized humans.