A User Perspective on HTR methods for the Automatic Transcription of Rare Scripts

What is it about?

In this article, we describe, compare and analyse different automatic transcription methods for rare handwritten scripts. We evaluate their performance in a real use case of a medieval manuscript written in the runic script (Codex Runicus) and discuss advantages and disadvantages of each method from the user perspective.

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Photo by Boudewijn Huysmans on Unsplash

Photo by Boudewijn Huysmans on Unsplash

Why is it important?

In this work we have developed and extensively evaluated the performance of different transcription methods when applied to uncommon scripts. The analysis of the results, both in terms of transcription performance and time consumption for data preparation and post-processing validation has been the basis for providing recommendations from the user perspective We did exhaustive analysis of the automatic transcription tools and comparison with a fully manual transcription, we raise conclusions and provide recommendations to scholars (Historians, Librarians, Archivists, Transcribers, etc.) interested in using the recent artificial intelligence based transcription tools.