Question

In: Computer Science

Imagine we have two possibilities: We can scan and email the image, or we can use...

Imagine we have two possibilities: We can scan and email the image, or we can use an optical character reader (OCR) and send the text file. Discuss the advantage and disadvantages of the two approaches in a comparative manner. When would one be preferable over the other?

Solutions

Expert Solution

Scanning: Scanning is a technology used to convert hard copy of the document into a soft/digital copy by capturing it as an image. Scanning operates similar to a colourful Xerox machine, but it stores the captured data into a digital format.

OCR: OCR stands for Optical Character Reader, it is a technology used to convert hard copy of a document to a digital/soft copy by reading the document and hence convert into textual format ideal for copying/pasting/editing the text hence to put simply it converts the document into editable digital data.

Both the scanners and OCRs have their own utilities and one is preferred over the other in varying use cases.

Advantages of Scanning over OCR:

  1. Since scanner generates the digital copy in image form, hence it is difficult (not impossible since image can be edited!) to edit the document and hence scanning can be used in cases where uneditable digital copy of the document is required whereas in OCR we can edit the digital textual data easily.
  2. The document generated after the scanning is exactly same as the original document unlike OCR where certain changes in indentation or appearance can occur. Hence, it guarantees 100% replication of the original document. Whereas in OCR it is difficult to regenerate 100% identical digital document from the hard copy of a complex document.
  3. It is impossible to generate textual digital copy from the image, hence it remains in the way it is generated, and hence copying the data becomes difficult. So it is useful in cases where user wants to prevent the copying of content, whereas in OCR we can copy the digital textual data easily.
  4. It can be viewed using a wide variety of image viewers readily available with the original font size, colours, indentation same as the hard copy, i.e., it maintains the formatting of the document, so it comes in handy where design of the document is important to be conveyed, or in cases where colour, formatting etc is of importance, like in architecture industry, automobile industry etc.

Advantages of OCR over Scanning:

  1. Editable digital copy of the hard copy of the document can be easily generated and since it is editable digital format, it can be used widely in cases where a textual data is to be converted into a digital format for the purpose of word processing, editing, copying, etc. unlike scanning in which editing is not possible.
  2. The textual copy thus generated lesser in size as compared to its scanned counterpart by quite a margin, so OCR comes in handy in cases where data is a constraint.
  3. One can easily share certain schemas used in databases or data to be sent to database table directly from a hard copy by scanning it in OCR. Hence it makes saving the data into the systems an easy task unlike scanners which rely on reading the data from the image and generating the insert queries manually.
  4. Keyboard data entry can result in manual errors which can be minimized by scanning through the OCR; hence it is useful for writers and academicians where manual work is generated at the first place.

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