[blindlaw] Seeking Ideas about Technology and Readers

[Jen Barrow]

Hi All,

 

I recently rejoined this list after several years away.  It's good to be
back.  I'm looking for some ideas regarding technology or strategies that
would be helpful in my job.  I began practicing landlord/tenant law at a
legal services org in New York City 6 months ago.  I have been astounded at
the amount of handwritten docs that are involved in this area of practice.
Only a fraction of the docs I need to read and digest are scannable.  Most
docs, including the stips and decisions contained in housing court files,
are partially or completely handwritten.  And, I'm not getting adequate OCR
results from other types of docs that theoretically should yield good scans,
such as rent ledgers and public housing documents with checkboxes.  I think
some of the problem there is that many documents have degraded print, or are
poor photocopies.  I have been using Kurzweil as my scanning software, and
virtually printing to Kurzweil when someone else scans me an image document.
I tried running sample docs through other OCR programs we have at my office,
but the results were not better.  What scanning and OCR programs do you find
to be most effective?  I also receive minimal reader assistance from our
unit secretary to access the handwritten docs.  However, I find myself
needing more of her time than she is able to give.  I have practiced in
other areas of law for several years, but I have never encountered this
level of not being able to independently review and understand the material
required of me.  I'd be very open to hearing what kind of technological and
human solutions people use when practicing in a highly visual and
paper-reliant area of law.  Thanks so much in advance!

 

Jen