Computers: Turning literary scraps into a meal: A business grant for OCR equipment has given Kevin Carey wider access to books and novels

UNTIL THIS month I was, literally, a literary scavenger picking up scraps where I could: scouring the meagre stock of braille books in the National Library for the Blind and the Royal National Institute for the Blind; commissioning braille transcriptions from prisoners; asking my wife to read bits and pieces.

I had to get used to reading Booker shortlists a year or two years out of date and incomplete; I would grit my teeth on the sidelines as friends discussed the latest cult book. If there was any silver lining, it was that I learned to make a little nourishment go a long way.

There are many more books on tape than in braille, but tape for me has three big disadvantages: I like the text under my hands - not least because I memorise proper names better when I have them written down; I like to be aware of my environment and listen to music when I read and tape excludes that; but, most important, I like to form my own relationship with the text rather than having it dictated by a reader getting between it and me.

This inability to read print did not stop me buying books, which I considered to be a part of normal, civilised behaviour; and once optical character recognition (OCR) technology was developed, I bought with more zest, against the day when I should be able to use the technology myself.

I remember seeing my first Kurzweil reading machine which retailed for more than pounds 10,000 and turned text into speech synthesis which sounded like a Scandinavian dalek. Not in my living room, thank you. Prices fell slowly. Then, last year, I became self-employed but could not afford a secretary; OCR technology became a necessity rather than a literary dream. I applied for assistance under the Aids to Employment Scheme and, after months of nail-biting, the equipment arrived.

The Hewlett Packard HP ScanJet IIP is an A4 flat-bed scanner which runs with my PC using specially designed Arkenstone EasyScan version 2.0 software. I can then access the text through a 'braille screen', a voice synthesiser or a braille embosser if I want hard copy. Scanning is simple because the machine recognises a page of print whichever way you present it, though it prefers text presented top-side north. The operations are driven by simple one or two-letter commands - CD for 'contrast dark' - and are run from the PC keyboard.

Once contrast is set and error-rate minimised - slight page crinkles jumble lines - the most frequent routine is to scan in a few pages manually or with the sheet-feeder and 'browse' through them, using my 40-character braille screen. This is the way I wouold normally read a novel, in about 50-page chunks.

If I am reading a non-fiction book and want it in a file for editing and printing, I go into WordStar 7, my wordprocessor, and run the 'change' programme to convert the basic text file to Wordstar format. If I know in advance that I am likely to want to edit the scanned text for printing, then the machine is instructed to turn it automatically into WordStar 7 format text.

For short documents or those being handled by the sheet-feeder, I use the normal two-operation sequence: photographing then translating the image into basic text format. But if I want several pages from a book where constant attendance is required for page-turning, I ask for a batch scan.

This means that the machine only scans the text - at approximately a double page every 15 seconds. I turn the page to repeat the operation. The key here is to get up maximum speed without crumpling the face-down pages. Once the scanning operation is completed, I ask the computer to convert the stored images into text, at between 40 and 55 seconds per double page of print, depending on the density, and then I walk away. My target is to be able to scan 10 pages in between five and six minutes.

The scanned text in Wordstar is not instantly ready for printing. You have to edit out numerous command formats which the Arkenstone software has entered. I can then put the text out to a standard printer or to my braille embosser, in the latter case using a braille translation programme. My target for the full operation, from scan to print-out is a page a minute.

It sounds complicated, but using the simple procedures, a novel can be input in an hour and a print document can be turned into braille at about a page a minute. The cost in time to me of this more complex operation is much less because I do not have to hang around during image conversion and braille embossing.

Ironically, I am gaining the freedom to read using equipment granted to me for employment purposes. The Government, applying the puritan work ethic assumed in its attitude to the disabled, is interested in my productivity, but not in my life as a whole person. From next April, if proposals are approved by Parliament, the situation will be even more restricted. The employers of disabled people will have to contribute up to 50 per cent of the cost of special equipment. As a self-employed person I will be hit particularly hard.

However, my bookshelves are now a source of joy rather than frustration. I can participate fully in intelligent conversation on current topics which is as important to me as being self-sufficient at work. I am a net contributor, to the country's finances and a better contributor to my community. And, as a lover of books, I am fulfilled.

Kevin Carey is a management consultant.

Vital Statistics

Arkenstone OCR system: Includes OCR and scanner boards, software and HP Scanjet IIP scanner. Sensory Systems; 081 205 3002. pounds 2,995 (exc VAT - no VAT for blind people).

Jargon buster

Optical Character Recognition: The process by which printed characters which have been scanned into digitised form are 'recognised' by matching patterns of light and dark in the digitised images with stored sets of characters. OCR programs translate the input into text for computer editing.

Scanner: An device that uses light sensors to scan images on paper or other media and 'digitise' them - convert them into computer readable data. Drawings, photographs and - in conjunction with an OCR system - text, can be input. A flat-bed scanner is a box on which the medium to be scanned is placed or into which it is fed.

(Photograph omitted)