Large-Scale Paper-To-Digital Conversion?

An anonymous reader writes "I've just been asked to digitize several dozen sets of lecture outlines at the university where I work. Basically, professors want to hand me a big (often 100+ page) stack of their handwritten lecture notes (with messy text, equations, and diagrams; sometimes double-sided) and expect me to post a PDF-or-something-similar to their course's web page. However, every desktop scanner I've ever used takes 1-2 minutes of user-attention per page and the resulting files end up Huge, impossible-to-read, or both. All I have at my disposal is my PowerBook, Acrobat, a couple hundred dollars of department funds for a new scanner (this maybe?), and, if I ask nicely, overnight use of the secretary's Win2k box. Any ideas? Sheet-fed scanner recommendations? Better file formats than PDF (or better PDF settings)? Do any of you students have usability advice?"

Knee to the grindstone...

[Faust7]

Flex your fingers, crack your knuckles, and get some eyedrops... because you're going to be doing a lot of typing.

well...

[Anonymous Coward]

if I ask nicely, overnight use of the secretary's Win2k box

Plus, if you're lucky, you could also get other after-hours favors from the secretary as well ;-)

Simple.

[jebell]

Outsource the job to India.

I'd go for the

[Anonymous Coward]

overnight use of the secretary's box ...

The most important thing

[Timesprout]

Is to first make an exact copy (by hand) of all the existing documents. Its vital to have a full backup in case anything goes wrong with the scanning process you can always restore the manilla folders to their original filled state.

Re:well...

[Anonymous Coward]

Plus, if you're lucky, you could also get other after-hours favors from the secretary as well

No no no... he asked only for the secretary's Win2k box. A mistake, if you ask me.

Gotta be careful though.

[Faust7]

Outsource the job to India

"No, no, not my entire job, just this one part. No, I can do the rest. No, really. No! No... please..."

Re:well...

[PsiPsiStar]

Maybe. But I doubt she has a scanner too.

Re:well...

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought you were going to get a Funny Mod from me until you failed to reference the word box.

Re:Get stuffed

[Anonymous Coward]

How can I get overnight use of the secretary's box?

Re:Get stuffed

[eliza_effect]

professors want to hand me a big (often 100+ page) stack of their handwritten lecture notes (with messy text, equations, and diagrams; sometimes double-sided) and expect me to post a PDF-or-something-similar to their course's web page.

Spend the money on buying them copies of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing.

Re:Xerox Scanner doesn't do OCR

[Anonymous Coward]

Well I hope someone develops something soon, I've been unable to read my own handwriting since 1995.