Character Recognition Workshop
                                  NIPS 1991
                            Conference 12/2 - 12/5
                  Sheraton Denver Tech Center, Denver, Colorado
                            Workshops 12/5 - 12/7
                     Marriot Mark Resort, Vail, Colorado

                        C. L. Wilson and M. D. Garris
                          Advanced Systems Division
                National Institute of Standards and Technology
                           Gaithersburg, MD  20899
                               (301) 975-2080
                       E-mail wilson@magi.ncsl.nist.gov
                        E-mail mdg@magi.ncsl.nist.gov


DESCRIPTION:
Neural network based character recognition systems are moving from small
scale laboratory systems to large scale prototypes and commercial systems.
NIST distributed a 1,000,000 character data base to over 40 different
organizations to facilitate testing of systems of this type. This
workshop will consider issues related to present and future testing
needs for character recognition including:
   1) What is user experience in using the NIST database and other
      similarly available databases?
   2) What types of databases will be required in the future?
   3) What are future testing needs, such as x-y coordinate stream or
      gray level data?
   4) How can the evaluation of current research problems, such as
      segmentation, be enhanced through carefully designed databases,
      standard testing procedures, and automated evaluation methodologies.
   5) Is the incorporation of context important in testing?
   6) What other issues face the research and development of large scale
      recognition systems?
The target audience includes those interested in and/or working on
hand print recognition and developers who wish to include character
recognition as part of systems to recognize documents.