H̶a̶n̶d̶w̶r̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ - A collection of struck through handwritten word images using various styles

# H̶a̶n̶d̶w̶r̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ - A collection of handwritten word images, each struck through using various styles

This database may be used for non-commercial research purposes only. If you publish material based on this database - please cite:Zesch, T., & Gold, C. (2024). H̶a̶n̶d̶w̶r̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ - various struck-through handwritten words [Data set]. Zenodo.

Structure:

There are two types of sources: genuine and semi-genuineWhile genuine includes struck-through handwritten images that are made accidentally, semi-genuine were made on purpose and conducted as the main part of this dataset. 

Genuine:

For the genuine part, only the strike-out_genuine.txt file exists. It links to struck-through words of the datasets: Handwritten ASAP Short Answer Scoring (published at: https://zenodo.org/records/8088866), IAM, and GoBo (published at: https://zenodo.org/records/8085511).The struck-through types were annotated by 2 annotators and a gold version was created. 

The file has the following structure:path status gold a1 a2 a3e.g.:genuine/Handwritten ASAP/SAS_3_6818_0.png ok wa wa? wa? waThe image is part of the Handwritten ASAP dataset and refers to image "AS_3_6818_0.png". The status is ok and the gold label is "wa" which stands for wavy (see list below). The "?" indicates unsure annotation of both annotators independently.

Semi-genuine: 

17 writers participated. 9 male, 8 femaleThe writers were asked to write 12 words for each struck-through type. In sum over 2000 images of handwritten struck-through words (including none) were collected, with 204 images each type. An instruction was presented to the writers including examples. 

types for strike-out: no: none sh: single-horizontal so: single-oblique mh: multiple-horizontal mo: multiple-oblique cr: crossed ci: circled wa: wavy zi: zigzag bl: blackened

Afterward, the writers struck through the handwritten words according to the stated type.The images are published in "boxes", "gray images" and "raw images" in color as scanned. The description file "Strike-out_semi-genuine.txt" references the "boxes" only and describes the path, status, and struck-through type of each image. 

Sidenote:

The writers were asked to note if the struck-through type was their preferred type and if it felt natural to use this type or unnatural. More details regarding this topic can be found in the instruction pdf file.