WANDA: A generic framework applied in forensic handwriting analysis and writer identification

Abstract

This paper presents the WANDA Workbench, which is an open framework for electronic data processing. The framework provides generic interfaces for ’plugin’ applications for graphical user interfaces (client desktop with client plug-ins) and processing modules (server with server plug-ins). The applied plug-in concept allows for the functional extension of the workbench without changing the framework. Moreover, for data modeling, messaging and system configuration the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is implemented, which supports the interoperability with existing applications and allows for continuous adaptations to the evolving state of technology. The current application domain of the framework is writer identification and handwriting examination as frequently used in crime investigation and prosecution. Dedicated plug-ins using digital image processing and pattern recognition establish objective measurements and feature extraction to promote reproducible analysis results. Moreover, based on domain knowledge, which was collected from forensic document examiners, the data standard WANDAXML was designed that allows for the annotation, processing, journaling and storage of digitized questioned handwriting documents. In the following, we detail the adopted design philosophy, provide pointers for employing the data model, and sketch the realized framework and current plug-ins. The generic framework with appositive plug-in programmer handbooks as well as the data standard will be made available to the research community through the Internet http://pentel.ipk.fhg.de/wanda.