The clue in the dot of the ‘i’: Experiments in quick methods for verifying identity via handwriting

Abstract

This article demonstrates some simple and quick techniques for comparing the style of handwriting between two exams. This could potentially be a useful way of checking that the same person has taken all of the different components leading to a qualification and form one part of the effort to ensure qualifications are only awarded to those candidates that have personally completed the necessary assessments. The advantage of this form of identity checking is that it is based upon data (in the form of images) that is already routinely stored as part of the process of on-screen marking. This article shows that some simple metrics can quickly identify candidates whose handwriting shows a suspicious degree of change between occasions. However, close scrutiny of some of these scripts provides some reasons for caution in assuming that all cases of changing handwriting represent the presence of imposters. Some cases of apparently different handwriting also include aspects that indicate they may come from the same author. In other cases, the style of handwriting may change even within the same examination response.