EGO: a personalised multimedia management tool

The problems of Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) sys- tems can be attributed to the semantic gap between the low-level data representation and the high-level concepts the user associates with images, on the one hand, and the time-varying and often vague nature of the underlying information need, on the other. These problems can be addressed by improving the interaction between the user and the system. In this paper, we sketch the development of CBIR interfaces, and introduce our view on how to solve some of the problems of the studied interfaces. To address the semantic gap and long-term multifaceted information needs, we propose a "retrieval in context" system. EGO is a tool for the management of image collections, supporting the user through personalisation and adaptation. We will describe how it learns from the user's personal organisation, allowing it to recommend relevant images to the user. The recommendation algorithm is detailed, which is based on relevance feedback techniques

Video Data Visualization System: Semantic Classification And Personalization

We present in this paper an intelligent video data visualization tool, based on semantic classification, for retrieving and exploring a large scale corpus of videos. Our work is based on semantic classification resulting from semantic analysis of video. The obtained classes will be projected in the visualization space. The graph is represented by nodes and edges, the nodes are the keyframes of video documents and the edges are the relation between documents and the classes of documents. Finally, we construct the user's profile, based on the interaction with the system, to render the system more adequate to its references.Comment: graphic

CHORUS Deliverable 2.2: Second report - identification of multi-disciplinary key issues for gap analysis toward EU multimedia search engines roadmap

After addressing the state-of-the-art during the first year of Chorus and establishing the existing landscape in multimedia search engines, we have identified and analyzed gaps within European research effort during our second year. In this period we focused on three directions, notably technological issues, user-centred issues and use-cases and socio- economic and legal aspects. These were assessed by two central studies: firstly, a concerted vision of functional breakdown of generic multimedia search engine, and secondly, a representative use-cases descriptions with the related discussion on requirement for technological challenges. Both studies have been carried out in cooperation and consultation with the community at large through EC concertation meetings (multimedia search engines cluster), several meetings with our Think-Tank, presentations in international conferences, and surveys addressed to EU projects coordinators as well as National initiatives coordinators. Based on the obtained feedback we identified two types of gaps, namely core technological gaps that involve research challenges, and “enablers”, which are not necessarily technical research challenges, but have impact on innovation progress. New socio-economic trends are presented as well as emerging legal challenges

From Keyword Search to Exploration: How Result Visualization Aids Discovery on the Web

A key to the Web's success is the power of search. The elegant way in which search results are returned is usually remarkably effective. However, for exploratory search in which users need to learn, discover, and understand novel or complex topics, there is substantial room for improvement. Human computer interaction researchers and web browser designers have developed novel strategies to improve Web search by enabling users to conveniently visualize, manipulate, and organize their Web search results. This monograph offers fresh ways to think about search-related cognitive processes and describes innovative design approaches to browsers and related tools. For instance, while key word search presents users with results for specific information (e.g., what is the capitol of Peru), other methods may let users see and explore the contexts of their requests for information (related or previous work, conflicting information), or the properties that associate groups of information assets (group legal decisions by lead attorney). We also consider the both traditional and novel ways in which these strategies have been evaluated. From our review of cognitive processes, browser design, and evaluations, we reflect on the future opportunities and new paradigms for exploring and interacting with Web search results

Simulated evaluation of faceted browsing based on feature selection

In this paper we explore the limitations of facet based browsing which uses sub-needs of an information need for querying and organising the search process in video retrieval. The underlying assumption of this approach is that the search effectiveness will be enhanced if such an approach is employed for interactive video retrieval using textual and visual features. We explore the performance bounds of a faceted system by carrying out a simulated user evaluation on TRECVid data sets, and also on the logs of a prior user experiment with the system. We first present a methodology to reduce the dimensionality of features by selecting the most important ones. Then, we discuss the simulated evaluation strategies employed in our evaluation and the effect on the use of both textual and visual features. Facets created by users are simulated by clustering video shots using textual and visual features. The experimental results of our study demonstrate that the faceted browser can potentially improve the search effectiveness

Strategies for image visualisation and browsing

PhDThe exploration of large information spaces has remained a challenging task even though the proliferation of database management systems and the state-of-the art retrieval algorithms is becoming pervasive. Signi cant research attention in the multimedia domain is focused on nding automatic algorithms for organising digital image collections into meaningful structures and providing high-semantic image indices. On the other hand, utilisation of graphical and interactive methods from information visualisation domain, provide promising direction for creating e cient user-oriented systems for image management. Methods such as exploratory browsing and query, as well as intuitive visual overviews of image collection, can assist the users in nding patterns and developing the understanding of structures and content in complex image data-sets. The focus of the thesis is combining the features of automatic data processing algorithms with information visualisation. The rst part of this thesis focuses on the layout method for displaying the collection of images indexed by low-level visual descriptors. The proposed solution generates graphical overview of the data-set as a combination of similarity based visualisation and random layout approach. Second part of the thesis deals with problem of visualisation and exploration for hierarchical organisation of images. Due to the absence of the semantic information, images are considered the only source of high-level information. The content preview and display of hierarchical structure are combined in order to support image retrieval. In addition to this, novel exploration and navigation methods are proposed to enable the user to nd the way through database structure and retrieve the content. On the other hand, semantic information is available in cases where automatic or semi-automatic image classi ers are employed. The automatic annotation of image items provides what is referred to as higher-level information. This type of information is a cornerstone of multi-concept visualisation framework which is developed as a third part of this thesis. This solution enables dynamic generation of user-queries by combining semantic concepts, supported by content overview and information ltering. Comparative analysis and user tests, performed for the evaluation of the proposed solutions, focus on the ways information visualisation a ects the image content exploration and retrieval; how e cient and comfortable are the users when using di erent interaction methods and the ways users seek for information through di erent types of database organisation

Interactive context-aware user-driven metadata correction in digital libraries

Personal name variants are a common problem in digital libraries, reducing the precision of searches and complicating browsing-based interaction. The book-centric approach of name authority control has not scaled to match the growth and diversity of digital repositories. In this paper, we present a novel system for user-driven integration of name variants when interacting with web-based information-in particular digital library-systems. We approach these issues via a client-side JavaScript browser extension that can reorganize web content and also integrate remote data sources. Designed to be agnostic towards the web sites it is applied to, we illustrate the developed proof-of-concept system through worked examples using three different digital libraries. We discuss the extensibility of the approach in the context of other user-driven information systems and the growth of the Semantic Web