Multimedia information technology and the annotation of video

The state of the art in multimedia information technology has not progressed to the point where a single solution is available to meet all reasonable needs of documentalists and users of video archives. In general, we do not have an optimistic view of the usability of new technology in this domain, but digitization and digital power can be expected to cause a small revolution in the area of video archiving. The volume of data leads to two views of the future: on the pessimistic side, overload of data will cause lack of annotation capacity, and on the optimistic side, there will be enough data from which to learn selected concepts that can be deployed to support automatic annotation. At the threshold of this interesting era, we make an attempt to describe the state of the art in technology. We sample the progress in text, sound, and image processing, as well as in machine learning

Effects of students' participation in authoring of multimedia materials on student acquisition of vocabulary

This study investigated the effects on vocabulary acquisition of student participation in authoring a multimedia instructional module. Sixty-two subjects were randomly assigned to two groups, and each group was randomly assigned to one of two treatments. The control subjects were asked to study a French text downloaded from the Internet and presented on a computer. In the text, 20 relatively low-frequency words were annotated with text, sound, and pictures. The experimental subjects had the same text but without annotations. They were asked to participate in creating annotations for the same 20 target words. The study produced evidence that students learn vocabulary significantly better when they participate in the creation of the instructional module, provided time is not considered. However, when the variable of time on task is taken into account, there is no statistically significant difference between the experimental and the control treatments. In addition, annotations containing text, sound, and pictures were found to be more helpful for vocabulary learning than annotations with sound and text only. The results are discussed in light of theories of vocabulary acquisition and active student involvement in the learning process. Practical applications and ideas for further research are suggested

The Effect of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Program on Learning Vocabulary among EFL Left and Right Hemispheric Dominant Learners

Vocabulary is a core component of language proficiency, and provides much of the basis for how well learners speak, listen, read, and write. Without  an extensive vocabulary and strategies  for acquiring new vocabulary, learners often achieve less than their potential and may be discouraged from making use  of  language learning  opportunities around them  such  as  listening  to  the radio, listening to native  speakers,  using  the  language  in  different  contexts,  reading  or  watching  television. CALL refers to the use of computer in the teaching and learning of a second or foreign language. The field of CALL includes the use of a computer in the language process. CALL programs aims to teach students in aspects of the language learning process via the medium of computers. Unfortunately, in Iran, textbook writers and syllabus designers have paid less attention to the role played by the CALL in classrooms. Teaching is not supplemented with modern technologies, specially CALL in teaching English. The use of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in the field of education has increased remarkably in recent years due to the modern changes in language software. However, CALL is not widely employed in the field of second/foreign (L2) language learning in Iran.  Interested in the application of CALL,  this  study  examines  two  methods  of  vocabulary  teaching/learning  (CALL-based  versus  non-CALL based). For this purpose, 38 male and 48 female elementary Iranian EFL learners participate in the study. They are randomly assigned into CALL-users   and non-CALL users and posttest control group design is employed.  To  collect data,  a proficiency  test will be used to homogenize the participants and  a multiple-choice vocabulary test  will be  used  as  posttests  to  find  out  the  effectiveness  of  the  methods. Finally, The results of  t-tests and the  pedagogical implications  of  this  study  for  L2  teachers  and learners will be presented

Geobase Information System Impacts on Space Image Formats

As Geobase Information Systems increase in number, size and complexity, the format compatability of satellite remote sensing data becomes increasingly more important. Because of the vast and continually increasing quantity of data available from remote sensing systems the utility of these data is increasingly dependent on the degree to which their formats facilitate, or hinder, their incorporation into Geobase Information Systems. To merge satellite data into a geobase system requires that they both have a compatible geographic referencing system. Greater acceptance of satellite data by the user community will be facilitated if the data are in a form which most readily corresponds to existing geobase data structures. The conference addressed a number of specific topics and made recommendations

On the Design and Exploitation of User's Personal and Public Information for Semantic Personal Digital Photograph Annotation

Automating the process of semantic annotation of digital personal photographs is a crucial step towards efficient and effective management of this increasingly high volume of content. However, this is still a highly challenging task for the research community. This paper proposes a novel solution. Our solution integrates all contextual information available to and from the users, such as their daily emails, schedules, chat archives, web browsing histories, documents, online news, Wikipedia data, and so forth. We then analyze this information and extract important semantic terms, using them as semantic keyword suggestions for their photos. Those keywords are in the form of named entities, such as names of people, organizations, locations, and date/time as well as high frequency terms. Experiments conducted with 10 subjects and a total of 313 photos proved that our proposed approach can significantly help users with the annotation process. We achieved a 33% gain in annotation time as compared to manual annotation. We also obtained very positive results in the accuracy rate of our suggested keywords

Digital Image Access & Retrieval

The 33th Annual Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing, held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in March of 1996, addressed the theme of "Digital Image Access & Retrieval." The papers from this conference cover a wide range of topics concerning digital imaging technology for visual resource collections. Papers covered three general areas: (1) systems, planning, and implementation; (2) automatic and semi-automatic indexing; and (3) preservation with the bulk of the conference focusing on indexing and retrieval.published or submitted for publicatio