Design and evaluation of a user interface supporting multiple image query models

Abstract

This item is not the definitive copy. Please use the following citation when referencing this material: Mostafa, J. and Dillon, A. (1996) Design and Evaluation of a User Interface Supporting Multiple Image Query Models. Proceedings of the 59th Annual Conference of the American Society for Information Science, Baltimore, MD, USA, October 21-26, 1996. I. Introduction: Digital image use occurs in many fields. For example, in the area of medicine, huge volumes of digital images are routinely generated for diagnostic purposes, sometimes reaching gigabyte range (Gitlin, 1992). Besser (1990) has designed highly innovative image- based selection systems to improve access to visual resources in architecture, anthropology and art collections. There are also signs that museums and archives have accepted the value of digital image technology in their environments (Besser, 1991; Wentz, 1989). Unfortunately, the technology for effective storage and retrieval of images has not kept pace with the technology of image production. The situation has reached such a critical stage that National Science Foundation (NSF) organized a special workshop on the topic of visual information management (Jain, 1993). The NSF workshop report stated, "It would be impossible to cope with this explosion of image information, unless the images were organized for retrieval. The fundamental problem is that images, video, and other similar data differ from numeric data and text data format, and hence they require a totally different technique of organization, indexing and query processing." This paper addresses the critical need for different techniques in improving retrieval of digital images. Our position is that the user interface is the principal component responsible for facilitating retrieval in databases. Therefore, to assure effective access design of interfaces need to be improved.