Collection Understanding Through Streaming Collage Michelle Chang John Leggett Center for the Study of Digital Libraries Texas A&M University

Layout Introduction Introduction Collection Understanding Collection Understanding Problems Problems Streaming Collage Streaming Collage Demonstration Demonstration Summary Summary

Introduction Large collection of digital artifacts Large collection of digital artifacts Actual contents difficult to perceive Actual contents difficult to perceive Image retrieval methods are insufficient Image retrieval methods are insufficient

Collection Understanding Understand the essence of the collection by focusing on the artifacts Understand the essence of the collection by focusing on the artifacts Comprehensive view Comprehensive view Not locating specific artifacts Not locating specific artifacts

Problems with Querying by Metadata Currently the most used method Currently the most used method Two levels: collection, artifact Two levels: collection, artifact Creator/maintainer/collector defines metadata Creator/maintainer/collector defines metadata Time-consuming Time-consuming Vague Vague

Problems with Browsing Pre-defined and fixed structure Pre-defined and fixed structure Requires large amount of navigation (pointing and clicking) Requires large amount of navigation (pointing and clicking) Narrows a collection Narrows a collection

Problems with Scrolling Limited screen space Limited screen space Entire result set not visible Entire result set not visible Requires large amount of pointing and clicking Requires large amount of pointing and clicking

Current Research Efficient Collection Understanding Visualization tools – –Variably gridded thumbnails – –Ambient Media – –Streaming Collage

Streaming Collage Collage is “an assembly of diverse fragments” Collage is “an assembly of diverse fragments” Indeterminacy – randomizing placement and order Indeterminacy – randomizing placement and order Streaming – constructed dynamically in time Streaming – constructed dynamically in time

Metadata Filtering Modifying metadata fields and values Modifying metadata fields and values Expand result set Expand result set Constrain result set Constrain result set

Combining Collage and Metadata Filtering Continuous Process of: Continuous Process of: Interactively filtering metadata Generating dynamic collage Temporal and Spatial Temporal and Spatial

Demonstration

Demonstration

Demonstration

Demonstration

Demonstration

Summary Collection understanding shifts the traditional focus of image retrieval Collage inspires users to derive their own relationships Collection insight increases

Acknowledgments The Humanities Informatics Initiative, Telecommunications and Informatics Task Force, Texas A&M University. Andruid Kerne's Collage Machine The On-Line Picasso Project