article

Searching for images: the analysis of users' queries for image retrieval in American history

Authors:

Edie M. RasmussenAuthors Info & Claims

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Volume 54, Issue 6

Pages 498 - 511

https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.10237

Published: 01 April 2003 Publication History

Abstract

Users' queries for visual information in American history were studied to identify the image attributes important for retrieval and the characteristics of users' queries for images. The queries were collected from 38 faculty and graduate students of American history in 1999 in a local setting. Pre- and post-test questionnaires and interview were employed to gather users' requests and search terms. The Library of Congress American Memory photo archive was used to search for images. Thirty-eight natural language statements, 185 search terms provided by the participants, and 219 descriptors indicated by the participants in relevant retrieved records were analyzed to find the distribution of subject content of users' queries. Over half of the search requests fell into the category "general/nameable needs." It was also found that most image content was described in terms of kind of person, thing, event, or condition depending on location or time. Title, date, and subject descriptors were mentioned as appropriate representation of image subject content. The result of this study suggests the principle categories of search terms for users in American history, suggesting directions for the development of indexing tools and system design for image retrieval systems.

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Cited By

Late ERuotsalainen HKumpulainen S(2024)Image searching in an open photograph archive: search tactics and faced barriers in historical researchInternational Journal on Digital Libraries10.1007/s00799-023-00390-125:4(715-728)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00799-023-00390-1
Kumpulainen SRuotsalainen H(2022)Searching Wartime Photograph Archive for Serious Leisure PurposesLinking Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries10.1007/978-3-031-16802-4_7(81-92)Online publication date: 20-Sep-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-16802-4_7
Thode WScholer FThomas PElsweiler DJoho HKando NSmith C(2021)Integration of Images into the Patent Retrieval ProcessProceedings of the 2021 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval10.1145/3406522.3446006(351-354)Online publication date: 14-Mar-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3406522.3446006
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Index Terms

Searching for images: the analysis of users' queries for image retrieval in American history
1. Information systems
  1. Information retrieval
    1. Retrieval models and ranking
  2. Information systems applications
    1. Multimedia information systems
      1. Multimedia databases

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cover image Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology Volume 54, Issue 6

April 2003

124 pages

ISSN:1532-2882

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John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

United States

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Published: 01 April 2003

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Cited By

Late ERuotsalainen HKumpulainen S(2024)Image searching in an open photograph archive: search tactics and faced barriers in historical researchInternational Journal on Digital Libraries10.1007/s00799-023-00390-125:4(715-728)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00799-023-00390-1
Kumpulainen SRuotsalainen H(2022)Searching Wartime Photograph Archive for Serious Leisure PurposesLinking Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries10.1007/978-3-031-16802-4_7(81-92)Online publication date: 20-Sep-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-16802-4_7
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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3406522.3446006
Eiler FGraf SDorner W(2018)Artificial intelligence and the automatic classification of historical photographsProceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality10.1145/3284179.3284324(852-856)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2018
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Dorner WWeinfurtner AGraf S(2018)Uncertainty in the spatial metadata of historical photographsProceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality10.1145/3284179.3284321(872-877)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2018
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