Organizing information

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Organizing information

• Indexing multimedia, interface design

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Basic elements in a bibliographic record

• Creator
• who is responsible for creating or discovering
  the item?
• Title
• What is the name or title of the item?
• Source/location/identification/availability/consul
  tation
• Where was the item produced or discovered?
• When was the item produced or discovered?
• What is its unique identifier or location?
• Copy right management
• Physical details
• What is the medium or form?
• What size is it?
• Is any specialized equipment needed to use it?
• Subject
• What is the item about?
• Is it suitable for this user?
• Relationships
• Is the item related to other items?

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Descriptive data for non-textual information

• Collection-items-parts
• Discrete/continuous documentary units
• Original/manifestation
• Different manifestations of a work
• Layers in a manifested item (example from
  Burke,1999)
• Manifested item
• Level 1 The Custom House Dublin, by Lord Snowdon
• BW photograph 5 x 7 matt finish 1970.
• Is a manifestation of the original architectural
  design
• Level 2 The Custom House Dublin, by James Gandon
• Details of architectural style, date etc..
• Level 3 ?

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Challenges in indexing pictures

• Difficult to reach agreement on the content and
  meaning of the image, or on what aspects are
  appropriate for indexing. The same image may mean
  very different things to different people.

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Subject analysis of non-textual information

• Is the subject matter mainly objective (an image
  of something) or mainly subjective (vaguely about
  something)?
• Do the users of the items have any specialist
  knowledge of the content?

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Concept-based/human indexingAn example
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Panofskys iconography and levels of meaning

• Pre-iconographic description (primary subject
  matter) subject matter was designated at factual
  level, the objects or events as it could be
  interpreted through everyday experience,
• Iconographic analysis (secondary subject matter)
  at iconographic level, interpretation requires
  some cultural knowledge of themes and concepts
• Iconological interpretation (symbolic values)
• plus a deeper understanding of the history and
  background of the work.

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Ofness and Aboutness

• Ofness corresponds to primary subject matter and
  pre-iconographical description.
• Aboutness corresponds to secondary subject
  matter and the iconological interpretation.
• Overall aboutness the item as a whole
  corresponds to iconological interpretation.
• Of/about indexing
• (Shatford, 1986)

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Approaches to indexing non-textual information

• Content based image retrieval (CBIR)
• Operate at the pixel-level data,
• Automatically extracts index features such as
  color, textual,
• shape from the image (only low-level attributes
  can be
• queried directly)
• automatically extracting the terms
• e.g. The State Hermitage Museum
• Concept based indexing
• Operate at the subject-mater of the image,
• Subject analysis conducted by human intellects

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Examples of image databases

• American Memory
• Index of Christian arts
• AMICO (The Art Museum Image Consortium)

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Controlled vocabulary for image indexing

• ICONCLASS
• Western Art, historical significance
• Art and Architecture Thesaurus
• TGM I (Thesaurus for Graphic Materials)
• Subject terms
• TGM II Genre and physical characteristics
  terms

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Interface usability

• Well designed, effective computer systems
  generate positive feelings of success,
  competence, mastery, and clarity in the user
  community. When an interactive system is
  well-designed, the interface almost disappears,
  enabling users to concentrate on their work,
  exploration, or pleasure. (Shneiderman, 1997)

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User interface

• Different interfaces for Medline
• PubMed
• Ovid version of Medline
• National Library of Medicine Gateway
• HiBrowse
• Multiple Access to PubMed

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Layout for your written report

• Part A describes the index design and rationale,
  give explanations to each of the interface
  screenshots in section A.
• Part B describes overall policies that guide the
  design and maintenance of the index, with a focus
  on the kind of information that would be useful
  to library staff.

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Interface design principles

• Offer informative feedback
• Permit easy reversal of actions
• Support an internal locus of control
• Reduce working memory load
• Provide alternative interfaces for novice and
  expert users