Image retrieval: Research and use in the information explosion

Abstract

We surveyed the current research on the retrieval and utilization of images. This paper provides an overview of the difficulties and possibilities of technological or technology-related research topics resulting from the huge amount of images currently available and highlights some of the important research topics. We looked at the ongoing research activities and analyzed them from four aspects, information access and organization technology, the computing infrastructure that enables access to large-scale image resources, issues in human-system interaction and human factors related to using images, and the social aspect of image media. On the technical side, we noticed that as the number of digital images increases, so does the importance of the accuracy and scalability in relation to the image retrieval. The accuracy and scalability are in fact needed to cope with the current explosion in digital images. On the social side, not so long ago, image retrieval technologies were only experimental tools or used by experts within a limited domain. However, now the general public has access to a wide range of digital images, which means that image retrieval technologies are being used by various users in a large diversity of social contexts. Thus, as we show in this paper, the accuracy and scalability are not the only important factors in the era of information explosion, but that researchers must also be concerned with the social aspects of these technologies. © 2009 National Institute of Informatics.