Similarity adaptation in an exploratory retrieval scenario

Abstract

Sometimes users of a multimedia retrieval system are not able to explicitly state their information need. They rather want to browse a collection in order to get an overview and to discover interesting content. Exploratory retrieval tools support users in search scenarios where the retrieval goal cannot be stated explicitly as a query or user rather want to browse a collection in order to get an overview and to discover interesting content. In previous work, we have presented Adaptive SpringLens - an interactive visualization technique building upon popular neighborhood-preserving projections of multimedia collections. It uses a complex multi-focus fish-eye distortion of a projection to visualize neighborhood that is automatically adapted to the user's current focus of interest. This paper investigates how far knowledge about the retrieval task collected during interaction can be used to adapt the underlying similarity measure that defines the neighborhoods. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.