Gert Says
a rather irreverent discusssion
Thesaurus
The core of any digital imaging program is the ability to reuse an image, which means you must be able to find it again or retrieve it. To do this librarians create a thesaurus or a structured vocabulary to describe their images or information. Yes Thesaurus such as Roget's is what most of us use to find the best word to express an idea or at least a different word. Well aren't you looking for the best or different image? According to Merriam- Webster online Dictionary -a Thesaurus may be....... "b : a list of subject headings or descriptors usually with a cross-reference system for use in the organization of a collection of documents for reference and retrieval". Or if you think in terms of a structured vocabulary; structure to organize in hierarchies, relationships, and equivalent terms and vocabulary to insure everyone is using the same terms in the same way.
In developing a vocabulary to describe images for the purpose of retrieval it is important that the terms you use have purpose and meaning for your users. For example a real estate firm would probably not be looking for prefabricated structures in their description of a house image, but a structural engineering firm might. The first thing I advise my clients to do is to listen to how their users currently describe the images for which they are looking. They may ask for specific projects or products, or they may ask for the one published in that article... Most people will be looking for an image they remember. However, one of the benefits of creating an electronic library is that as images become more accessible people may now discover uses for images which they have never seen.
To help them find those images, you must also think beyond how they currently ask for images. Ask them why they want that image. Is it simply an attractive, strong, compelling image in its own right or are they looking for something in the content itself. My favorite example of expanding a user's search mode is when a design firm began to include terms which described the project pieces seen in an image. The result was that the designers began to use the firm's own marketing images to demonstrate their design concepts. You can read more about this in Solutions/Sharing Images,.
The next step is develop a vocabulary which not only serves a purpose, but has meaning. Some type of collections have established vocabularies, such as the Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus. At the end of this article there are some examples o other developed thesaurus. They may not fit your needs, but will give you ideas of depth or breadth of information which you may want to cover. A favorite retrieval term for many Architects and Engineers is project name. This would seem to be very simple. In fact for some offices where this is only descriptive term used for retrieval, they simply maintain a File/folder system. The problems arise when the user audience grows or time lapses and the Project names change. Quite often the "correct name" is forgotten. It is the old problem, that just because a standard is developed, doesn't mean people will follow it or know it. That is where the structure can help. It can lead people to discover the word they can't remember.
By organizing your terms according to hierarchy, relationships, and equivalent terms, you reduce the search a user must do to "remember" the term which best expresses their desired image. For example in the above situation, where project names change, if the projects are grouped according to type, that reduces the number of choices. The more narrowly defined the smaller the list to be browsed through. The projects could also be grouped according to geography, or satellite office responsible for the work. If you want a simple file management system, then you must pick the most important characteristic. When you begin to add relationships or multiple hierarchies, you need an information management system. To go back to a real estate image system example. You may want to see apartments (building type) in a suburban neighborhood (geography) near an elementary school (amenities). Or in terms of relationships you may want to compare a Condominium to a Bungalow to a Townhouse. Or when you move to a new part of the country you may need help learning the equivalent terms for what you call a Flat.
The key to this is to create a system which expands the use of your images by making access easy and worthwhile, but does not create unnecessary work for you. If your structure is valid you can always add to the depth and breadth as if serves a purpose. So figure out the purpose for your collection - what are people really looking for in your images - and organize the information and terms to fit that purpose.
5/31/00
