An Empirical Investigation on Illustrators’ Image Information Needs Hyerim Cho University of Washington, Information School

Image information retrieval A wide variety of available image retrieval techniques and services Lack of studies investigating image users Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) Do current retrieval systems reflect real users’ needs well?

My approach: Image professionals This study aims to provide user-centered perspectives to current image information studies, especially “heavy” image users’ perspectives Image professionals: illustrators Beaudoin (2009); Jörgensen & Jörgensen (2005)

Study objective Investigate the image information needs of professional illustrators and contribute to creating and evaluating image databases and retrieval systems by offering empirical findings

Research questions RQ 1. What are the characteristics of illustrators’ image information needs? What kinds of images do they need, and why and when do they need those images? RQ 2. Do image professionals and non- expert/general users have different information needs? If so, how are they different and for what reason?

Study design

Demographic information (survey) Dimension Count% Gender Male Female Total Age years old years old years old years old64.3 Over 47 years old00.0 Total Years of experience Fewer than two years years years years years or more10.7 Total Educational background High school graduate42.9 Undergraduate in progress Bachelor degree Master degree in progress85.7 Master degree128.6 Ph.D. degree in progress10.7 Others96.4 Total Academic major Arts Humanities75.0 Social Science42.9 Natural Science75.0 Engineering42.9 Others42.9 Total

Demographic information (interview)

Findings: use purposes of images Participants show that “to shape and actualize images (73.6%)” and “to get ideas and inspiration (66.4%)” are the primary uses of images Participants show that “to shape and actualize images (73.6%)” and “to get ideas and inspiration (66.4%)” are the primary uses of images --“…it would not be enough if I’d just imagine everything by myself… I want to know every detail and subtle areas…that way I can work on it without any misunderstandings…” (P2) --“…we can generate lots of creative ideas when we browse topic-related images…I make my own creation based on ideas inspired by looking at multiple images…I don’t think that experienced illustrators simply copy others’ creations…” (P3)

Findings: relevance criteria While topical matter was the most common criterion at 78.6%, other relevance criteria such as images showing specific angles (51.4%), temporal information of images (25.0%), aesthetic quality (20.7%), and high resolution (15.7%) were also important While topical matter was the most common criterion at 78.6%, other relevance criteria such as images showing specific angles (51.4%), temporal information of images (25.0%), aesthetic quality (20.7%), and high resolution (15.7%) were also important Physical aspects vs. subjective aspects Physical aspects vs. subjective aspects

Findings: relevance criteria (physical aspects) --“Having higher resolution is always better. If the image is too small, it’s difficult to know what it is.” (P3) --“I’d like to have a full 360-degree panoramic view when I look at scenery photos. Think about the map these days. You can view the scenery from the top, from the bottom, and we can even turn it around. I would even be willing to pay to use such feature, if it is available.” (P2)

Findings: relevance criteria (subjective aspect) Illustrators select certain images thinking that they are “pretty,” “cute,” or “beautiful” Illustrators select certain images thinking that they are “pretty,” “cute,” or “beautiful” Aesthetic quality constitutes more of the illustrators’ personal tastes, instead of something that can be objectively measured Aesthetic quality constitutes more of the illustrators’ personal tastes, instead of something that can be objectively measured -- “Among different images, there are some images that I can feel are going to turn out beautifully if I use them. You can feel it if you have been drawing for years.” (P2)

Findings: types of images needed TypeCount% Landscapes (named & unnamed) Photography, film, video Nature People (real or mythological) Architecture Visual features including color, shape, texture Appliances and vehicle Art Artistic and design processes Ad, mass media & popular culture Images created by myself Other53.6 Total506

Findings: image seeking barriers Although irrelevant search results were the most frequently mentioned problem (55.0%), there were other issues such as “hard to search for very specific image (e.g., particular pose of a subject from a particular angle)” (44.3%), “takes too long to browse the results” (42.9%), and “hard to think of appropriate keywords” (38.6%) Although irrelevant search results were the most frequently mentioned problem (55.0%), there were other issues such as “hard to search for very specific image (e.g., particular pose of a subject from a particular angle)” (44.3%), “takes too long to browse the results” (42.9%), and “hard to think of appropriate keywords” (38.6%)

Findings: expectations of image retrieval systems Suggestions from the illustrators include: Suggestions from the illustrators include: more detailed classification filtering features, more detailed classification filtering features, metadata that would allow them to sort images by their origins, metadata that would allow them to sort images by their origins, temporal aspect such as the time when the images were created as well as the time period depicted in the images, temporal aspect such as the time when the images were created as well as the time period depicted in the images, different types of layouts and angles, different types of layouts and angles, shapes of objects, and shapes of objects, and genres genres

Findings: expectations of image retrieval systems --“It will be very convenient if I can search for images within different groups of images, like images of characters, photos, and images from commercials. For example, let’s say I want to find the images of a palace. If I click ‘photos,’ I would be able to get photos of different palaces, and if I click ‘characters,’ I would see character illustrations or cute images that have a palace theme. Also some advertisement images that have palaces, if I click ‘commercials’.” (an answer for an open-ended survey question)

Discussion: general users vs. illustrators General users are likely to use images as objects (Chung (2010); McCay-Peet & Toms (2009); Yoon & Chung (2011)) Illustrators would fall into this category of “In-Between” with a stronger tendency towards using the images as “data” based on the findings in this study --“A graphic artist may want to retrieve pictures of various trees so he can copy some of them in his next designs, and also to explore the variety of tree shapes. The artist will use the information in the images of trees, as well as the images as objects, to create new images of trees” (Fidel, 1997, p. 189).

Discussion: illustrators vs. artists Getting inspiration tends to be the most dominant function of image information to artists (Beaudoin (2009)) To illustrators, getting inspiration has relatively less importance than learning Artworks created by artists vs. illustrations requested by clients

Illustrators do have a distinctive set of information needs and behaviors, when compared to other types of image users the particular needs and behaviors of the target user population must be taken into consideration in order to design effective image retrieval systems Finding a topical match tends to be more important than discovery An image search feature based on particular angles of the objects or postures Filtering features such as copyright, prices of images, and temporal information Robust description indexes related to the topic of images

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