Attributes of images in describing tasks

With the current rapid expansion in imaging technologies, access to collections of images is a subject of major interest. This exploratory research investigated image attributes typically noted by participants in a series of describing tasks involving activities such as viewing images, describing them for a retrieval system, and describing them from memory. Content analysis and descriptive statistics were used to characterize textual statements generated by participants; this analysis produced forty-seven image attributes which were grouped conceptually into twelve higher level classes of attributes. The data suggest that access to a wide range of attributes is needed to address all facets of interest to those using pictorial images. They further suggest that certain classes of attributes may appear more frequently in a set of tasks relating to the description of images, including literal objects, the human form and associated attributes,and color and location terms, More unexpectedly, terms describing the 'story' within the image also appeared frequently in this research. The disjunction between these results and those attributes typically addressed in traditional image indexing systems suggest revisiting assumptions upon which image indexing and retrieval systems are being created. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.