The Multimedia Thesaurus: An Aid for Multimedia Information Retrieval and Navigation

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Description/Abstract

In many areas of work, large amounts of information accumulate. Ways to store and access this information have been the subject of much research for the last century and even earlier. The advent of computers has greatly extended the possibilites for information retrieval. However the situation is still not an ideal one; many problems still exist. Many of the problems associated with current multimedia and hypermedia information systems can be addressed by adapting the well-established thesaurus technique. By using media matching and processing technology, textual terms can be supplemented with representations of other media types. This thesis describes such a multimedia thesaurus and the ways in which it can be used. Traditional thesaurus information retrieval techniques are explored along with existing systems research with similar aims. The textual thesaurus paradigm is extended to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge representation research, allowing artificial intelligence and software agents to aid the searcher. A prototype system implementing a multimedia thesaurus, MAVIS 2, is introduced, and methods of evaluation discussed.