The image retrieval task: implications for the design and evaluation of image databases

Abstract A review of studies about searching behaviour in image retrieval suggests that retrieval tasks may affect searching behaviour. Retrieval tasks occur along a spectrum starting with the Data Pole, which involves retrieval of images for the information which the images include, and ending with the Objects Pole, which concerns the retrieval of images as objects. Each Pole generates a certain searching behaviour which has characteristics opposing those of the other Pole. These characteristics suggest that: (a) Relevance feedback may not be useful for tasks on the Objects Pole; (b) Measuring precision on the Data Pole should be replaced with another measurement of effort and time, while on the Objects Pole, the quality of browsing sets and the precision of the browsing process should be measured instead of precision; and (c) Recall is not useful for the Data Pole, and requires much exploration before it can be adopted for the Object Pole. Additional research in searching behaviour and about performance measurement will improve retrieval from image databases.