Documentation, Cataloging and Query by Navigation: A Practical and Sound Approach

In this paper we discuss the construction of an automated information system for a collection of visual reproductions of art objects. Special attention is payed to the economical aspects of such a system, which appears to be mainly a problem of data entry. An approach is discussed to make this feasible, which also strongly provokes consistency between descriptions. Another main target of such a system is the capability for effective disclosure. This requires a disclosure mechanism on descriptions which is easy to handle by non technical users. We show the usefulness of query by navigation for this purpose. It allows the searcher to stepwise build a query in terms of (semi-)natural language. At each step, the searcher is presented with context sensitive information. The resulting system is described and we discuss an experiment of its use.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: ERCIMDL
• Authors: F. J. M. Bosman, Peter Bruza, Theo P. van der Weide, L. V. M. Weusten
• Keywords: Automated Information System, Education, ERCIMDL 1998, Non Technical Users, Visual Reproductions