visualizationmethodsforpersonalphotocollections.docVIP

Visualization Methods for Personal Photo Collections: Browsing and Searching in the PhotoFinder Hyunmo Kang, Ben Shneiderman Department of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction LaboratoryUniversity of Maryland at College ParkCollege Park, MD 20742 USA+1 301 405 2725{kang, ben}@ ABSTRACT Software tools for personal photo collection management are proliferating, but they usually have limited searching and browsing functions. We implemented the PhotoFinder prototype to enable non-technical users of personal photo collections to search and browse easily. PhotoFinder provides a set of visual Boolean query interfaces, coupled with dynamic query and query preview features. It gives users powerful search capabilities. Using a scatter plot thumbnail display and drag-and-drop interface, PhotoFinder is designed to be easy to use for searching and browsing photos. Keywords : PhotoFinder, user interface, dynamic query, query preview, search, browsing, Boolean query, digital photo library. INTRODUCTION Digital cameras, scanners and personal computers are now common. But as collections grow in size, the need to organize, search, and browse digital photos increases [1]. There are many personal photo collection management tools available either commercially or non-commercially. A search with terms digital photo and software download on ZDN or CN will return many hits pointing to software entries. These software products vary substantially in terms of features and quality. We find what most of these products lack are easy-to-learn and efficient searching and browsing capabilities, especially for collections of photos. This has been a long-standing problem for digital photo library tools. PhotoFinder was built as an attempt to address some of these problems. We implemented some novel widgets that can be used to do powerful Boolean queries. A variety of information visualization techniques, such as dynamic queries and query previews are employed to provide facilities