Page 28 - ICT 256 ASSIGNMENT AVTIVITY 02

Video Searching

Searching through video and/or still images presents an interesting challenge to

search engine developers. The way most search engines operate today is by
appending text descriptions to the video clips and/or images, so that the searches
are based on the text. This enables one search on the text description of "Mona
Lisa" and get back the picture, but does not enable one to search on all videos
dealing with soldier marching techniques. Video and photo searching is something
that is still being developed and explored. For example, being able to search for
an image of the Statue of Liberty would be very challenging for developers, as this
would require a query by image content. Basically, this means that the search

engine or tool would have to be sophisticated enough to recognize an image of
the Lady Liberty and differentiate it from all other possible images. Instead, one of
the approaches for searching images is to search for distinctive features of an
image. For example, the search tool could look for images with Lady Liberty’s
features such as a torch or the seven spikes in the crown. Another approach
would be to search for distinctive colors of the known image. In this case, the
search engine could look for the distinctive fading green color of the statue.

In either case, these are merely theoretical approaches that would have to be
developed. For example, searching for a distinctive feature of a torch could return

hundreds of images of the use of torches in ancient times. Searching for a feature
of a crown could bring back images of kings and queens of the past. In addition, in
order to enter criteria for this type of search tool, the user would have to draw