Picture (Image)
A picture is a kind of document
(or part of a document). The difference between text and
picture is in
semiotics established by the concept of sign. An
icon is a sign which represents something by similarity.
The icon is according to Peirce a motivated sign. Pictures are often not
just icons but also symbols, that is something which
represents something by convention (e.g., the Lamb in Christian Symbolism).
Verbal languages are also symbolic. Saussure
made, however, a differentiation between linguistic signs (including
words) and symbols. In the
symbol he saw a reminiscence of a natural tie between expression and content. The
linguistic sign, on the other hand is according to Saussure characterized by
the thorough arbitrary nature.
Library and Information Science is concerned with image analysis,
description, storage and retrieval etc. Picture collections (picture libraries)
is a special domain within humanistic informatics.
Literature:
Berggren, H. (1990). Billedsøgning. Hvor finder jeg billedet? 2. udgave. Ballerup: Bibliotekscentralen.
Biggs, M. (2004). What Characterizes Pictures and Text?
Literary and LinguisticComputing
19(3), 265–272.
Chang, C. C. &Wu, T. C. (1992). Retrieving the most similar symbolic
pictures from pictorial databases. Information Processing & Management,
28(5), 581-588.
Couprie, L. D. (1983). Iconclass: an iconographic classification system. Art Libraries Journal, 32-44.
Cornell, P.; Dunér, S.; Nillroth, T.; Nordström, G. Z. & Roth-Lindberg, Ö. (Eds). (1988). Bildanalys. Teorier, Metoder, Begrebb. Stockholm: Gidlunds Bokförlag.
Jörgensen, C. (2003). Image Retrieval. Theory and Research. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press.
Markkula, M.; Tico, M.; Sepponen, B.; Nirkkonen, K. & Sormunen, E. (2001). A test collection for the evaluation of content-based image retrieval algorithms - A user and task-based approach. Information Retrieval, 4(3-4), 275-293.
Roberts, H. E. (2001). A picture is worth a thousand words: Art indexing in electronic databases. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 52(11), 911-916.
Shatford, S. (1986). Analyzing the Subject of a Picture: A Theoretical Approach. Cataloging and Classification Quarterly, 6(3), 39-62.
Sobinski-Smith, M. J. (1980/1981). The Yale Center for British Art: The Photograph Archive and Iconographic Access. Visual Resources, 173-187.
Ørnager, S. (1999). Billeder og Ord. Analyse, beskrivelse og søgning af pressefoto. Handelshøjskolen København, Institut for Datalingvistik. (Ph.d. afhandling).
See also: Arts Studies (Epistemological Lifeboat); Image classification and indexing (Lifeboat for KO).
Birger Hjørland
Last edited: 25-11-2006