Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1998

Figure 1 ： Philosopher in Meditation by Rembrandt (1632); Louvre Museum, Paris When Words Fail A p i c t u r e is w o r t h a t h o u s a n d w o r d s . T h i s a d a g e is especially t r u e w h e n it c ome s to d e s c r i b i ng v i s u a l l y r i c h images. Sometime s it is just i mp o s s i b le to s u mm a r i z e the content o r t h e me s s a ge o r t h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i cs o f a p i c t u r e i n w o r d s , n o t t o m e n t i o n i n a f e w w o r d s . To c omp l i c a t e matters, t he same p i c t u re m a y elicit d i f f e r e n t responses f r o m d i f f e r e n t v i e w e r s, w h o m a y use v e r y d i f f e r e nt w o r d s t o describe the p i c t u r e . I n a database w h e n a l l d a ta are a c t u a l i m a g e s , t h e r e f o r e , t h e u s e o f w o r d s o r k e y w o r d s m a y f a i l to be a n effective w a y o f r e t r i e v i ng the data desired, o r c l a s s i f y i n g the m a n y i ma g es stored. C o n s i d e r the p i c t u re i n F i g u r e 1. W h a t k e y w o r d s s h o u l d be u s e d to d e s c r i be i t so that p e o p le can easily access the i m a g e i n the database? W h a t k e y w o r d s s h o u l d be u s ed so t h a t p e o p l e c a n e a s i l y r e t r i e v e a l l o t h e r images s i m i l a r to Figure 1 f r o m the database? A g r o u p o f r e s e a r c h e rs f r o m t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f C o m p u t e r S c i e n c e a n d E n g i n e e r i ng at T he Ch i n e s e U n i v e r s i t y h a v e d e v e l o p e d a n i n n o v a t i v e s y s t em o f m a n a g i ng a n d r e t r i e v i n g d i g i t a l i n f o r m a t i o n t h a t is s t o r e d i n t he f o r m of i ma g e s. T h e i r p r o j e c t, c o mm i s s i o n e d b y the I n d u s t r y T e c h n o l o gy D e v e l o p m e n t C o u n c il f r o m m i d - 1 9 9 5 to m i d - 1997, has a specific objectiv e of p r o v i d i n g the l o c al t e x t i le a n d f a s h i on i n d u s t r i e s w i t h a n effective t o o l to ma n a g e a n d search fabric a n d d e s i gn patterns. Montage Comes in to Help T h e n e w s y s t e m d e s i g n e d b y t h e p r i n c i p a l researchers—Profs. I. K i n g , A . F u, L . W . C h a n, a n d L. X u — i s c a l l ed ' M o n t a g e '. Chinese University Bulletin Autumn • Winter 1998 30