Purpose – This paper aims to present the results of the second stage of a research project aiming to develop a bilingual interface for the retrieval of digital images. The main objective of this phase was to investigate the roles and usefulness of search characteristics and functionalities for image retrieval in a bilingual context. Design/methodology/approach – A bilingual (English and French) questionnaire containing closed and open questions was developed and administered to two groups of participants: 20 English-speaking and 20 French-speaking respondents. The quantitative data was analysed according to statistical methods while the content of the open-ended questions was analysed and coded to identify emergent themes. Findings – This study shows that the image search process still presents difficulties and frustration from the image searchers' point-of-view. The findings established that keyword search remains the main method compared with the use of predefined categories or searching with a similar image or a drawing. They emphasised the importance of several functionalities as an integral part of the image search process and revealed the importance of being able to search for images with words extracted from more than one language. Originality/value – The main contribution of this exploratory study is to provide an understanding of how real users search for images. Combined with the exploration of best practices for image retrieval, the analysis of real image searchers' behaviours provides the foundation for the initial organisation of the search interface model we will develop in the ultimate stage of the research project.

Cette communication examine le repérage de l’image, en contexte de repérage multilingue, lorsque que celle-ci est indexée selon l’une ou l’autre des deux approches suivantes : indexation en vocabulaire contrôlé ou indexation en vocabulaire libre. Cette communication présente le contexte et la problématique de la recherche, ainsi que l’expérience effectuée. This paper describes a research project aiming to verify the existence of relations between two indexing approaches, traditional image indexing recommending the use of controlled vocabularies or free image indexing using uncontrolled vocabulary, and their respective performance for image retrieval, in a multilingual context. This paper presents the context of…

Many factors can overwhelm the searcher who is trying to retrieve images. Consequently, searching for images is still a problem for the majority of individuals, especially for images associated with text written in different languages unfamiliar to users. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the factors affecting search behaviours of image users and to examine how individuals formulate their queries to retrieve museum object images indexed in different languages, using different search engines. This study also compared the search behaviours using different types of search engines to retrieve specific museum object images. It also highlighted how multilingual search functionalities are perceived and used when performing an image search task in a multilingual retrieval context. Thirty participants were randomly divided into three independent groups, each assigned to a different search engine. Each participant was asked to retrieve three images using both an all-purpose search engine and a specialized search engine. Once the retrieval of the images was completed, the participants filled out a questionnaire to provide feedback on the retrieval tasks they performed and information on their search behaviour when looking for Web images indexed in different languages. Multilingualism plays a strategic role in the quality and effectiveness of communication services offered on the Internet. Consequently, it is extremely important to make information available to the largest audience possible and to overcome language barriers by providing tools suited to the real and current needs of image searchers. The main contribution of this pilot study is to enhance the knowledge and understanding of image searching behaviour, in order to provide a basis for the modelling of a new search interface that takes into account the needs and expectations of real users.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -This paper aims to present the results of the first phase of a research project aiming to develop a bilingual taxonomy for the description of digital images. The objectives of this extensive exploration were to acquire knowledge from the existing standards for image description and to assess how they can be integrated in the development of the new taxonomy. Design/methodology/approach -An evaluation of 150 resources for organizing and describing images was carried out. In the first phase, the authors examined the use of controlled vocabularies and prescribed metadata in 70 image collections held by four types of organizations (libraries, museums, image search engines and commercial web sites). The second phase focused on user-generated tagging in 80 image-sharing resources, including both free and fee-based services. Findings -The first part of the evaluation showed that each resource presented comparable information for the images or items being described. Best practices and implementation proved to be largely consistent within each of the four categories of organizations. The second part revealed two trends: in image-upload systems, there was a virtual absence of mandated structure beyond user name and tags; and in stock photography resources, the authors encountered a hybrid of taxonomies working in combination with user tags. Originality/value -The analysis of best practices for the organization of digital images used by indexing specialists and non-specialists alike has been a crucial step, since it provides the basic guidelines and standards for the categories and formats of terms, and relationships to be included in the new bilingual taxonomy, which will be developed in the next phase of the research project. Notes1. A list of all examined resources with their URL can be found in Appendix 1. 2.A list of all examined image-sharing systems with their URL can be found in Appendix 2.

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