In this paper, we present a new video database: CVD2014-Camera Video Database. In contrast to previous video databases, this database uses real cameras rather than introducing distortions via post-processing, which results in a complex distortion space in regard to the video acquisition process. CVD2014 contains a total of 234 videos that are recorded using 78 different cameras. Moreover, this database contains the observer-specific quality evaluation scores rather than only providing mean opinion scores. We have also collected open-ended quality descriptions that are provided by the observers. These descriptions were used to define the quality dimensions for the videos in CVD2014. The dimensions included sharpness, graininess, color balance, darkness, and jerkiness. At the end of this paper, a performance study of image and video quality algorithms for predicting the subjective video quality is reported. For this performance study, we proposed a new performance measure that accounts for observer variance. The performance study revealed that there is room for improvement regarding the video quality assessment algorithms. The CVD2014 video database has been made publicly available for the research community. All video sequences and corresponding subjective ratings can be obtained from the CVD2014 project page (http://www.helsinki.fi/psychology/groups/visualcognition/).

This paper presents a new database, CID2013, to address the issue of using no-reference (NR) image quality assessment algorithms on images with multiple distortions. Current NR algorithms struggle to handle images with many concurrent distortion types, such as real photographic images captured by different digital cameras. The database consists of six image sets; on average, 30 subjects have evaluated 12-14 devices depicting eight different scenes for a total of 79 different cameras, 480 images, and 188 subjects (67% female). The subjective evaluation method was a hybrid absolute category rating-pair comparison developed for the study and presented in this paper. This method utilizes a slideshow of all images within a scene to allow the test images to work as references to each other. In addition to mean opinion score value, the images are also rated using sharpness, graininess, lightness, and color saturation scales. The CID2013 database contains images used in the experiments with the full subjective data plus extensive background information from the subjects. The database is made freely available for the research community.

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This paper describes a study on the image searching behavior of end-users (journalists) and intermediaries (archivists) in a newspaper editorial office. Image queries by end-users and requests to intermediaries were analyzed, compared and categorized according to typologies from literature. The process of image selection was modeled and selection criteria were studied based on interviews, observation and a survey. The results indicate that most image queries and requests dealt with specific entities, but that object types were also common. Thematic image needs seem to be fulfilled by end-user searching and browsing rather than by requests. Image retrieval tasks were highly influenced by contextual factors. Relevance assessments were made at situational level using several types of criteria, including abstract and affective factors. Several types of collaborative searches were observed. Richer research and analysis methods are needed to characterize journalists' image needs and searching behavior.

Television viewers’ attention is increasingly more often divided between television and “second screens”, for example when viewing television broadcasts and following their related social media discussion on a tablet computer. The attentional costs of such multitasking may vary depending on the ebb and flow of the social media channel, such as its emotional contents. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that negative social media messages would draw more attention than similar positive messages. Specifically, news broadcasts were presented in isolation and with simultaneous positive or negative Twitter messages on a tablet to 38 participants in a controlled experiment. Recognition memory, gaze tracking, cardiac responses, and self-reports were used as attentional indices. The presence of any tweets on the tablet decreased attention to the news broadcasts. As expected, negative tweets drew longer viewing times and elicited more attention to themselves than positive tweets. Negative tweets did not, however, decrease attention to the news broadcasts. Taken together, the present results demonstrate a negativity bias exists for social media messages in media multitasking; however, this effect does not amplify the overall detrimental effects of media multitasking.