Understanding Images : Finding Meaning in Digital Imagery

This is a broad-ranging, cross-disciplinary collection of exciting and readable materials as diverse in content as "Lipstick on the Bulldog" (product design) and "Masaccio's Bag of Tricks" (3D graphics and Renaissance art), to "Is Alligator Skin More Wrinkled Then Tree Bark?" (visual textures) and "Crossroads in Virtual Reality" (philosophy of virtual worlds). The fourteen contributions contained in this volume are authored by artists, designers, scientists, psychologists, philosophers and educators. While diverse in content, the selections nonetheless focus on the basic underlying theme explored at the Conference on Understanding Images, which was held at the Manhattan Campus of Pace University in New York City and co-sponsored by the New York City Chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and Pace University's School of Computer Science and Information Systems. The Conference's theme was: how do we understand the complicated, interdisciplinary world of electronic imagery, and what are the means and techniques we employ to visually convey these images to others? These presentations not only pinpoint interesting and complex issues confronting researchers and practitioners, but they also define the problem domains and offer future solution strategies.

1 Editor’s Introduction.- 1.1 References.- 2 Lipstick on the Bulldog.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 A Few Definitions.- 2.3 Why Collaboration is Hard to Do.- 2.4 Process, Tools, Product.- 2.5 Strategists or Service Bureaus.- 2.6 Education.- 2.7 Common Ground.- 3 Photographic Interpretation.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Questions and Answers.- 4 Cognitive Origins of Graphic Productions.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.1.1 Elemental and Relational Concepts.- 4.1.2 How Depictions are used to Convey Meaning.- 4.2 Pictographs and Symbols.- 4.2.1 General Principles.- 4.2.2 Children’s Early Writing.- 4.2.3 Children’s Early Arithmetic.- 4.2.4 Historical Examples of Arithmetic.- 4.2.5 Historical and Developmental Parallels in Arithmetic Representations.- 4.3 Pictorial Space and Pictorial Devices.- 4.3.1 Children’s Graphic Productions.- 4.3.2 Spatial Pictorial Devices.- 4.4 Conclusions.- 4.4.1 Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny.- 4.4.2 Two Aspects of Meaning and Two Aspects of Representations.- 4.4.3 Cognitive Naturalness.- 4.5 Acknowledgements.- 4.6 References.- 5 Automating Procedures for Generating Chinese Characters.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 The Case for Chinese Characters.- 5.3 Introduction to Chinese Characters.- 5.4 Current Software Capabilities.- 5.5 The Path Based Bezier Curve Approach.- 5.6 References.- 6 Multimedia Representational Aids in Urban Planning Support Systems.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Challenges to Urban Planning Support Systems.- 6.3 Addressing the Challenges: Representational Aids.- 6.4 Input Aids.- 6.5 Output Aids.- 6.6 Application of Representational Aids: Rantoul, Illinois.- 6.7 Conclusions.- 6.8 Acknowledgements.- 6.9 References.- 7 Gesture Translation:Using Conventional Musical Instruments in Unconventional Ways.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 The Need for Something Better.- 7.3 Gesture Translation.- 7.4 The Current System.- 7.5 An Example.- 7.6 Related Work.- 7.7 Limitations and Future Work.- 7.8 Conclusion.- 7.9 References.- 8 Visualization for Personal Information Systems.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Personal Information Systems.- 8.3 Personal Knowledge Space.- 8.4 Discussion.- 8.4.1 Visual Familiarity.- 8.4.2 Links by Associations.- 8.4.3 Filters and Monitors.- 8.5 Summary and Future Research.- 8.6 References.- 9 Blazon Computer Graphic Notation.- 9.1 Overview and Background.- 9.2 Basic Terms and Definitions.- 9.2.1 The Field and the Points of the Field.- 9.2.2 The Plain Shield: Tinctures, Metals, Furs, Tricks.- 9.2.3 Partitioning the Shield and the Ordinaries.- 9.2.4 The Thirds Ordinaries.- 9.2.5 Sub-Ordinaries and Discrete Charges.- 9.2.6 Repetition of Form.- 9.2.7 Partition Lines, Diminutives, and Borders.- 9.3 The Marshalling of Arms.- 9.4 Summary of Blazon.- 9.5 References.- 10 Masaccio’s Bag of Tricks.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 The Perspective and Plan of Masaccio’s Trinity.- 10.2.1 The Ground Plan of G. F. Kern (1913).- 10.2.2 The Ground Plan of Sanpaolesi (1962).- 10.2.3 Janson’s Ground Plan (1967).- 10.2.4 Kemp’s Plans for the Trinity (1981, 1990).- 10.2.5 Proposed Plan and Elevation for Masaccio’s Trinity.- 10.3 Convincing Realism or Subtle Rhetoric Tricks?.- 10.3.1 Control of Space.- 10.3.2 Concessions to Surface Arrangement.- 10.3.3 Amplification of the Newly Discovered Device.- 10.4 Conclusion.- 10.5 Acknowledgements.- 10.6 References.- 11 Is Alligator Skin More Wrinkled Than Tree Bark?.- 11.1 Introduction.- 11.2 Benefits of This Research.- 11.3 Primary versus Secondary Properties of Objects.- 11.3.1 Problems and Clarifications.- 11.4 How to Think About Texture.- 11.4.1 Texture as a Property of Visual Surfaces: Secondary and Non-objective (Qualitative).- 11.5 Understanding Features Humans Use in Texture Perception.- 11.5.1 A Comparison With Color.- 11.5.2 Computer Perception of Texture.- 11.5.3 Identifiying the Dimensions of Visual Texture.- 11.6 Experiments on the Categorization of Texture Words.- 11.7 Conclusion.- 11.8 References.- 12 Variability and Universality in Human Image Processing.- 12.1 Introduction.- 12.2 Background.- 12.2.1 New Research Paradigm (View Four): Implications for a New View of Variability and Universality.- 12.2.2 Technological Developments and Understanding Imagery.- 12.2.3 Cultural Basis for Seeing Human Variability as Problematic.- 12.3 An Information Oriented Model for Understanding Imagery.- 12.3.1 Attention, Selection, and Interpretation.- 12.3.2 Color.- 12.3.3 Serial/Parallel Processing.- 12.3.4 Early Research on Human Image Processing.- 12.3.5 Recent Research in Human Image Processing.- 12.3.6 Imagery Debate.- 12.4 References.- 13 Aesthetics and Nature.- 13.1 Introduction.- 13.2 Scientific Visualization as a Coherent Window into a (Fragmented) World.- 13.3 Spatial and Temporal (Dis)continuities.- 13.4 The Multiple Roles of the Visualization Expert.- 13.4.1 Collaborator with Scientific Researchers.- 13.4.2 Artist.- 13.4.3 Educator.- 13.4.4 Manufacturer of Evidence.- 13.5 Case Studies.- 13.5.1 Simulated Tornadic Storm Development.- 13.5.2 Study of a Numerically Modeled Severe Storm.- 13.5.3 Visibility Analysis Through the Animation of a Backhoe Work Cycle.- 13.6 Conclusion.- 13.7 References.- 14 Crossroads in Virtual Reality.- 14.1 Introduction.- 14.2 The Meanings of Virtual Reality, Virtual Worlds, Virtual Environments.- 14.2.1 Simulation.- 14.2.2 Interaction.- 14.2.3 Artificiality.- 14.2.4 Immersion.- 14.2.5 Telepresence.- 14.2.6 Full-Body Immersion.- 14.2.7 Networked Communications.- 14.3 VR Projection Images Do Not Re-Present, They Tele-Present.- 14.3.1 Tunnel Graphics and Boomerang Graphics: Perception and Apperception.- 14.3.2 The Hope of a Complementary System.- 14.4 References.- 15 Audio Display from the Simple Beep to Sonification and Virtual Auditory Environments.- 15.1 Introduction.- 15.2 Motivations for the Use of Audio.- 15.3 Auditory Perception.- 15.4 Auditory Scene Analysis.- 15.5 Detectability and Masking.- 15.6 The Psychology of Everyday Listening.- 15.7 Approaches and Applications of Audio Displays.- 15.7.1 Warnings and Alarms.- 15.7.2 Status Information — Auditory Icons: Gaver.- 15.8 Displaying Abstract Data: Sonification and Auralization.- 15.8.1 Sonification: Bly.- 15.8.2 Sonification of Chemical Spectra: Lunney & Morrison.- 15.8.3 Sonification of Multivariate Time Series Data: Mezrich, Frysinger, & Slivjanovski.- 15.8.4 Exploratory Visualization Project: Smith, Bergeron, & Grinstein.- 15.8.5 Earcons: Blattner, Sumikawa, & Greenberg.- 15.9 Virtual Auditory Worlds.- 15.9.1 Wenzel: Implications for a Virtual Acoustic Display of Individual Differences in HRTFs.- 15.10 Future Research.- 15.10.1 Enhanced Localization Cues.- 15.10.2 Representational Sounds: Automatic Foley Generation.- 15.10.3 Transduced Telepresence Audio, Spatialized Sonification, and the Integration of Virtual Acoustic Display.- 15.11 Implementation Issues.- 15.12 Conclusions.- 15.13 References.- 16 Contibutors.