A Preliminary Mapping of Web Queries Using Existing Image Query Schemes

Abstract

End user searching on the Web has become the primary method of locating images for many people. This study investigates the nature of web image queries by attempting to map them to known image classification schemes. In this study, approximately 100,000 image queries from a major web search engine were collected in 1997, 1999, and 2001. A stratified sample of the queries was classified using three previously published image classification schemes. The results indicated that the features and attributes of web image queries differ relative to image queries utilized in other IR systems and user populations. Given the growing ubiquitous nature of the web, the implications for the design of information retrieval systems and repositories are discussed.