Discovery and use of art images on the web: an overview

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the area of resource discovery in the case of art images. Digitized art images are an important part of the online cultural heritage. Digitization and online accessibility were mainly materials focused on by libraries, museums, archives and audio-visual archives in the last decade. However, digitised art images as well as digitally-born art provide a major challenge for resource discovery and use. Better results in resource discovery could be achieved through methods combining queries executed on metadata with image retrieval methods. The paper gives an insight into the evolution of designated repositories for digital art, and then briefly presents some of the basic methods for intelligent resource discovery in this domain. Finally it looks at directions for further development within the digital repositories of art, which would enrich even more the user experiences.