CLiMB:
Computational Linguistics for
Metadata Building
Center for Research on Information Access
Columbia University
Judith L. Klavans Libraries
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June 2003 to November 2003
Four areas
• Collections
• Technology
• Users and Uses
• Interface Tools
November - Waters/Lodato for next steps
Judith L. Klavans
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Goals of December Meeting
• Conclusion from last meeting: CLiMB still
a research platform
• Explore potential platforms for testing
CLiMB tools
• What is the possibility of working with
ArtStor?
• Changes in Personnel
Judith L. Klavans
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Problems in Image Access
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
Cataloging digital images
Traditional approach:
manual expertise


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labor intensive
expensive
Can automated techniques help?
Judith L. Klavans
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CLiMB Technical Contribution
CLiMB will identify and extract
• proper nouns
• terms and phrases
from text related to an image:
September 14, 1908, the basis of the Greenes' final
design had been worked out. It featured a radically
informal, V-shaped plan (that maintained the original
angled porch) and interior volumes of various heights,
all under a constantly changing roofline that echoed
the rise and fall of the mountains behind it. The
chimneys and foundation would be constructed of the
sandstone boulders that comprised the local geology,
and the exterior of the house would be sheathed in
stained split-redwood shakes. —Edward R. Bosley.
Greene & Greene. London : Phaidon, 2000. p. 127
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Can we harvest image descriptors?
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Progress and Planning
• Collections
• Technology
• Users and Uses
• Interface Tools
Judith L. Klavans
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Progress and Planning
• Collections
• Technology
• Users and Uses
• Interface Tools
Judith L. Klavans
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Text Analysis and Filtering
1. Divide text into words and phrases
2. Gather features for each word and phrase
•
E.g. Is it in the AAT? Is it very frequent?
3. Develop formulae using this information
4. Use formulae to rank for usefulness as
potential metadata
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What Features do we Track?
• Lexical features
– Proper noun, common noun
• Relevancy to domain
– Text Object Identifier (TOI)
– Presence in the Art & Architecture Thesaurus
– Presence in the back-of-book index
• Statistical observations
– Frequency in the text
– Frequency across a larger set of texts, within and
outside the domain
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Problem: Too much Data!
• How should the output be filtered?
• What filtering helps additional text
processing (e.g. for text segmentation)?
• What filtering matches what users think?
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Techniques for Filtering
1. Take an initial guess
•
•
Collect input from users
Alter formulae based on feedback
2. Use automatic techniques to guess (machinelearning)
•
•
Collect input from users
Run programs to make predictions based on given
opinions (Bayesian networks, classifiers, decision
trees)
3. The CLiMB approach: Use both techniques!
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Next Steps
• Filter “given” information (already in
catalogue record if you are lucky enough to
have one!)
• What does CLiMB get that is new?
• How much is useful?
• What is the “cost”?
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Progress and Planning
• Collections
• Technology
• Users and Uses
• Interface Tools
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Formative Evaluation Meeting
• At the advice of External Advisory Board
• October 17, 2003
• Goals:
– Get early feedback from many user types
– Incorporate that feedback into CLiMB toolset
– Help shape next steps
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Formative Evaluation - Attendees
•
CLiMB Project Team
- Judith Klavans
- Roberta Blitz
- Rebecca Passonneau
- Angela Giral
- Vera Horvath
- David Elson
- Bob Wolven
- Stephen Davis
- Mark Weber
•
•
•
CLiMB: External Advisory Board
- Jeff Cohen (Bryn Mawr)
- Carl Lagoze (Cornell)
- Merrilee Proffitt (RLG)
Invitees
- Robert Carlucci (Columbia)
- Terry Catapano (Columbia)
- Paula Gabbard (Columbia)
- Deborah Kempe (Frick)
- Doug Oard (UMd)
Could not Attend
– Tony Gill (Mellon)
– Abby Goodrum (Syracuse)
– Elisa Lanzi (Smith)
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Results from Formative Evaluation
• Best – Humans select, CLiMB selects
– Cordelia A. Culbertson
• Better - Humans select, CLiMB might not
– Ludowici-Celadon Company
• Better – Humans might not but CLiMB selects
– house, Tichenor house, most significant house
• Good – Humans do not select, CLiMB does not
– problem, time
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Research Questions
• Will CLiMB metadata help users get access
to the digital images they want?
• Will these terms help catalogers provide this
access?
• How well are the CLiMB tools performing
in providing required metadata?
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Use Results for Improvement
• Determine ways to better filter CLiMB
results
• Use input for improving ranking
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Progress and Planning
• Collections
• Technology
• Users and Uses
• Interface Tools
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Interface Tools
• Planning the new interface for image professionals
to prepare CLiMB metadata from texts
• For catalogers / metadata specialists and visual
resources professionals
• Goals
– to provide a platform for a wider community
– to be able to collect feedback on CLiMB at a wider
level
– to complete the CLiMB interface “deliverable”
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Interface Tools – Stay Tuned!
• CLiMB toolset currently implemented with textual
interface
– Fully-functional shell
• New graphical user interface (GUI) can be built on
top of existing codebase
– Perl/Tk
• Design
– Initiating design phase now
– Consulting metadata and image specialists
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Next Steps
• External Advisory Board– June 2004
• Select project directions
• Potential partners
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Thank you!
www.columbia.edu/cu/cria