Ramesh Jain on Multimedia Search:

We do not have any similar structure defined to consider atoms, molecules, and grammars for pictures. Current image search engines that claim to use image attributes use things like histograms or textures which are neither atomic features nor molecular. They are usually aggregates of atomic features. Just imagine how useful it will be if a document was characterized by saying that it has 5396 a’s, 9456 b’s, 1294 c’s, 529 x’s, 1289 y’s, and 67 z’s. Similar techniques are currently tried by people to search images based on their content. What is needed is to define a “language” to describe pictures.

…This requires knowing those patterns and we don’t yet know those patterns. Research in many fields have been addressing these problems and once they have concrete answers, it may be possible to build on top of those. But our spoken languages were not defined like that. They evolved by standardizing certain patterns and then building using those patterns. Should we adopt a similar strategy?

I like the following passage from Design Noir, which I think serves as an ideal description of what academics focusing on HCI or user-centered design should be doing:

Rather than writing papers and seeking conventional academic approval, they could exploit their privileged position to explore a subversive role for design as social critique. Free from commercial restrictions and based in an educational environment, they could develop provocative design proposals to challenge the simplistic Hollywood vision of the consumer electronics industry. Design proposals could be used as a medium to stimulate debate and discussion amongst the public, designers, and industry.

Add “software industry” to “consumer electronics industry,” and there you have it. I would go farther, though: computer scientists, information scientists, and designers in academia shouldn’t just be proposing provocative designs, they should be building provocative systems. Too many academic projects look just like corporate projects, and are only being done in academia because they’re too far removed from actual human concerns to interest corporate research labs. Forget about founding your startup and shake things up a little bit…