Topographic Combination of Images and Text for Information Discovery in a Digital Library Context

This paper presents the new MicroNOMAD tool for information discovery in multimedia databases. The core model of the tool is based on a extension of the Kohonen SOM model. Its main characteristic is both to provide an user with emergent analyses of a database content and with querying and browsing guidelines through the use of an advanced topographic interface model. The model also allows the user to dynamically exploit semantic exchanges between multiple viewpoints on the database. The tool basic principles are firstly described. A tool experimentation which is achieved on the multimedia database associated to the BIBAN"Art Nouveau" server is then developed. We demonstrate through this experimentation that the combination of both the topographic structures, the textual and iconographic interaction, and the viewpoint exchanges proposed by the MicroNOMAD core model could play an essential role in several discovering and browsing processes.