The Architecture of Visual Information

When the Internet began, it was mostly a text-based world. Connections were slow, and the digital camera was still a prototype in Kodak’s labs. Today, it’s incredibly easy to create, store and transmit images. Facebook is the world’s largest photo sharing website, with 300 million photos uploaded every day. And although capturing an image is currently conscious decision, in the near future we’ll increasingly deal with images that are captured automatically (perhaps through our Google Glasses), with humans taking more of an editorial role.

This proliferation of images creates both challenges and opportunities. To a computer, images are more ‘opaque’ than text, difficult to interpret and analyse. For humans, visual communication is one of the most efficient and flexible methods of exchanging information. As information architects, we’ll soon be tasked with organising more visual information than ever before. However, a lot of our current tools are still focused on working with text.

This talk will explore:

• How people currently create images, and how this is likely to change in the future

• What are the various motivations for creating images and visual information in general, and how this information might be useful beyond its original context

• How both people and computers extract meaning from images, and how this can help in organising and searching through visual information

• Some of the ethical issues that arise when enormous collections of images are created, processed, and made searchable - especially in European countries where privacy is highly valued

Through this talk, attendees will learn to recognise and address the challenges of dealing with visual information in their information architecture practice. By considering future developments in the field of image creation and capture, attendees will also start thinking about new and innovative ways of organising visual information.