Disrupting the Metanarrative: A Little History of Image Indexing and Retrieval

Abstract

The aims of this paper are twofold: to offer a short history of image retrieval, and secondly and relatedly, to critique the metanarrative of modernity emerging in the literature of knowledge organization and information retrieval. The paper reviews the emerging grand narrative in relation to knowledge organization and information retrieval that sees them as specific aspects of modernity and technological efficiency. This grand narrative is particularly interested in technology even when it is contextualising technology. A more nuanced history emerges when the focus moves to the representation, organization, and retrieval of images. This literature foregrounds not only the technology but also issues relating to definitions of the “subject” and issues relating to interpretation and meaningmaking. Received: 18 September 2018; Revised: 26 November 2018; Accepted: 10 December 2018