John Horwood

Implicit concept-based image indexing and retrieval

This paper focuses on implicit concept-based image indexing and retrieval (ICIIR), and the development of an improved method for the indexing and retrieval of images. The method involves the development of techniques to enable components of an image to be categorised on the basis of their relative importance with the image. Thus the storage of images involves an implicit, rather than an explicit, indexing scheme. Retrieval of images will then be effected by application of an algorithm based on the categorisation, which will allow relevant images to be identified and retrieved accurately and efficiently.

A Fuzzy Expert System for Concept-Based Image Indexing and Retrieval

Image indexing and retrieval using a concept-based approach involves extraction, modelling and indexing of image content information. Computer vision offers a variety of techniques for searching images in large collections. We propose a method that enables components of an image to be categorised on the basis of their relative importance in combination with filtered representations. Our method concentrates on matching subparts of images, defined in a variety of ways, in order to find particular objects. These ideas are illustrated with a variety of examples. We focus on Concept-based Image Indexing and Retrieval (CIIR), using a fuzzy expert systems, density measure, supporting factors and other attributes of image components to identify and retrieve images accurately and efficiently.

Content-based image indexing and retrieval with XML representations

This paper focuses on context-based image indexing and retrieval with XML representations (CIIRX), and the development of improved methods for the indexing and retrieval of images using the MPEG-7 standard structured annotations. These methods involve the development of techniques to enable the elements of an image to be categorised on the basis of their relative importance within the image. We propose the indexing of images with structured annotations, which can be used as a description in an XML document database. We also describe the use of JSP in retrieving images from the database, which allows relevant images to be identified and retrieved accurately and efficiently.

Transnational Education through Engagement: Students' Perspective

A Computer Science degree is offered by Victoria University both locally in Australia and transnatio nally in Hong Kong. The degree includes a compulsory final year project subject. The project, a team effort, involves the design and implementation of a real- life computer application for an external client. The project model in Hong Kong was modified to accommodate a variety of time, distance, and cultural constraints, but its core components of group context, project-based problems, and outside focus remained unchanged. Australian teachers responsible for the program consider these three project comp onents essential to transforming computing students into competent graduates. Do Hong Kong students support this view? This paper reports on a study of the students’ perceptions of the project experience and the relative importance of its three components. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the study on the project model.

Women in Computer Science

This paper reports on research conducted at Victoria University in Melbourne. It looks at factors that influence women’s entry into Computer Science, their journey through their studies, and issues that engage women on their way to becoming computer scientists. Of particular significance is the finding that women enrolled in Computer Science are successful, and perceive no major barriers to their success. However, despite the fact that Victoria University has created a range of initiatives to encourage participation, the percentage of female enrolments in Computer Science has declined significantly in recent years. Barriers continue to exist to limit the participation of women in Computer Science. The challenge remains to identify the nature of these barriers.

An Architecture for a Federated Education System

This article presents the development and software architecture of a conceptual and operational collaborative distance education model. Promotion of educational expertise, especially through expansion of specialization, is of increasing importance. Within the educational sphere, big universities tend to dominate the market at the expense of smaller ones. For small universities, the key to their survival could also be specialization within disciplines, coupled with collaboration among universities. Intra-discipline specialization would promote development of quality services, and interuniversity collaboration would enable a wide offering of these services. The proposed paradigm would require the development of a suitable model to support it. The model proposed in this article is a federation of independent universities that are loosely coupled to facilitate collaboration and the sharing and exchanging of information. The federated model, supported by agent-based communication over the Internet, can operate across geographical, cultural and organizational boundaries while promoting integration within those boundaries.

Informing Across a Cultural Divide: Delivery of Distance Education

Victoria University offers a Computer Science degree in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong program matches the one in Melbourne, but both the content coverage and the delivery model of the Hong Kong program are affected by expectations and demands of the Hong Kong government and students. The paper outlines challenges, legislative, cultural, quality, time and distance that shaped the program delivery model. It examines the social construction of the program curriculum, and identifies cultural factors that have had most impact in modifying the program. The paper regards distance education as an informing discipline and discusses the program delivery model in terms of the Informing Science Framework. It uses a Project subject to illustrate the model and rationale behind it, and comments on suitability of various multimedia components as program delivery vehicles. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the Hong Kong program experience on future directions in distance education.