Users‟ perception of Aboutness and Ofness in Images: An Approach to Subject Indexing Based on Ervin Panofsky‟s Theory and Users‟ View

Abstract

It is widely accepted that subject indexing of an image is based on a two-dimensional approach. The first is the ofness and the second focuses on aboutness of the image. Assigning a suitable set of subject tags based on these two groups depends, to a great deal, on what is the users’ perception of the image. Thus this study aims at analyzing users’ perception of aboutness and ofness of images. 25 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in two phases. In the first phase a collection of 10 widely known photographs were given to the interviewees and they were asked to assign subject tags (as many as they wish) to each image. In the second phase some facts regarding each image were given to him/her to assign further tags (again as many as they wish) or even modify their previous tags. The results show that the interviewees do focus both on ofness and aboutness in subject tagging; but it seems that they emphasize more on aboutness in describing images. On the other hand, as soon as the interviewees were able to distinguish the iconographical ofness, they could speak of iconographical and iconological aboutness. The results also show that subject indexers must focus on the iconographical level, especially regarding those tags which represent the ofness at this level. Introduction Subject indexing of images is a matter of problematic nature from different perspectives. The first and maybe the most important issue, deals with the lack of standard or universallyapplicable code for a meaningful subject representation of an image. Although it is widely accepted that subject indexing of an image is based on a two-dimensional approach (i.e. ofness and aboutness description), the problem still lingers in determining the depth of descriptions especially when it comes to aboutness. Based on ofness/aboutness approach the subject tags to be assigned to an image could be divided into two different groups. Those which describe the 1 . Regional Information center for Science and Technology(arastoopoor@gmail.com) 2 . Library and Information sciences Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, (fattahirahmat@gmail.com) This page was created using Nitro PDF trial software. To purchase, go to http://www.nitropdf.com/