Computer-Aided Semantic Annotation of Multimedia

The need for annotated multimedia content is more pressing than ever before. The fully automated annotation has made recently large progress but faces limitations and unsolved issues. Thus, the machine-only annotation appears immature although presenting promising achievements. On the other hand, manual (human) annotation is very cost-prohibitive.

The CASAM project is focusing on facilitating the synergy of human and machine intelligence to significantly speed up the task of human-produced semantic annotation of multimedia content. The project is developing an annotation tool that will augment machine knowledge with human input with the target of minimizing user effort.

CASAM introduces the concept of computer-aided semantic annotation to accelerate the adoption of semiautomatic multimedia annotation in the industry. The project is unique in that it facilitates the synergy of human and machine intelligence to significantly speed up the task of human-produced semantic annotation of multimedia content.

The proposed approach is motivated by the limitations of current efforts to fully automate multimedia content annotation, i.e. the immature machine-only annotation and the cost-prohibitive manual annotation.

The balance of the human and machine effort will depend on the context and complexity of the multimedia document. Therefore, it is particularly important that this balance is not predetermined and fixed, but rather adaptive to the situation. Hence, the novelty of CASAM lies in the difficult task of online aggregating human and machine knowledge with the ultimate target of minimizing human involvement in the annotation procedure.