Competitive Intelligence and Decision Problems

Chapter 6

Multimedia Information Seeking Through Competitive Intelligence Process¹

6.1. Introduction

Value-added information is widely considered a strategic asset for any decision maker or company able to find, use, and reuse it. Advances in information and communication technology have led to improvement in the quality and increases in the quantity of mutimedia information.

Given this increase in the volume of multimedia information, and the complexity attached to its structure, information seekers may need assistance in searching and efficaciously accessing multimedia information. Rapidly obtaining relevant information may be difficult, but nevertheless this remains indispensable in responding to user information needs and, consequently, in resolving decision problems.

The connotative nature of multimedia information does not in any way facilitate its search and retrieval. The task of multimedia information retrieval is rendered delicate given the fact that multimedia information supports a wide variety of viewpoints, readings, and interpretations. Multimedia information representation and indexing is complex, and this complexity also extends to the expression of a user’s need for multimedia information. We have observed [MAG 08] that a semantic gap may emerge between the user, their information needs, and the information solution proposed by the information system. This semantic gap is, in our opinion, caused by problems associated with the notion of user needs and by the specificities ...