Multimedia Content and the Semantic Web: Standards, Methods and Tools

The emerging idea of the semantic web is based on the maximum automation of the complete knowledge lifecycle processes: knowledge representation, acquisition, adaptation, reasoning, sharing and use.

Text-based based browsers involve a costly information-retrieval process: descriptions are inherently subjective and usage is often confined to the specific application domain for which the descriptions were created. Automatic extracted audiovisual features are, in general, more objective, domain-independent and can be native to the audiovisual content.

This book seeks to draw together in one concise volume the findings of leading researchers from around the globe. The focus, in particular, is on the MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 standards that seek to consolidate and render effective the infrastructure for the delivery and management of multimedia content. 

• Provides thorough coverage of all relevant topics, including structure identification in audiovisual documents, object-based video indexing, multimedia indexing and retrieval using natural language, speech and image processing methods
• Contains detailed advice on ontology representation and querying for realizing semantics-driven applications
• Includes cutting-edge information on multimedia content description in MPEG-7 and MPEG-21
• Illustrates all theory with real-world case studies gleaned from state-of-the-art worldwide research. The contributors are pioneers in the fields of multimedia analysis and knowledge technologies

This unified, comprehensive up-to-date resource will appeal to integrators, systems suppliers, managers and consultants in the area of knowledge management and information retrieval; particularly those concerned with the automation of the semantic web. The detailed, theory-based practical advice is also essential reading for postgraduates and researchers in these fields.

Giorgos Stamou was born in Athens in 1971. He obtained the Diploma Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 1994 and the PhD in Computational Intelligence from the Computer Science Division of NTUA in 1998. He is currently a researcher of the ICCS-NTUA. His research interests include fuzzy set theory, fuzzy system modelling and decision making, neural networks, hybrid intelligent systems, human computer interaction and image processing. Dr Stamou has published over 30 papers in international journals and proceedings of international conferences. 

Stefanos Kollias was born in Athens in 1956. He obtained his Diploma from NTUA in 1979, his M.Sc. in Communication Engineering in 1980 from UMIST in England and his Ph.D in Signal Processing from the Computer Science Division of NTUA. He is with the Electrical Engineering Department of NTUA since 1986 where he serves now as a Professor. Since 1990 he is Director of the Image, Video and Multimedia Systems Laboratory of NTUA. He has published more than 120 papers in the above fields, 50 of which in international journals. He has been a member of the Technical or Advisory Committee or invited speaker in 40 International Conferences. He is a reviewer of 10 IEEE Transactions and of 10 other journals. Ten graduate students have completed their Doctorate under his supervision, while other ten are currently performing their Ph.D. thesis. He and his team have been participating in 38 European and National projects.