Cross Cultural Multimedia Computing

The ability to communicate cultural codes in multimedia depends on their meaning and beauty, as perceived by different audiences around the globe. In this book, the ongoing research on computational modeling of visual, musical and textual contents is described in terms of identifying and mapping their semantic representations across different cultures. The underlying psychology of sense-making is quantified through analysis of aesthetics in terms of organizational and structural aspects of the contents that influence an audience’s formation of expectations for future signals, violations of these expectations, and explanations of their meaning. Complexity-accuracy tradeoffs in sound representation are further used to develop new computational methods that capture poietic and aesthetic aspects in music communication. Experimental studies are reported that try to characterize preferences for complexity in abstract, classical and traditional art and music across samples of Western and Far Eastern cultures. These experiments illustrate how aesthetics can be computed in terms of semantic and information measures, highlighting commonalities and uncovering differences in aesthetic preferences across cultures and individuals.

In this book, the ongoing research on computational modeling of visual, musical and textual contents is described in terms of identifying and mapping their semantic representations across different cultures. The underlying psychology of sense-making is quantified through analysis of aesthetics in terms of organizational and structural aspects of the contents that influence an audience's formation of expectations for future signals, violations of these expectations, and explanations of their meaning. Complexity-accuracy tradeoffs in sound representation are further used to develop new computational methods that capture poietic and aesthetic aspects in music communication.

This exciting new book explores the relationship between cultural traditions and computers, looking at how people from very different cultures and backgrounds communicate and how the use of information technologies can support and enhance these dialogues. Historically we developed our understanding of other cultures through traditional means (museums, printed literature, etc.) but the advent of information technologies has allowed us access to a plethora of material. Tosa asks the question “Can we understand other cultures using computers as media to supplement thinking and memorization?” Starting with a survey of art and technology, moving into the area of culture and technology, the book culminates with a vision of a new world based on an understanding of these relationships, allowing cultural creators and viewers the opportunity to reach a better and more profound understanding of the role information technology will play going forward.

This volume explores how context has been and can be used in computing to model human behaviors, actions and communications as well as to manage data and knowledge. It addresses context management and exploitation of context for sharing experience across domains. The book serves as a user-centric guide for readers wishing to develop context-based applications, as well as an intellectual reference on the concept of context. It provides a broad yet deep treatment of context in computing and related areas that depend heavily on computing. The coverage is broad because of its cross-disciplinary nature but treats topics at a sufficient depth to permit a reader to implement context in his/her computational endeavors. The volume addresses how context can be integrated in software and systems and how it can be used in a computing environment. Furthermore, the use of context to represent the human dimension, individually as well as collectively is explained. Contributions also include descriptions of how context has been represented in formal as well as non-formal, structured approaches. The last section describes several human behavior representation paradigms based on the concept of context as its central representational element. The depth and breadth of this content is certain to provide useful as well as intellectually enriching information to readers of diverse backgrounds who have an interest in or are intrigued by using context to assist in their representation of the real world.

Because of our ever increasing use of and reliance on technology and information systems, information modelling and knowledge bases continue to be important topics in those academic communities concerned with data handling and computer science. As the information itself becomes more complex, so do the levels of abstraction and the databases themselves. This book is part of the series Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases, which concentrates on a variety of themes in the important domains of conceptual modeling, design and specification of information systems, multimedia information modeling, multimedia systems, ontology, software engineering, knowledge and process management, knowledge bases, cross-cultural communication and context modeling. Theoretical disciplines, including cognitive science, artificial intelligence, logic, linguistics and analytical philosophy, also receive attention. The selected papers presented here cover many areas of information modeling and knowledge bases including: theory of concepts, semantic computing, data mining, context-based information retrieval, ontological technology, image databases, temporal and spatial databases, document data management, software engineering, cross-cultural computing, environmental analysis, social networks, WWW information management, and many others. This new issue also contains papers initiated by the panels on: “Cross-cultural Communication with Icons and Images” and “Conceptual Modelling of Collaboration for Information Systems”. The book will be of interest to all those interested in advances in research and applications in the academic disciplines concerned.

Information modeling has become an increasingly important topic for researchers, designers and users of information systems. In the course of the last three decades, information modeling and knowledge bases have become essential, not only with regard to information systems and computer science in an academic context, but also with the use of information technology for business purposes. This book presents 29 papers selected and upgraded from those delivered at the 25th International Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases (EJC 2015), held in Maribor, Slovenia, in June 2015. The aim of the conference is to bring together experts from different areas of computer science and other disciplines, including philosophy and logic, cognitive science, knowledge management, linguistics, and management science, with a view to understanding and solving problems and applying research results to practice. Areas covered by the papers include: conceptual modeling; knowledge and information modeling and discovery; linguistic modeling; cross-cultural communication and social computing; environmental modeling and engineering; and multimedia data modeling and systems. The book will be of interest to all those whose work involves the development or use of information modeling and knowledge bases.

With the growth in our reliance on information systems and computer science information modeling and knowledge bases have become a focus for academic attention and research. The amount and complexity of information, the number of levels of abstraction and the size of databases and knowledge bases all continue to increase, and new challenges and problems arise every day.This book is part of the series Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases, which concentrates on a variety of themes such as the design and specification of information systems, software engineering and knowledge and process management.

Most events and activities in today's world are ordinarily captured using photos, videos and other multimedia content. Such content has some limitation of storing data and fetching them effectively. Three-dimensional continuous PC animation is the most proper media to simulate these occasions and activities. This book focuses on futuristic trends and innovations in multimedia systems using big data, IoT and cloud technologies. The authors present recent advancements in multimedia systems as they relate to various application areas such as healthcare services and agriculture-related industries. The authors also discuss human-machine interface design, graphics modelling, rendering/animation, image/graphics techniques/systems and visualization. They then go on to explore multimedia content adaptation for interoperable delivery. Finally, the book covers cultural heritage, philosophical/ethical/societal/international issues, standards-related virtual technology and multimedia uses. This book is intended for computer engineers and computer scientists developing applications for multimedia and virtual reality and professionals working in object design and visualization, transformation, modelling and animation of the real world. Features: Focuses on futuristic trends and innovations in multimedia systems using big data, IoT and cloud technologies Offers opportunity for state-of-the-art approaches, methodologies and systems, and innovative use of multimedia-based emerging technology services in different application areas Discusses human-machine interface design, graphics modelling, rendering/animation, image/graphics techniques/systems and visualization Covers cultural heritage, philosophical/ethical/societal/international issues, standards-related virtual technology and multimedia uses Explores multimedia content adaptation for interoperable delivery and recent advancements in multimedia systems in context to various application areas such as healthcare services and agriculture-related fields Rajeev Tiwari is a Senior Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India. Neelam Duhan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering at J. C. Bose University of Science and Technology, YMCA, Faridabad, India. Mamta Mittal has 18 years of teaching experience, and her research areas include data mining, big data, machine learning, soft computing and data structure. Abhineet Anand is a Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Chitkara University, Punjab, India. Muhammad Attique Khan is a lecturer of the Computer Science Department at HITEC University, Taxila, Pakistan.