Log Analysis of Multilingual Image Searches in Flickr

Abstract

In this paper, we summarize our analysis over the logs of multilingual image searches in Flickr provided to iCLEF 2008 participants. We have studied: a) correlations between the language skills of searchers in the target language and other session parameters, such as success (was the image found?), number of query refinements, etc.; b) usage of specific cross-language search facilities; and c) users perceptions on the task (questionnaire analysis).

We have studied 4,302 complete search sessions (searcher/target image pairs) from the logs provided by the organization. Our analysis shows that when users have active competence in the target language, their success rate is 18% higher than if they do not know the language at all. If the user has passive competence of the language (i.e. can partially understand texts but cannot make queries), the success rate equals those with active competence, but at the expense of executing more interactions with the system.

Finally, the usage of specific cross-language facilities (such as refining translations offered by the system) is low, but significantly higher than standard relevance feedback facilities, and is perceived as useful by searchers.