VRA 2015 Engaging New Technologies Schoen

Engaging New Technologies

Visual Resources Association 2015

Molly Schoen, University of Michigan

Google Images: Beyond the Basics

Reverse Image Search

• Check that your own original content has not been copied without your permission.

• Example: if, for some reason, I were concerned about protecting the copyright on my photo…

Reverse Image Search

• …I can check to see that it hasn’t been posted elsewhere.

• A great tip to show students concerned about safeguarding their creative work.

Reverse Image Search

• Can be surprisingly powerful for identifying the unknown – beyond paintings and photographs!

• Example: this flower was growing in our office, but nobody knew the name of it.

Reverse Image Search

• No helpful results at first…

Reverse Image Search

• Added the description “star flower” (just a guess)…• Then was able to scroll through visually related images until I

found a match.• Clicked on the link and it gave me the plant’s name: the hoya.

Gmail Customization

Get the most out of your email

Settings Labs

Get the most out of your email

• Undo Send: provides up to a 30-second window to cancel sending an email.

• Calendar Gadget: view upcoming appointments from your inbox

Get the most out of your email

• Apps Search: Search Google Docs and Sites along with email, all at once.

• Canned Responses: Save written templates for the kinds of emails you send over and over.

Get the most out of your email

Use stars instead of labels – they’re faster and easier

Settings General

Get the most out of your email- red-bang - Requires action

- yellow-bang - Waiting on a response

- green-check - Finished, taken care of

- purple-star - Student / temp worker–related

- red-star - VRC matters

- orange-star - VRA matters

- yellow-star - Calendar / appointments / reminders

- green-star - Personal

- blue-star - University of Michigan-related

- orange-guillemet - Article

- blue-info - Other info

- purple-question - Reference

Gmail Search Operators

Basic• From:

From:[email protected] OR from:Henri Gervex

• To:To:[email protected] OR to:Artemisia Gentileschi

• Subject:Subject: Detroit Institute of Arts trip

• In:in:Sent OR in:Drafts OR in:Trash

Gmail Search Operators

By Attribute• Has:

Has:attachmentHas:purple-star

• Filename:Filename:cutekitten.JPGFilename:cute Filename:MeetingMinutes.docx

Gmail Search Operators

By Date• Older_than:

Older_than:7d• Newer_than:

Newer_than:1y OR Newer_than:12m• After:

After:2014/08/31• Before:

Before:2014/10/28

Gmail Search Operators

Combine operators for targeted results!• Example: you’re looking for the minutes from

a meeting that happened sometime in the fall semester.

Meeting minutes has:attachment after:2014/08/20 before:2014/12/31

Personalized Recommendation Engines

What are they?

What are they?

Accurate?

Search vs. Discovery

• Personalized Recommendation Engines ≠ Search Engines

• Discovery complements search• Search = using text or images to find a specific

query• Discovery = find correlations on a topic.– When you can’t name what you’re looking for– For browsing, exploration– Based on your behaviors and/or other users’

The original…

Artsy.net – The Art Genome Project

GNOD: Global Network of Discovery

GNOD: Global Network of Discovery

Xdiscovery.com

• Web and mobile apps• “Atlas of Human Knowledge”• Visualization of English Wikipedia data

Xdiscovery.com

Xdiscovery.com

Personalized Recommendation Engines: Applications in Visual Resources

Improve Online Collections• Great example

from the online collections of the Tate Modern. Searching for an artist or work brings up “other artists you may be interested in.”

Personalized Recommendation Engine Services – Build your own

• Prediction.io• Barilliance• Easyrec.org – open source and free

Thank you!

Keep exploring!