Imagery & Media
The Imagery and Media cluster was founded in 2005 as one of the four main lines of research at LIACS. The Imagery and Media cluster bundles research activities that are related to perception and data analysis. The concept of Imagery refers to the five senses and the mental image that can be created using these. A range of Media is used for the subjects studied in the Imagery and Media cluster. On the one hand this is related to Imaging and on the other end of the spectrum this is related to creative research pursued by the Media groups; all this translates to research that focuses on formation, interaction, and analysis of media from sources ranging from the human vision, microscope imaging to creative research. Human Computer Interaction and new interactions is a theme of collaboration within all three sections. The Imagery and Media cluster consists of three research sections:
- Imaging and BioInformatics (IB)
- Media Research (MR)
- Media Technology (MT)
It is important to note that research interests of the members frequently involve multiple sections and integration and collaboration across through shared projects in both sections.
Imaging and Bioinformatics (IB)
dr. ir. Fons J. Verbeek (head)
The research focus of this group is on bio-imaging and integration of the analysis of images and image information with other bio-molecular information resources; in addition we study new ways of interacting with these data. At present the bio-imaging has its emphasis on microscopy modalities, in particular light microscopy.Analysis requires a large number of images be processed. To overcome the limitations of standard storage formats, innovative approaches for image databases experimental settings are probed. Special attention is given to image annotation making images more suitable for data mining. The results are disseminated in the research community one example of such integrated approach is the atlas of zebrafish development. Others repositories of 2-3D images are being developed and published on the internet.
Media Research (MR)
dr. Michael S. Lew (head)
The Media Research (MR) Group is concerned with the scientific investigation of novel directions and paradigms in the interaction and understanding of diverse media, such as images, video, and audio. Our current areas of interest are primarily in the fields of multimedia information retrieval, human computer interaction, computational imagination, and visual & audio concept learning. Additional interests lie in areas such as collaborative information systems, and computational biology.
Media Technology (MT)
prof.dr. Bas Haring (head)
The Media Technology research program distinguishes itself primarily because of its research method, and only secondly because of its research domain. Within the program researchers and students autonomously formulate research questions, triggered by personal inspirations and curiosities, thus yielding manageable and compact research projects. The domain of the Media Technology research program is the embedding of human beings in a computerized world. This is studied by exploratively creating such embedding, in contrast to – maybe more traditional – pure reflective research. Within the domain, research focuses on the following themes:
- Pervasive sound: Whereas visual input is strongly located, sound is more "around us" - pervasive. Hence pervasive sound enables us to study embedment.
- Human-computer mixing: The interface between humans and computers is thoroughly investigated; but what if we perceive both as more or less mixed? How reasonable is it to perceive humans as mere computers? Not in a philosophical, but practical sense.
- New natures: It seems as if nature diminishes, but what if we see ourselves embedded in a new, autonomous nature of soft- and hardware?