Supporting the interaction between user and Web-based multimedia information

Nowadays, a major activity on the Internet is the retrieval and browsing of multimedia information. Yet, today ´s search engines are not really up to the task. Users often have to query various search engines and browse many Web sites before finding a satisfactory answer. Once users find such an answer, presentation of the results is very rigid, i.e., not tailored to the users´ needs, and it does not enable users to manipulate the data. Thus, this retrieval activity often becomes tedious. To improve user-information interaction, a major issue is to give search-engines the ability to access data semantics. We propose a framework to address the issue. Our framework combines database and multimedia data mining to endow Web-based applications with the ability to let users manipulate the data at different levels of interest. As an experimental testbed, we implemented a holiday planner that supports users in their search for a hotel. By using database technology, Web-based multimedia interaction becomes possible, offering as a side effect more feasible and reliable feedback.