Integrating users' needs into multimedia information retrieval system

Abstract: The exponential growth of multimedia information and the development of various communication media generated new problems at various levels including the rate of flow of information, problems of storage and management. The difficulty which arises is no longer the existence of information but rather the access to this information. When designing multimedia information retrieval system, it is appropriate to bear in mind the potential users and their information needs. We assumed that multimedia information representation which takes into account explicitly the users' needs and the cases of use could contribute to the adaptation potentials of the system for the end-users. We believe also that responses of multimedia information system would be more relevant to the users' needs if the types of results to be used from the system were identified before the design and development of the system. We propose the integration of the users' information needs. More precisely integrating usage contexts of resulting information in an information system (during creation and feedback) should enhance more pertinent users' need. The first section of this study is dedicated to traditional multimedia information systems and specifically the approaches of representing multimedia information. Taking into account the dynamism of users, these approaches do not permit the explicit integration of the users' information needs. In this paper, we will present our proposals based on economic intelligence approach. This approach emphasizes the importance of starting any process of information retrieval witch the user information need.