There’s a wonderful but still experimental image search engine called retrievr (read about it here, try it here) worth some attention. The search engine allows visitors to draw a rudimentary sketch, and to quickly find images from the flickr photo sharing web site that match. It’s not an exact science, which is what makes it so fascinating. Draw a blob of blue in the upper corner, and a slab of red underneath, and you get a wealth of images with similar coloring and composition…a few more similar than others.
Of course, you can’t use the system to find specific images based on their subject matter (as you can on Google’s text-based image search), but that’s not the point. The point is that retrievr stretches our conception of what it means to look for something.
Consider how your audiences search the world for cultural experiences. How many are searching based on the specific text of the event (composer, repertory, production, director, author), and how many have only a hazy sketch in their head of an interest or need to be fulfilled? How do we help prospective patrons find us if they don’t know specifically what they’re looking for?
I have no idea how or if this search technology has any relevance to real-world cultural marketing or communication — it probably doesn’t have any. But I like the way it stretches the conversation.
