Queries -- the user interface

contents abstract intro web ACOI detector query retrieval conclusions References

Assuming that we have an adequate solution for indexing musical data, we need to define how end-users may access these data, that is search for musical objects in the information space represented by the database, for the ACOI project the World Wide Web.

slide: Query interface

For a limited category of users, those with some musical skills, a direct interface such as a keyboard or a score editor, as provided by the hush framework [Jamming], might provide a suitable interface for querying the musical database. Yet, for many others, a textual description, or a form-based query will be more appropriate.

In slide query-interface our envisaged user interface for querying is depicted. It provides limited score editing facilities, to enable the user to indicate a melody (including rhythmic structure) in common musical notation. In this stage, we assume some basic musical skills, indeed. In addition to the melodic fragment, which is depicted in the middle frame, we allow the user to give additional information, such as the composer, the name of the song, and (possibly) a text-based outline. The user may also indicate a genre, the instrumentation and additional descriptive features in a free text format, which may include fragments of the lyrics. As concerns the matching algorithm used, the user may express a preference for either strict or approximate matching for the melody or melodic contour, with or without rhythm. See section Match for a discussion of matching algorithms.

slide: User Query Processing

In processing a query, we may derive a partial melody or rhythmic structure from the query, as well as some additional features or criteria. As explained in the previous section, the output of indexing MIDI files consists of both information concerning features as well as a musical rendering of some of these features. These features can be used to match against the criteria formulated in the query. The musical renderings, which include a partial score, may be presented to the user in response to a query, to establish whether the result is acceptable.

The output of a query will be a ranked list of items found in the database. Each item in the list will be represented by a thumbnail of the score, an auditory icon representing the musical fragment found, the name of the song, the composer and a reference to the original musical object on the Web.