WillCam: a digital camera visualizing users. interest

With the increased usage of digital cameras and camera-enabled mobile phones in recent years, large numbers of photos are being taken. Many of the photos that are taken are used little, if at all. Researchers and companies have developed systems where photos can be annotated or tagged to facilitate storage and retrieval. However, people are often unwilling to spend the time and effort to carry out annotation. To solve this problem, we focus on real-time annotation where photographs are annotated at the time when they are taken. We propose a novel digital camera,.WillCam., which enables users to capture various information, such as location, temperature, ambient noise, and photographer facial expression, in addition to the photo itself. WillCam also helps users express their interest -what object or information in the picture/scene is most important for them- visually.