Information Complexity Ranking: A New Method of Ranking Images by Algorithmic Complexity

Predicting how an individual will perceive the visual complexity of a piece of information is still a relatively unexplored domain, although it can be useful in many contexts such as for the design of human–computer interfaces. We propose here a new method, called Information Complexity Ranking (ICR...

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Main Authors: Thomas Chambon, Jean-Loup Guillaume, Jeanne Lallement
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-03-01
Series:Entropy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/3/439
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author Thomas Chambon
Jean-Loup Guillaume
Jeanne Lallement
author_facet Thomas Chambon
Jean-Loup Guillaume
Jeanne Lallement
author_sort Thomas Chambon
collection DOAJ
description Predicting how an individual will perceive the visual complexity of a piece of information is still a relatively unexplored domain, although it can be useful in many contexts such as for the design of human–computer interfaces. We propose here a new method, called Information Complexity Ranking (ICR) to rank objects from the simplest to the most complex. It takes into account both their intrinsic complexity (in the algorithmic sense) with the Kolmogorov complexity and their similarity to other objects using the work of Cilibrasi and Vitanyi on the normalized compression distance (NCD). We first validated the properties of our ranking method on a reference experiment composed of 7200 randomly generated images divided into 3 types of pictorial elements (text, digits, and colored dots). In the second step, we tested our complexity calculation on a reference dataset composed of 1400 images divided into 7 categories. We compared our results to the ground-truth values of five state-of-the-art complexity algorithms. The results show that our method achieved the best performance for some categories and outperformed the majority of the state-of-the-art algorithms for other categories. For images with many semantic elements, our method was not as efficient as some of the state-of-the-art algorithms.
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spelling doaj.art-8bda73f7e6a84e33b8229d7cf59a736e2023-11-17T10:56:14ZengMDPI AGEntropy1099-43002023-03-0125343910.3390/e25030439Information Complexity Ranking: A New Method of Ranking Images by Algorithmic ComplexityThomas Chambon0Jean-Loup Guillaume1Jeanne Lallement2Laboratoire Informatique, Image et Interaction (L3i), La Rochelle University, 23 Avenue Albert Einstein, 17000 La Rochelle, FranceLaboratoire Informatique, Image et Interaction (L3i), La Rochelle University, 23 Avenue Albert Einstein, 17000 La Rochelle, FranceLaboratoire Usages du Numerique Pour le Developpement Durable (NUDD), La Rochelle University, 39 rue de Vaux De Foletier, 17000 La Rochelle, FrancePredicting how an individual will perceive the visual complexity of a piece of information is still a relatively unexplored domain, although it can be useful in many contexts such as for the design of human–computer interfaces. We propose here a new method, called Information Complexity Ranking (ICR) to rank objects from the simplest to the most complex. It takes into account both their intrinsic complexity (in the algorithmic sense) with the Kolmogorov complexity and their similarity to other objects using the work of Cilibrasi and Vitanyi on the normalized compression distance (NCD). We first validated the properties of our ranking method on a reference experiment composed of 7200 randomly generated images divided into 3 types of pictorial elements (text, digits, and colored dots). In the second step, we tested our complexity calculation on a reference dataset composed of 1400 images divided into 7 categories. We compared our results to the ground-truth values of five state-of-the-art complexity algorithms. The results show that our method achieved the best performance for some categories and outperformed the majority of the state-of-the-art algorithms for other categories. For images with many semantic elements, our method was not as efficient as some of the state-of-the-art algorithms.https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/3/439algorithmic information theoryinformation complexitysimilarity complexityKolmogorov complexity
spellingShingle Thomas Chambon
Jean-Loup Guillaume
Jeanne Lallement
Information Complexity Ranking: A New Method of Ranking Images by Algorithmic Complexity
Entropy
algorithmic information theory
information complexity
similarity complexity
Kolmogorov complexity
title Information Complexity Ranking: A New Method of Ranking Images by Algorithmic Complexity
title_full Information Complexity Ranking: A New Method of Ranking Images by Algorithmic Complexity
title_fullStr Information Complexity Ranking: A New Method of Ranking Images by Algorithmic Complexity
title_full_unstemmed Information Complexity Ranking: A New Method of Ranking Images by Algorithmic Complexity
title_short Information Complexity Ranking: A New Method of Ranking Images by Algorithmic Complexity
title_sort information complexity ranking a new method of ranking images by algorithmic complexity
topic algorithmic information theory
information complexity
similarity complexity
Kolmogorov complexity
url https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/3/439
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