How far have we come in computer-aided analysis of the visual, beyond tagging and other text-based approaches? I want to bracket all the great stuff that pulls in text or numeric data to make sense of images, and instead focus on the act of visual analysis itself. How do bits and connoisseurship, or bits and the purely visual, create an analytical field? Is this a pipe dream, at least for the moment, given the limitations of the digital? Are initiatives like the intriguing Wölff a first step to virtual worlds of visual analysis? How can available programs (Picasa, etc.) be re-purposed or hacked to provide support for the comparative analysis of visual elements?

I would like to discuss digital tools for the analysis of visual things, especially but not exclusively art objects, and how those tools may develop given the ever-increasing computing power available in research universities and elsewhere. I have two simple, preliminary case studies, one proposal for very high-resolution scanning of Inuit and African objects at the Menil Collection (Houston) and the other a NEH startup for visual analysis entitled VWire. The latter is a partially-successful attempt to build a virtual world for the ordering and analysis of anything visual. I would be very interested in discussing other experiences, needs, and desires of the art historical and art communities around the analysis of visual elements in a virtual environment.

Rex Koontz would chair the talk, but he knows too well what he thinks and is really interested in your tools and your views.