People can hunt for text and information they need such as maps, earthquake data, movie showtimes and so on, with the use of internet search engines. It is even possible to do a voice search by speaking on a mobile phone or to a computer. Soon, search engines will be offering "manga search".
Prof Kiyoharu Aizawa of the University of Tokyo demonstrates the world’s first manga search technology, which will enable users to search manga by drawing strokes. Photo by Sasiwimon Boonruang
The University of Tokyo is developing technologythat will enable users to search manga by drawing strokes either by using your fingers to draw on a touchscreen device or using your mouse to draw on the screen.
Manga search is a research project by Prof Kiyoharu Aizawa of the University of Tokyo's Department of Information and Communication Engineering, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology.
Conducted by PhD student Yusuke Matsui, the project is considered helpful to anyone looking for manga characters on the internet. The technology has been working based on a few thousand picture pages on a database.
In the prototype phase, interactions are done on the Web. Search results are displayed in an array. When a user clicks one of them, the entire page that contains the result will be displayed. "Touchscreen is ideal for this type of search, but at this moment in order to search, we use the mouse to draw strokes such as the shape of hands or the figure of the characters' faces," said Prof Aizawa.
Several organisations are interested in the innovation and it will be potentially offered as a new service to the market as it benefits users both on individual and professional levels. However, Prof Aizawa pointed out that the project is still in its inception stage and the the technology is still under development.
"The technology can be used for something creative and fun. But at this moment, it does not serve commercial purposes. We need to pay more attention, focusing more on technical data and spend more time on strategy to make it happen," said Prof Aizawa.
Prof Aizawa also said that there are several ways to make the technology available for daily use. Working with companies who implement the service in a wide area is one scenario, while a collaboration with an agency that organises a manga archive is another potential because the search requires a huge manga database.
Hopefully, the manga search technology will be offered as a service over the next few years. In the meantime, the academic prototype has been running parallel with the manga database of several organisations.
