A tale of two interfaces: vitrivr at the lifelog search challenge

The past decades have seen an exponential growth in the amount of data which is produced by individuals. Smartphones which capture images, videos and sensor data have become commonplace, and wearables for fitness and health are growing in popularity. Lifelog retrieval systems aim to aid users in finding and exploring their personal history. We present two systems for lifelog retrieval: vitrivr and vitrivr-VR, which share a common retrieval model and backend for multi-modal multimedia retrieval. They differ in the user interface component, where vitrivr relies on a traditional desktop-based user interface and vitrivr-VR has a Virtual Reality user interface. Their effectiveness is evaluated at the Lifelog Search Challenge 2021, which offers an opportunity for interactive retrieval systems to compete with a focus on textual descriptions of past events. Our results show that the conventional user interface outperformed the VR user interface. However, the format of the evaluation campaign does not provide enough data for a thorough assessment and thus to make robust statements about the difference between the systems. Thus, we conclude by making suggestions for future interactive evaluation campaigns which would enable further insights.