Dataset Card for CyberAesthetics

Description

This dataset contains a compiled image-set from cyber security web articles, with the view towards analyzing the distinct visual properties and sentiments of these images.

Curation Rationale

We defined a set of base search terms (for example, cybersecurity' \texttt{OR} cyber' \texttt{AND} `security') and then added search terms derived from Google Trends (online OR advice OR protection OR protect OR prevent OR preventative OR tips OR email OR social network OR password OR hack OR hacked OR hacking). All search terms were technology-agnostic---they did not include explicit references to specific products or services. The image-scraper then returned all images that corresponded with content that included these terms within the title or body text. Though not exhaustive, this strategy yields an image-set that adequately represents operative definitions of cyber security, as actualised by users. There is, of course, scope for future improvement.

Source Data

Images taken from the public domain.

Initial Data Collection and Normalization

We used the folliwing guidleines to collect and curate this image-set.

1. The image must be derived from a news or blog article that directly addresses at least one aspect of cyber security and / or explicitly contains our search terminology. Blog articles were limited to tutorials, editorials, tool demonstrations, and discussions of technical reports. Due to the nature of the assessment and the search methodology, we only retrieved images from English-language sources.
2. The image must be accessible and not hidden behind a paywall or other kind of lockout mechanism, as these obstacles restrict the amount of text that can be retrieved, making it difficult to explain why some images were included in a given article or blog post (that is, the role that the images serve in relation to the text).
3. The image cannot be a corporate logo or advertisement (like the lead slide of a corporate presentation).
4. The image must be at least 360x640 pixels for ease of processing.
5. The image must be in either .jpg or .png format.

Citation Information

Title: The aesthetics of cyber security: How do users perceive them? Authors: Mark Quinlan, Aaron Cross, Andrew Simpson Categories: cs.CY