The Building Cognitive Applications with IBM Watson Services series is a seven-volume collection that introduces IBM® Watson cognitive computing services. The series includes an overview of specific Watson services with their associated architectures and simple code examples. Each volume describes how you can use and implement these services in your applications through practical use cases.

The series includes the following volumes:

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced developer, this collection provides the information you need to start your research on Watson services. If your goal is to become more familiar with Watson in relation to your current environment, or if you are evaluating cognitive computing, this collection can serve as a powerful learning tool.

This IBM Redbooks® publication, Volume 3, introduces the IBM Watson® Visual Recognition service. The Watson Visual Recognition service uses deep learning algorithms to analyze images for scenes, objects, faces, and other content. This book introduces concepts that you need to understand in order to use this Watson service and provides simple code examples to illustrate the use of the APIs. This book includes examples of applications that demonstrate how to use the Watson Visual Recognition service in practical use cases. You can develop and deploy the sample applications by following along in a step-by-step approach and using provided code snippets. Alternatively, you can download an existing Git project to more quickly deploy the application.

This book was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working in collaboration with the IBM International Technical Support Organization.

Dr. Azeddine Elhassouny is a Professor at ENSIAS, IT College, Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco. He teaches multimedia indexing and retrieval, data visualization, and data science. His current research interests include deep learning in computer vision, multimedia signal processing, and pattern recognition and classification. His research also explores the connections between these areas and mathematical fields, such as neutrosophic field theory, fusion theory, and multiple criteria decision making (MCDM). He has published a book and several research papers about cognitive computing. Dr. Elhassouny holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in mathematics, computer science, and applications. He is a certified IT Specialist in IBM Big Data.

Dr. Le Nhan Tam is a Cloud Advisor in the IBM Cloud Advisor worldwide team and IBM Vietnam. His areas of expertise include cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), software engineering, business analytics, and cognitive computing. He has over 15 years of experience in the IT industry. Dr. Tam also is a visiting lecturer and a project advisor for students in universities in Hanoi. He supervised students in several projects to design and build cognitive applications that use IBM Bluemix® and IBM Watson Developer Cloud APIs, such as visual recognition and personal insight. Tam holds a Master degree in Computer Science from Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand, and a Ph.D degree in Computer Science from University of Rennes 1 and French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA), France.

Dina Sayed is a Certified Expert IT Specialist in Watson Group, IBM Egypt. She joined IBM in 2004 as a software developer evolving to a technical lead role by leading the design and development of end-to-end solutions. She currently works in leading and supporting Watson multilingual cognitive solutions and services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Her responsibilities include implementing proof of concepts, customer demonstrations, requirements analysis, solutions design, and development. She led Arabic support in IBM Social Media Analytic (SMA), which includes capabilities such as sentiment analysis, and demographic and behavioral analysis for telecommunication and government sectors. Dina also led implementation of the Watson conversation mobile app for different government entities in United Arab Emirates. Dina holds B.S. in Communication and Electronics Engineering from Cairo University and M.Sc. degree in Natural Language Processing from the University of Nottingham, UK Campus.

Bjoern Steffens is a certified IT Specialist in software services IBM Hybrid Cloud, IBM Switzerland Ltd. Bjoern has over 25 years of experience in the IT consulting field where his focus has been on data architectures, analytics, data science, and deriving insights, leveraging business intelligence and business analytics tools. Bjoern enables his customers to drive business decisions and strategy based on advanced statistics in combination with carefully designed dashboards and reports adding precision to information. He is also an expert in providing automated self-service information systems for audiences with varying technical and business requirements. Bjoern recently began his journey of applying cognitive tools and processes to his existing knowledge going forward as a Bluemix Developer.

Lak Sri currently serves as Program Director in IBM developerWorks® part of the IBM Digital Business Group organization. Lak leads innovation in the developer activation space. He was the Technical Leader for the Building Cognitive Applications with IBM Watson Services Redbooks series. Lak led the development of the IBM Cloud Application Developer Certification program and the associated course. Earlier he worked as Solution Architect for Enterprise Solutions in Fortune 500 companies using IBM Tivoli® products. He also built strategic partnerships in education and IBM Watson IoT™. Lak is an advocate and a mentor in several technology areas, and he volunteers to plan and support local community programs.

The project that produced this publication was managed by Marcela Adan, IBM Redbooks Project Leader, ITSO.

Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project:

Here’s an opportunity to spotlight your skills, grow your career, and become a published author—all at the same time! Join an ITSO residency project and help write a book in your area of expertise, while honing your experience using leading-edge technologies. Your efforts will help to increase product acceptance and customer satisfaction, as you expand your network of technical contacts and relationships. Residencies run from two to six weeks in length, and you can participate either in person or as a remote resident working from your home base.

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