Search for the Enterprise: Creating Findability

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Search for the Enterprise Creating Findability

• Jean Bedord
• Findability and Search Consulting
• EContent Strategies
• Gilbane Conference San Francisco
• June 18-20, 2008

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In the Beginning

• Research reports at Lockheed - 40 years ago
• First search service, Dialog Information
  Services

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Same Problem

• More content, more data, more digital assets.

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Findability is Answers

• Not so easy..
• Digital content needs metadata

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Metadata Varies by Asset

• Books - Cataloging
• Authors Name
• Title of the Book
• ISBN, etc.
• Library of Congress or Dewey Decimal number
• Subject Descriptors

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Periodical Databases

• Publications
• Title of article
• Authors Name
• Publication Name, ISSN
• Publication date
• Abstract / Full Text
• Subject Indexing

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Collection Standardization ???

• Music Cataloging
• Title of work
• Lyric writer
• Song writer
• Performer
• Instrument
• Categorization of musical style

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Visual Images / Video

• Pictures Archives / Flickr /YouTube
• Subject
• Title of the Work
• Photographer
• Location Date
• User Generated Tags
• Generally poor search implementation
• Rights to use / remix

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Corporate Assets

• Intellectual Property
• Patents
• Engineering drawings
• Manufacturing processes
• Customer Information
• Purchasing History
• Agreements
• Product Information

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Vocabulary Mismatch

• Missing Metadata
• Categorization by domain EXPERT
• The Problem
• Provide answers for non-specialist

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Missing Metadata

• Full text indexing and search is default
• Adding subject terms not obvious
• Microsoft Office
• Adobe
• Ideal add standard descriptive terms as part of
  work flow

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The Synonym Problem

• Different words
• Different languages
• Different contexts
• Order of words
• Failed searches

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Intent ???? Choosing search terms

• Expert vs. non-expert
• Native language
• Regional dialects
• Academic training
• Industry / Technology
• Generation

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Vocabularies Key to Metadata

• Folksonomies
• No consistency, limited
• Controlled vocabularies
• Better consistency
• Lack relationships
• Taxonomy / thesaurus / ontology
• Relationships
• Key is flexibility with multiple related terms

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Multiple Search Engines

• Enterprises 4 to 5 search software vendors
• Departmental solutions
• Ideal same metadata structure
• Workable shared core of descriptors

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WAND INC. Case Study

• Product and Service Taxonomies
• Uses numeric codes for preferred terms, i.e.
  148087 is Agricultural Equipment
• Synonyms, related terms, broader terms
• Terms translated into 11 languages
• Harmonized with SIC, NAICS, Harmonized Codes and
  Yellow Page headings
• Over 82,000 terms with 1.3M associated attributes
  covering multiple industries

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WAND Current Applications

• Insurance Adjustors Replacement of Consumer
  Electronics
• Intellectual / Business Assets for Sale
  Licensing
• Yellow Pages
• Vertical Business Directories

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Yellow Page Business Model

• Businesses pay to be included
• Need high consumer web traffic
• Approximately 50 search failure rate
• Failed searches problematic
• Buyer frustration
• Advertiser loses value

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Search Problems

• Plurals similar results
• book / books
• Spacing very different results
• video conferencing / videoconferencing
• text books / textbooks
• Morphological variations - varies
• wedding planning catering /wedding planning
  caterer

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Search Synonym Problem

• Attorneys / lawyers / law firm
• slr / single lens reflex
• Cellular phones /cell phone / cellulars / mobiles
• Geographic Information Systems / GIS
• Global Positioning Systems / GPS
• Recreational vehicles / RVs
• Results varied greatly between synonyms

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Takeaways

• Metadata varies by asset
• Synonyms are a major cause of search failure
• Expert vs. non-expert
• Alternate terms
• Vocabularies needed to improve findability!!!

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More on Findability

• Contact
• Jean Bedord
• 408-257-9221
• www.EContentStrategies.com
• Jean_at_EContentStrategies.com
• Questions ?????