From Search to Discovery

From Search to Discovery Tony Russell-Rose, PhD UX Manager (EMEA) 08-Feb-2011

Is this the right problem to solve? Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
Possibilities of the search box
Search often works when you know precisely what you want, and how to ask for it
Limitations of the search box
Search fails when you don’t know which choices you have, because you don’t know what you don’t know

A Relevance Primer
We seek good recall
All relevant results are returned
We also seek good precision
Results that are returned are relevant
Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. the whole truth, The truth, & nothing but the truth relevant retrieved

Human-computer information retrieval (HCIR)
Don’t just guess the user’s intent
Increase user responsibility and control
Require and reward human intellectual effort
Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
But there is a difficult trade-off
Which should we favour?
recall precision

Models of the Information Seeking Process
Standard Model
Broder 2002, Sutcliffe & Ennis 1998
Cognitive Model
Norman 1988, Marchioni 1989
Dynamic Model
Bates 1989, O‘ Day and Jeffries 1993

Information Seeking in Stages Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. Predict Adapt Iterate Revise Evaluate The five core activities of human information-seeking behavior Am I asking my question the right way? Was my prediction accurate? How should I adjust my tactics? Am I progressing toward my goal? Did I learn something that alters my goal?

Varied Contexts required Varied Solutions Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. Where should we put the Faceted Navigation and how should it be laid out to be as effective as possible?

Varied Contexts required Varied Solutions Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. We have diverse types of content - how should we present mixed results sets to help our users successfully discover the most relevant and useful items?

The Dimensions of Search User Experience Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. Objective User Type
“ Find part #35456…”
“ Discover compatible parts …”
“ Understand part obsolescence …”
etc.
Electronics Engineer
Purchasing Agent
Novice Shopper
Technical Enthusiast
Etc.
Mode of Interaction
Analyzing
Comparing
Evaluating
Exploring
Locating
Etc.
Assets
Products
Rich Media
Textual Info
Relationships
Community
Etc.

Dimension 1: User Type Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. KNOWLEDGE Novice Uncertain Expert Confident Users vary in terms of their level of knowledge, confidence & attitude Purchasing Agent Electronics Engineer Maintenance Technician

Dimension 2: Objective Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. I need to find part number 2335456 BREADTH COMPLEXITY Focused Simple Broad Complex I need to discover compatible parts that work for my assembly I need to understand part obsolescence & manage our risks Electronics Engineer

Dimension 3: Mode of Interaction Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. Synthesizing To generate or communicate insight by integrating diverse inputs to create a novel artefact or composite view I need to prepare a weekly report for my boss of how things are going I need to understand the cost drivers for this commodity so I can negotiate better terms with my suppliers Exploring To investigate or serendipitously examine an information space for the purpose of learning or knowledge discovery I need to know the cost drivers for a part such as materials that impact cost Analyzing To critically examine the detail of an item or data set to identify patterns & relationships I need to compare our module set teardowns with competitors to see if we’re competitive Comparing To examine two or more items to identify similarities & differences I need to find a new part with specific attributes then source it from the most qualified supplier Locating To find a specific (possibly known) item I need to determine my current state so I can evaluate if I have price variation Evaluating To use judgement to determine the significance or value of an item or data set with respect to a specific benchmark or model Monitoring To maintain awareness of the status of an item or data set for purposes of management or control I need to monitor at risk dealers so I can prompt my Account Reps to fix the problems Validating To confirm or substantiate that an item or set of items meets some specific criterion How can I determine if I am looking at the latest information for a part or supplier?

Modes vs. Search Activities Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
Marchionini, 2006
Spencer, 2006
Known-item
Exploratory
Don’t know what you need to know
Re-finding
Morville, 2010
Quit
Narrow
Expand
Pearl-growing
Pogo-sticking
Thrashing

Endeca UI Patterns: Overview of current patterns
Currently 19 design patterns (more coming)
Scope includes:
UI elements
breadcrumbs, search boxes
UI “assemblies”
guided navigation, search results, comparisons
UI frameworks
launch/landing pages
Search, discovery, analytics

Endeca UI Patterns: Key Components Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
Key Components
Problem Summary
Usages and Constraints
Solution elements
Related Patterns
Additional Examples
Anti-patterns

Faceted Navigation: Vertical Stack Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential.
Dimensions are “vertically stacked” – in priority order – adjacent to search results
Visibility is managed via a number of techniques (e.g. collapsible and expandable dimensions, etc.)
Meaningful natural language labels for the GN menu and Dimensions provide context and a call to action (e.g. “Refine Results by:”)
Visual cues (e.g. proximity, spacing, justification, color, font) are used to express hierarchy and containment (e.g. values within dimensions)
Solution Overview Sony Style

Faceted Navigation: Vertical Stack Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. Sony Style
Co-existence of non-faceted (Endeca) navigation menus
Potential for displaying too many choices
Height of menu vs. height of results area
Discoverability and learnability of guided navigation capabilities (including connection to results)
Constraints & Challenges

Faceted Navigation: Vertical Stack
Solution Elements
Reserve a consistent salient location on the page for available refinements
Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. Sony Style

Solution Elements
Provide a meaningful natural language label (and call to action) for the entire Guided Navigation menu UI element, e.g.:
“ Narrow Your Results”
“ Refine Your Results”
Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. Food Network

Solution Elements
Provide a meaningful natural language label for each Dimension

Solution Elements
Visually group Dimension labels and selectable Dimension Values through proximity, spacing/indents, color coding, etc.

Solution Elements
Visually distinguish Dimension labels from Dimension Values through font variations, color, justification, etc.

Solution Elements
Present Dimensions in order of “importance” and frequency of use
Note “importance” is a function of user needs and business priorities
Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. Marriott

Solution Elements
Select and present a subset of Dimensions that align with expected user task flow
What are users likely to need in various contexts?
Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. Carzone.ie

Solution Elements
Ensure that the most “important” Dimensions and Dimension Values are immediately visible to the user without scrolling
Copyright©2010 Endeca Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and confidential. Carzone.ie

Solution Elements
Limit the number of Dimension Values displayed within each Dimension to an easily scanned list

Solution Elements
Provide a visual or textual cue inviting users to see more/all hidden Dimension Values within a specific Dimension

Solution Elements
When users select the more/all option, present the additional Dimension Values in context

Current Patterns
Search
Search Box
Auto-Suggest
Search Within
Faceted Navigation
Vertical Stack
Open Parametric
Open Parametric Multi-select
Range Slider
Results Manipulation
Item Comparison
Persistent Comparison List
Promotional Spotlighting
Featured Results
Search Results Related Content
Mixed Content Results with Spotlights
Faceted Analytics
Analytics Dashboard
Analytics Applications
Spatial Visualization
Point Location Map
Region Map
Heat Map

Thank you
Tony Russell-Rose, PhD
UX Manager, EMEA
[email_address]
Blog: http://isquared.wordpress.com
Endeca Blog: http://facets.endeca.com/
Pattern Library: http://patterns.endeca.com/

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From Search to Discovery

by Tony Russell-Rose on Feb 09, 2011

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