How the replacement University of Edinburgh central search service can facilitate a better digital user experience.

1. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
The vision for a new central
search service
Stratos Filalithis
IS LTW Website & Communications

2. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Overview
• Service history and current state
• Procurement project scope & goals
• Vision for a new search service
• Examples of future use

3. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Some history…
Pre-
2012
• Free Google solution
2012
• EU cookie directive
• Implementation of paid Google solution
2013
• Switch to paid Google solution
• Alternative search engine investigation project (UWS005)
2014-
2015
• New search responsive design (EdGEL)
• Investigation and implementation of new features, e.g. sorting by latest updated

4. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Current service state
• http://www.ed.ac.uk/search
• Use of paid Google solution to index & return results
• Indexes *.ed.ac.uk public web content & other University-related
domains
• Returns contact information by using a legacy script
• Can be added to any University Website outside EdWeb
• Limited back-end flexibility in understanding/controlling results
• Uses EdGEL

5. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Search survey (September 2014)
• 293 Participants
• Support staff: 171 (58.4%) – Academic staff: 76 (25.9%) – Students 46 (15.7%)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Votes
Enhancement

6. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Common search scenarios
• Search for a service
• MyEd, Euclid etc.
• Search for people’s contact details
• Phone number, email etc.
• Search for a course
• Popular with potential students
• Search for journals, publications, books
• Popular with students and academic staff

7. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
UWP014 Search procurement project
• https://www.projects.ed.ac.uk/project/uws005
• Business analysis
• Propose and prioritise criteria to achieve desired search experience
• Objectives
• Delivery a clear recommendation about technology
• Flexibility in scaling up to include more data sources (and which areas they
will cover e.g. staff contacts, student services, library etc.)
• Viable and sustainable long term search service management
• Followed up by an implementation project starting August 2017

8. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Search facilities discrepancy
• Different search elements for different sources

9. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Various data sources

10. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Bringing everything together
Public Web
Content
Protected
Web Content
PURE Events DiscoverEd DRPS
Other
Sources…
Search results relevant to context /
sources

11. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Example 1
• Autosuggest search results
per category / taxonomy
• www.bankwest.com.au
• www.ucl.ac.uk

12. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
• Categorize results
• Relevant items
• http://www.exeter.ac.uk
• http://www.southwales.ac.uk/
Example 2

13. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Example 3
• Faceted search
• Customised filtering
• “Best bet” task
• http://www.sheffield.ac.uk
• http://www.canberra.edu.au

14. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Example 4
• Visitor authentication (EASE Login)
• Role (Type of student / staff)
• Audience related results
• College/School news
• Personalized results
• Library loans, course information, notifications etc.
• Show protected information
• Intranet/Wiki content, Sharepoint sites etc.

15. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Search service management
• Flexibility in adding sources using APIs
• Look inside the black box
• Reveal results’ relative weighting against specific terms
• Promote/demote specific results against specific terms
• Use of categories/taxonomies/metatags
• Contextual search management

16. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Why we are here today?
• Explore the new search service vision opportunities
• Uncover existing and potential blockers
• Share experiences and ideas
• Discuss how this vision fits with specific services
• Collaborate for a better user (not only search) experience

17. THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
10th October 2016 UWP014 Search procurement workshop
Thank you!
• Any questions?
• Contact me: Stratos.filalithis@ed.ac.uk