Enterprise Search: An Information Architect's Perspective

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Enterprise SearchAn Information Architect’s Perspective

Peter Morville, SLA 2012

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“Search is among the most disruptive innovations of our time. It influences what we buy and where we go. It shapes how we learn and what we believe.”

Illustrated by Jeff Callender, Q LTD

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Marcia Bates: Berrypicking, Evolving Search (1989)

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Search is a…Complex, Adaptive System

Source: Search Patterns (2010)

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Principles of Design

Incremental Construction

Progressive Disclosure

Immediate Response

Predictability

Alternate Views

Recognition Over Recall

Minimal Disruption

Direct Manipulation

Context of Use

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Incremental Construction Progressive Disclosureone step at a time… more within reach…

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Immediate Response Predictabilityflow requires feedback… feed-forward features and results…

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Realtime Search

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Mobile Search

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Kiosk Search

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There is one timeless way of building.

It is thousands of years old, and the same today as it has always been.

The great traditional buildings of the past, the villages and tents and temples in which man feels at home, have always been made by people who were very close to the center of this way.

It is not possible to make great buildings, or great towns, beautiful places, places where you feel yourself, places where you feel alive, except by following this way.

And, as you will see, this way will lead anyone who looks for it to buildings which are themselves as ancient in their form, as the trees and hills, and as our faces are.

The Timeless Way of Building Christopher Alexander

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Window Place (180)

Everybody loves window seats, bay windows, and big windows with low sills and comfortable chairs drawn up to them.

May be part of:• Entrance Room (130)

• Zen View (134) • Light on Two Sides (159) • Street Windows (164)

May contain:

• Alcoves (179)• Low Sill (222)• Built-In Seats (202)• Deep Reveals (223)

A Pattern LanguageChristopher Alexander et al.

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Behavior Patterns

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Design Patterns

22Because typing (and typos) take time.

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Auto-Complete Auto-Suggest

25In search, results must be simple, fast, and relevant.

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43%

15%

10%

5%

Source: Marti Hearst’s Search User Interfaces (2009)

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32Because users don’t know where to look.

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37Multiple ways to search (and browse) in combination.

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"laptop" > $910 - $1070 > Hewlett Packard > At least 1 GB > 14 - 15 Inch > Bluetooth > 4 - 5 lbs

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Structured Results

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Actionable Results

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Redefining Search

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Question Answering

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Decision Making

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Pattern Recognition

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Understanding

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What We Search

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How We Search

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find·a·bil·i·ty n

The quality of being locatable or navigable.

The degree to which an object is easy to discover or locate.

The degree to which a system or environment supports wayfinding, navigation, and retrieval.

am·bi·ent adj

Surrounding; encircling; enveloping (e.g., ambient air)

the ability to find anyone or anything from anywhere at anytime

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in•for•ma•tion ar•chi•tec•ture n.

• The structural design of shared information environments.

• The combination of organization, labeling, search, and navigation systems in web sites and intranets.

• The art and science of shaping information products and experiences to support usability and findability.

• An emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

Polar Bear IA

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Framing

1. Classic Information Architecture (Polar Bear).

2. Web Strategy (Web, Mobile, Social).

3. Cross-Channel Strategy (Physical, Digital).

4. Ubiquitous IA (Intertwingularity)..

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The Library of Congress“To further the progress of knowledge and

creativity.”.

FragmentationFragmentation into multiple sites, domains, and identities is clearly a major problem. Users don’t know which site to visit for which purpose.

Findability Users can’t find what they need from the home page, but most users don’t come through the front door. They enter via a web search or a deep link, and are confused by what they find. Even worse, most never use the Library, because its resources aren’t easily findable.

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1. One Library

2. Core Areas

3. Network Intelligence

Web Strategy

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Interfaces• Portal• Search• Object• Set• Page

Caveats• Visual Design• Starting Point

Wireframes

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Where architects use forms and spaces to design environments for inhabitation, information architects use nodes and links to create environments for understanding.Jorge Arango, Architectures

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65“Desire Lines” Photo: Berkeley Path Gallery by Kevin Fox

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Modes of Information Seeking

Marcia Bates, UCLA (2002)

“We absorb perhaps 80 percent of all our knowledge through simply being aware in our social context and physical environment.”

Experiences Across Channels

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“People keep pretending they can make things deeply hierarchical, categorizable, and sequential when they can’t.

Everything is deeply intertwingled.” Ted Nelson

“Information is blurring the lines between products and services to create multi-channel, cross-platform, trans-media, physico-digital user experiences.” Peter Morville

72Source: Subject to Change (2008)

World’s Best Information

Architect

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Desktop

Kiosk

Mobile

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• Location (GPS)• Orientation (Compass)• Motion (Accelerometer)• Orientation/Motion (Gyroscope)• Touch (Multi-Touch, Gestural)• Light (Ambient)• Proximity• Device (Bluetooth)• Audio (Microphone)• Image/Video (Camera)• RFID (Soon)

Sensors

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“After a half-hour, a three-tone alert sounds…If the bottle

still has not been opened, the system makes an automated

reminder phone call to the patient or a caregiver. The

GlowCap system compiles adherence data which anyone

can be authorized to track. That way the doctor can make

sure Gramps stays on his meds.”

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BrainPort

Camera in glasses captures video.

Image recreated on grid of 400 electrodes.

User feels the shape on the tongue.

Brain learns to see through the tongue.

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ProductPackagingPrint CatalogCall CenterWebsiteBlogFacebookTwitterYouTubeEmailDirect MailRadioTelevision

ChannelWebSocial MediaEmailMessagingTelephonePrint

PlatformWebiOSAndroidMac OS XMS Windows

DeviceDesktopLaptopMobileTabletTelevisionKiosk

ScaleCovertMobilePersonalEnvironmentalArchitecturalUrban

MediaBookNewspaperMagazineVideoAudioPosterBillboard

ContextHomeWorkWalkingDrivingShoppingPlanePartyPersonalSocialLocationTimeTask

Touchpoint Taxonomy

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Design PrinciplesDesign

Principles

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Cross-Channel Strategy

Composition multi- or cross-channel; mix of

platforms, devices, media; coherence

Consistency brand, features, organization, interaction

balanced against value of optimization

Connection links, tags, signs, maps; call to action

Continuity bookmark, resume playback, flow

Context personal, social, location, time, task

Conflict identify/resolve, org chart, free-riding

http://findability.org/archives/000652.php

86Adapted from Cross-Platform Service User Experience

portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1851637

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Craft beautiful designs that deliver a quality experience

to your users no matter how large (or small) their display.

1. Fluid Grids2. Flexible Images3. Media Queries

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Why Separate Mobile & Desktop Web Pages at Bagcheck?

With a dual template system, we were able to optimize:

1. Source Order2. Media (Speed, Quality, Interaction)3. URL Structure4. Application Design

Navigation at Bottom

Navigation at Top

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To make the right decisions about composition and

consistency, you need a cross-channel strategy.

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Design for

Connection

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Over 50% of REI online business is picked up in a store.

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BarcodeIdentifies a Product (e.g. Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes 14

oz.)

QR CodeInitiates a Response (e.g., URL, Message, Phone, SMS,

Email)

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Price CheckProduct DetailEndless Aisle

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Continuity

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Conflict

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Context

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Marathon

Triathlon

Cross-Channel

We must leave ourcomfort zones, cross-

train,and collaborate.

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Source: delightability.com

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morville@semanticstudios.com

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morville@semanticstudios.com

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UX Swimlanes

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morville@semanticstudios.com

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What architects do for buildings, information architects do for…

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“There is a problem in discussing systems only with words. Words and sentences must, by necessity, come only one a time in linear, logical order. Systems happen all at once. They are connected not just in one direction, but in many directions simultaneously. To discuss them properly, it is necessary to use a language that shares some of the same properties as the phenomena under discussion.”

"In an era of cross-channel experiences and product-service systems, it makes less and less sense to design sitemaps and wireframes without also..."

“…mapping the customer journey, modeling the system dynamics, and analyzing impacts upon business processes, incentives, and the

org chart."

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morville@semanticstudios.com

Richard Saul Wurman’s Sandcastles (1971). Stolen from The Nature of IA by Dan Klyn (2010).

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IA Therefore I AmPeter Morvillemorville@semanticstudios.com

Understanding IA (Prezi)http://is.gd/iaprezi

Bloghttp://findability.org/

Twitter@morville