Universal Search and Social Networking

Exploiting the features of each to enhance the other and the tools that

make it possible

Peter WallqvistRavn Systemspeter@ravn.co.uk

Universal Search

• Incorporates traditional ‘Enterprise Search’ with emphasis on any data source, including external

• Modern systems include features such as faceting, meta data biasing, query and result suggestions

• Can do a good job if users knows what they are looking for

Enterprise Social Networking

• Provides a platform for the people in the organisation to communicate and share content

• Makes information open and available to all• Keeps a record of previous discussions that

would otherwise get lost• Useful tool if users are incentivised to use it

Limitations of stand-alone solutions

Universal Search• There is little distinction

between quality content and items that are of less use

• Little control over ranking and relevance once system is running

• New and updated content doesn’t get attention

• Annotations and value additions might not be searched

Social Networking• Often becomes an isolated

application that is used only by some

• Little or no relation to the user’s everyday work

• Total focus on other users to interact with, ignoring other knowledge assets

Solution: Integration

• Treat any and all information within and outside the organisation as knowledge assets

• Create conversations, share ideas and add knowledge about these assets

• The focus will shift from social networking being simply about communication to being about new and existing knowledge and experience sharing

Integration in practice

• Let users interact with any knowledge asset • Let users explicitly express interest in any

knowledge asset (‘follow’)• Make the implicit and explicit interactions

with assets visible• Have a search engine tightly integrated with a

NoSQL object based data store handy

Integration in practice

• Instant updates to the index• Multiple name spaces• Links and hierarchy natural• Queries can be made based on far more than keywords• Make use of a Knowledge Graph – Exploit links that are available

Simple links – derived from content

Simple links – derived from content

Simple links – derived from content

Simple links – derived from content

Clever links – derived from semantics

Clever links – derived from semantics

Clever links – derived from semantics

Social links – derived from interactions

Social links – derived from interactions

Enhanced Universal Search

• Boost relevance of content that has been scored, graded, linked or accessed a lot

• Make added annotations and comments searchable• Find content based on links (simple, clever,

interactions)• Adjust relevance and suggestions based on user

profile and other input• In essence – “Enterprise Graph Search”

Enhanced Social Networking

• Treat all knowledge assets (people, documents, projects, discussions, etc) as entities you get updated on in your feed

• The anchor to the assets users are used to interacting with each day makes the initial use of the system more natural

• Identify Expert groups based on interaction with knowledge assets

The Knowledge Graph

The Knowledge Graph

The Knowledge Graph

The Knowledge Graph

The Knowledge Graph

Take Home Points

• Universal Search and Social Networking services are great ways to access and distribute knowledge and information

• If the two work together, the impact can be substantially greater

• Modern search / store / link platform required – classic flat reverse term index obsolete

Peter WallqvistRavn Systemspeter@ravn.co.uk