Implementing Website
Search in a Major University
Dan Jackson
Senior Web Architect, UCL
@beesman
“5th best university in the world”*
*depends who you ask
10 faculties
110 departments, institutes,
and research centres
820 websites
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wheelsy1/6034581045/
Generally, the UCL search was described as
‘not fit for purpose’ by those that use
it….The result is that many users do not use
the UCL search and instead use Google
search or find other navigation mechanisms.
Nomensa UCL Audit & User Research Report
CHALLENGE #1
SEARCH ENGINE
CONFIGURATION
When it comes to search,
install and forget no longer
works.
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/11028-site-search-install-optimise-and-maintain
CHALLENGE #2
CONTENT
QUALITY/SCOPE
UCL URLs
999,981
of those…
744,027
<5 page views in 2013
CHALLENGE #3
SEARCH UX
FACETS
RELATED
QUERIES
FILETYPE
FILTER
‘BEST BET’
ADVANCED SEARCH
AIM #1
BRING ORDER TO
THE CONTENT
CHAOS
AIM #2
IMPROVE THE
SEARCH UX
ISO 9241-210: Human-centred design for interactive systems
http://isquared.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/five-myths-of-the-ux-design-process/
‘Specify context of use’
Use cases
Personas
I want to accomplish a task and need
a definitive document
Governance –completing a process,
usually involving a definitive
document
I need to find out what research is
being carried on a topic across UCL
I need to find staff with specific
expertise or in a specific role
Development – developing a course,
a process, a project or event
Interface – supporting users
Relationship – external user building
a relationship with UCL
‘Specify requirements’
Scenario A
Persona:
Prospective postgraduate
student (‘Relationship’)
Task type:
Exploratory
Data:
Courses, Websites
Goal:
‘I want to find out what MSc
courses are available in
chemical engineering’
Scenario B
Persona:
Any
Task type:
Known item
Data:
People, Research,
Websites
Goal:
I want to find out how to
contact Anthony
Finkelstein’
Scenario C
Persona:
Researcher / academic /
media (‘Development’)
Task type:
Exploratory
Data:
Events, Websites,
Research
Goal:
‘I’m organising an event on
NLP want to find out who
else is working in the area
& what they’re doing’
‘Produce & evaluate design solutions’
Middle game: “the main phase in the search experience, where queries are
clarified, disambiguated, refined, etc.
‘Produce & evaluate design solutions’
Opening game: “the stage in the user journey prior to query articulation”
‘Produce & evaluate design solutions’
Opening game: “the stage in the user journey prior to query articulation”
QUALITY CONTENT
AND METADATA
Without good content quality no
search engine is going to deliver
quality (trustworthy) results.
Martin White, ‘Why All Search Projects Fail’
http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/why-all-search-projects-fail019558.php
FOCUS ON USERS
CHANGE
MANAGEMENT
ONGOING
INVESTMENT
White’s Rule of Search Investment:
The impact of search on business
performance depends more on the level of
investment in a skilled team of people to
support search than it does on the level of
investment in search technology.
Thanks
Twitter: @beesman