Roundtable |
Tools and techniques for tuning up search
July 18 , 2007
11:00 am - 2:00 pm Eastern, 8:00 am - 11:00 am Pacific |
See also Best practices for search systems
By 2003, it was obvious that the IRS needed to improve the effectiveness of its search engine. After developing a "search roadmap" and looking at other products on the market, the agency decided that, although a new product might offer some benefits, the cost of acquiring and customizing it was too great. Instead, they decided to "tune up" their existing search engine. By several different metrics — calls to the Help Desk, number of queries with no results, user satisfaction scores — the results were a success.
In this roundtable, Marcia Kerchner of the MITRE Corporation will tell how the IRS improved the user search experience through usability studies, document engineering, query enhancement, and results improvement. She used a common sense approach that will work with most search engines, and her description of the process is easy for the layman to understand.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This event is for practitioners only. Space is limited to permit everyone's active participation. If you have limited
familiarity with selecting and customizing search engines, you
can take the pre-roundtable primer on July 17. Software vendors
and systems integrators are welcome to attend but only in their role as
practitioners.
This session will be of interest to corporate taxonomists, knowledge managers, search system administrators, Web publishers, information architects, and business unit managers who want to improve their staff's productivity.
DISCUSSION TOPICS
Our members have indicated an interest in discussing
the following questions and topics. Participants are encouraged to ask additional questions during the session.
• What is a "search road map" and how do you create one?
• What are some proven techniques for identifying search barriers so that you can do meaningful before/after metrics?
• What matters most to users: finding every relevant document that exists in a collection or finding the exact document that meets their need?
• How do you deal with the fact that searchers and authors use different words that mean the same thing?
• How should you be using log data to enhance search?
• What are best practices for designing the user interface for search?
• In general, how does the cost of tuning an existing search engine compare with that of acquiring and customizing a new search engine?
FORMAT
The format is teleconference. Participants will receive a list of attendees,
a password to access a list of members-only background articles on the
Montague Institute Web site, and a tol-free phone number to
join the teleconference.
COST
$400 per person (members), $650 per person
(nonmembers). Nonmembers who register for this roundtable automatically
become members of the Society of Knowledge Base
Publishers.
Additional people from the same team can attend at
a reduced rate of $325 (includes full Society membership).
DATE, TIME
July 18 , 2007 11:00 am - 2:00 pm Eastern, 8:00 am - 11:00 am Pacific
REGISTRATION
To register, call (413) 367-0245. We can fax a
pro forma invoice, and we accept Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover,
and Diner's Club. Regardless of method, we must receive payment prior to the
event.
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