As we're discovering at NCSU, automated spelling correction can be a
problem. Sometimes, you're simply looking for terminology that occurs
very infrequently (like an author's last name!) and if there is a result
that matches, that's what you want at the top.
The strategy we're using to counter this problem is to use relevance
ranking to rank exact matches higher than spell-corrected matches in the
results list. Seems like a good compromise for us.
When talking about redirecting a user's search to subject heading
terminology, I'm in the 'did you mean' camp. If we can build a
searchable synonym list/thesaurus structure, we can suggest the
authorized heading(s) if the user searches for terminology that occurs
in an un-authorized synonym. This gives the user the freedom to say,
"Yes, that's what I'm looking for" or "no, that's not what I want" and
helps give them the power to determine what's relevant.
-emily
Tim Hodson wrote:
> Amazon had (i haven't checked recently), an annoying habit of assuming
> that you had spelt something wrong, correcting it for you and giving you
> those results. It wouldn't be until you tried to browse the results
> that you would start to think "hang on these aren't relevant" and look
> at your search term to then find it was not as you typed it.
>
> NCSU (http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/searchcollection/) don't redirect the
> user, but they do use the subject headings as prominent refinement
> tools. I realise this isn't quite the same as redirecting a natural
> term to a thesaurus term, but it is easy to use, and above all
> understandable to the user. However, a basic search for 'sermons,
> english' (7894 results)is not the same as clicking on the subject
> heading 'sermons, english' (5599 results).
>
> Another case where redirection is used is in the Wikipedia.
> Disambiguation pages highlight possible different meanings, and where
> redirection is automatic, you have a 'redirected from...' message at the
> top of the page.
>
> Perhaps the UI metaphor for redirection from non-preffered terms should
> be to say, 'you searched for ..., this is what we have ...'
>
> As a slightly related point, How many users use the authority system
> searching? surely most users use a search based on keyword searching? -
> this would add weight to the idea that NCSU has it right by using the
> controlled vocabulary to allow a user to broaden or narrow their search,
> rather than using it as a search target in it's own right.
>
> Tim
> http://informationtakesover.co.uk <http://informationtakesover.co.uk/>
>
> On 09/06/06, *Walter Lewis* <lewisw_at_hhpl.on.ca
> <mailto:lewisw_at_hhpl.on.ca>> wrote:
>
> Megan Manchester wrote:
> > Wow, Jenn, this is really great. I had wondered if
> > anyone was doing this.
> Authority systems with keyword searching of non-preferred terms that
> either
> a) take you directly to the preferred terms or
> b) stop and show you the preferred term leaving it another click
> away
> are definitely a piece of the puzzle that needs to be addressed in any
> NGC (see how easy it is to fall into TLAs).
>
> I've been a big fan of them in our local work as well.
>
> Caution: be careful about taking the user to a result, the path to
> which isn't evident on screen. In other words, if I search for "Canata"
> and you return all the "Canada" results that may be great. But if you
> *really* wanted "Kanata" then the words "stupid system" might well
> escape our user's lips. For you, "stupid system" might then refer to a
> search interface from vendor X, while the "preferred term" on my site
> might be Vendor Y.
>
> I think we need to *try* to ensure that the results page gives *some*
> clue(s) as to how we went from your precisely spelled search values to
> our finely crafted result set, especially when the part in between is
> otherwise indistinguishable from magic.
>
> Walter Lewis
> Halton Hills
>
>
>
>
> --
> ---
> Tim Hodson
> informationtakesover.co.uk <http://informationtakesover.co.uk>
> www.timhodson.co.uk <http://www.timhodson.co.uk>
--
Emily Lynema
NCSU Libraries Fellow
Research and Information Services
Information Technology
919-513-8031
emily_lynema_at_ncsu.edu
Received on Fri Jun 09 2006 - 10:56:14 EDT