npr.orgsearch analysis

11/1/14

Justin Bend

justin.bend@gmail.com

IDIA 630: Information Architecture

FALL 2014

http://www.npr.org

2

Content Segmentation

Topics

• News

• Arts & life

• Music

Programs

• Morning Edition

• Fresh Air

• Etc…

Majority of content is complimentary, and secondary, to on-air broadcast content

observations

3

HOME

http://www.npr.org/

HOME > MUSIC

http://www.npr.org/music/

HOME > PROGRAMS > FRESH AIR

http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/

HOME > MUSIC > FIRST LISTEN

http://www.npr.org/series/98679384/first-listen/

CURRENT

• No “search” or “go” button requiring

keyboard ‘enter/return’ to initiate

query

• Full search text field only displayed on

homepage

• Inconsistent UI treatment

• Search “hiding”

• No stemming or query suggestion

ENHANCEMENT

• Provide a button for conventional form

entry web users

• Consistency with full text field

• Dynamic term suggestions

results

4

SEARCH TERM: direct democracy

CURRENT

• Vertical result set

• Sorted by “best match” by default

• Results >10 require pagination (recall

always yields >10)

• 10 results per page (user cannot

augment result count per page)

• Total result count displayed

ENHANCEMENT

• Highlight search terms in query

results

• Where applicable, provide audio

snippet of underlying content

NPR’s enterprise implementation of

Google’s Custom Search Engine provides

maximum recall and rapid response, at the

expense of precision.

results (…continued)

5

SEARCH TERM: direct democracy

ENHANCEMENT

• Allow users to augment the result

count display per page

• Aligning with Program UI aesthetic,

use consistent color scheme to

differentiate content belonging to

certain programs

• All Things Considered

• Morning Edition

• Etc…

• Once query selection is made, achieve

effective wayfinding with breadcrumb

navigation on each detail page

Document

Surrogates:

• Title

• Program name

• Summary

• Image (optional)

• Publication Date

• Author

filters

6

ENHANCEMENT

• Assess NPR search logs to glean

contemporary utilization

• Assumed to be low

• Majority outcome: no results

• Dynamically augment the result set

with each filter application

• Reimagine precision by meeting user

where their query rely began:

• “When/Where Did You Hear This?”

CURRENT

• “heard on air”:

TRUE or FALSE (boolean)

• publication date ranges

• programs

• User must reinitiate query but

‘enter/return’ from the keyboard,

or by clicking the magnifying

glass icon button

• Results not dynamically

reactive to filter application

misspelling, etc. = no results

7

ENHANCEMENT

• Best match should be attempted for

terms as-typed, with term suggestion

provided to user for query reformation

• Instruction should be offered to

achieve better results

• At minimum, no result set could

feature contemporary featured

content links to avoid the “dead end”

CURRENT

• No spelling suggestions

• Immediate authority file synonym

ring result return—not transparent

to user

• Likely outcome of misspelling:

no results

• “There were no documents that

matched your search request.”

mobile

8

Uniform functionality from desktop

browser-based search user interface

Limited result snippet display

• Title

• Program Name

Uniform usability enhancement

recommendations apply

notes

1. Budiu, Raluca. “Search Is Not Enough: Synergy Between Navigation and Search.” http://www.nngroup.com/

articles/search-not-enough/ NN/g Nielsen Norman Group: Evidence-Based User Experience

Research, Training, and Consulting. 7 Sept 2014. Web. 15 Oct 2014.

2. Google. Google Custom Search Engine, 2014. https://www.google.com/cse/ Web. October 2014.

3. Hearst, Marti. Search User Interfaces. Cambridge University Press, 2009. E- Book.

4. Morville, Peter and Callender, Jeffery. Search Patterns. O’Reilly Media, Inc., 2010. Print.

5. Morville, Peter and Rosenfeld, Louis. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. O’Reilly & Associates,

Inc., 2006. Print.

6. NPR. National Public Radio, 2014. http://www.npr.org/ Web. October 2014.

7. Sherwin, Katie. “The Magnifying-Glass Icon in Search Design: Pros and Cons.”

http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ magnifying-glass-icon/ NN/g Nielsen Norman Group: Evidence-Based

User Experience Research, Training, and Consulting. 23 Feb 2014. Web. 15 Oct 2014.

8. Wodtke, Christina and Govella, Austin. Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web. New Riders, 2009.

Print.9

questions?(thank you)