Faceted Navigation: Search and Browse

1. Faceted Navigation:Search and Browse Tom ReamyChief Knowledge Architect KAPS Group Knowledge Architecture Professional Services http://www.kapsgroup.com

2. Agenda • Introduction: Essentials of Facets and Taxonomies • Facets and Taxonomies in Enterprise Environment • Designing a Browse, Facets, Search Infrastructure • Future Trends • Conclusion

3. KAPS Group: General • Knowledge Architecture Professional Services • Virtual Company: Network of consultants – 12-15 • Partners – Convera, Inxight, FAST, etc. • Consulting, Strategy, Knowledge architecture audit • Taxonomies: Enterprise, Marketing, Insurance, etc. • Services: • Taxonomy development, consulting, customization • Technology Consulting – Search, CMS, Portals, etc. • Metadata standards and implementation • Knowledge Management: Collaboration, Expertise, e-learning • Applied Theory – Faceted taxonomies, complexity theory, natural categories

4. Essentials of Facets • Facets are not categories • Entities or concepts belong to a category • Entities have facets • Facets are metadata - properties or attributes • Entities or concepts fit into one or more categories • All entities have all facets – defined by set of values • Facets are orthogonal – mutually exclusive – dimensions • An event is not a person is not a document is not a place. • Facets – variety – of units, of structure • Numerical range (price), Location – big to small • Alphabetical, Hierarchical - taxonomic

5. Essentials of TaxonomiesInternal Organization • Formal Taxonomy – parent – child relationship • Is-A-Kind-Of ---- Animal – Mammal – Zebra • Partonomy – Is-A-Part-Of ---- US-California-Oakland • Browse Classification – cluster of related concepts • Food and Dining – Catering - Restaurants • Taxonomies are multiple purpose • Indexing, browsing, communication, applications • Taxonomies deal with complex, not compound • Conceptual relationships – category membership • Contextual relationships – Computers & Software • Taxonomies deal with semantics & documents • Multiple meanings and purposes • Essential attributes of documents are not single value

6. Taxonomies and Facets – SummaryIs This a Facet? • Important! A facet is not the same as top level categories in a taxonomy. • Facets – easy to use, more intuitive, easier to develop and maintain • Taxonomy – richer knowledge representation, complex relationships and context, multi-purpose assets • Faceted Navigation is an active interface – dynamic combination of search and browse- dialogue • Facets are filters, multidimensional • Browse within a facet, filter by multiple facets

7. Facets and TaxonomiesEnterprise Environment • Enterprise Content – different world than eCommerce • More Content, more kinds, more unstructured • Not a catalog to start – less metadata and structured content • Complexity -- not just content but variety of users and activities • Enterprise – Question of Balance / strategy • More facets = more findability (up to a point) • Fewer facets = lower cost to tag documents • Facet structures are more complex than in eCommerce • Multiple structures, more subject like • Need to start with major research (KA Audit) • Content, users, business activities, information technologies

8. Facets and Taxonomies Enterprise Environment – Case One – Taxonomy, 7 facets • Taxonomy of Subjects / Disciplines: • Science > Marine Science > Marine microbiology > Marine toxins • Facets: • Organization > Division > Group • Clients > Federal > EPA • Instruments > Environmental Testing > Ocean Analysis > Vehicle • Facilities > Division > Location > Building X • Methods > Social > Population Study • Materials > Compounds > Chemicals • Content Type – Knowledge Asset > Proposals

9. Facets and Taxonomies Enterprise Environment – Case Two – Taxonomy, 4 facets • Taxonomy of Subjects / Disciplines: • Geology > Petrology • Facets: • Organization > Division > Group • Process > Drill a Well > File Test Plan • Assets > Platforms > Platform A • Content Type > Communication > Presentations • Issues • Not enough facets • Wrong set of facets – business not information • Ill-defined facets – too complex internal structure

12. Facets, Search, Browse Enterprise Design Issues - General • What is the right combination of elements? • Faceted navigation, metadata, browse, search, categorized search results, file plan • What is the right balance of elements? • Dominant dimension or equal facets • Browse topics and filter by facet • When to combine search, topics, and facets? • Search first and then filter by topics / facet • Browse/facet front end with a search box

13. Facets, Search, BrowseEnterprise Design Issues - General • How many Facets do you need? • “Can’t we start with just 1 or 2 facets and see how it works?” • Balance of metadata overhead, findability, personalization • Distributed model reduces cost – enables more facets • ECM – publishing process, policy • Distributed taggers – users, user communities (2.0), KM-Library • Auto Populate – Organization, Location • Software – entity extraction, summarization, auto-categorization • Rule of Thumb: • Small catalog of homogenous items 3-4 • Enterprise content – 4-8

14. Facets, Search, BrowseEnterprise Design Issues – Special Topics • Publisher / creator • Organization or Author – user preference, size • Internal Structure • Is it OK to have a facet organized by another facet? • Organization as a facet and as internal structure of the Facilities facet • Candidates – don’t need a universal set that everyone agrees on • Location important for some, but not others • Hidden facets – only show up when the content calls for it? • Some content has special facets – price • Only shows up if intersection contains items with price metadata

15. Facets, Search, BrowseEnterprise Design Issues - Sources • User Research – KA audit • How do users think? • Share drives as a source for candidates, labels – but be careful • What labels do they use? • Assets vs. Facilities and instruments / Processes vs Activities • Issue – labels that people use to describe their business and label that they use to find information • Building Facets – facetize the taxonomy • Pull out facets – • Chemistry – Agents/Compounds, Instruments • Chemistry and Health -- methods • Current or projected metadata as source • Content Types – presentations, well reports, policy

16. Facets and Taxonomies: Future Trends • Facets and Visualization • Simple - Browse visually, filter by words • Multiple Paths and multiple, mixed modes of presentation • Facets and Facts / Ontologies • Types of relationships: People have friends, family, bosses and employees, jobs • Implications of those relationships – doctor has patients, salesman has customers • Facets are a foundation for precise rules and relationships • Define important types of relationships for each facet dimension.

17. Facets and Taxonomies: Future Trends • Advanced Applications – Text and Data Mining, Alerts • Combining Subject Matter and Topical Facets • Map Topics and Facets • Quality control for drilling new well in region X • Geography facet and terrorism taxonomy • Bomb making in Sudan • User Interface – Mashups (an unfortunate term) • Subscribe to alert on terrorism in Sudan • Can navigate to bomb making in Sudan • Can navigate to terrorism in Africa

18. Facets and Taxonomies: Future Trends

20. Conclusion • Combine Taxonomy and Facets, not either/or • Combine formal power with ability to support multiple user perspectives • Mashups and facets are a natural combination • Taxonomies and facets are both part of intellectual infrastructure – support multiple approaches, applications • Design starts with self-knowledge – users, content, activities • The future is the combination of simple facets (name catalogs of entities) with rich taxonomies with complex semantics / ontologies • Compound and Complex work, Complicated doesn’t

21. Questions? Tom Reamytomr@kapsgroup.com KAPS Group Knowledge Architecture Professional Services http://www.kapsgroup.com