On Feb 24, 2005, at 8:55 AM, Dr Robert Sanderson wrote:Web searches are looking for data that you do not know. One presumes that the opposite is true when you are searching within your own database of citations.
I don't think this is necessarily the case. Often I do know generally what I need (mid-1990s article by author x and y), but equally commonly, I'm looking for "anything related to topics a and b", where "anything" could include annotation content.
Certainly. But as you say, you often know what you're looking for. So you need a more advanced search interface than just a google like single query box.
Have you read Tim Bray's discussions on search interfaces? Research and everyday anecdote shows that when presented a choice between using a simple query interface, and a complex one, users overwhelmingly choose the former.
Here are the main requirement axes:
* Easy to use * Precision * Flexibility
A single untyped field maximises the first axis, but fails appallingly on the second two unless the backend search handler is very very good.
Otherwise you need user education to teach them how to specify complex queries in your simple interface.
In my eXist-based database, I can easily and quickly find whatever I need (including as I said, stuff that I actually do need but completely forgot about) simply by using a google query syntax.
Sure. There's plenty of relevance ranking algorithms available for these sorts of things. But this precludes the use of any sort of stupid database (such as a relational database). Unless you can ensure that every database backend will have some clever relevance ranking system, you need to have multiple fields to allow for precise searches.
It also means that you will certainly not be able to use that same query interface for remotely searching library databases.
Rob
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