Taxonomies or search – ending the debate! – part II
Smart and experienced IT executives know they can’t ignore the different styles of categorization their end users demand when searching. To increase discovery, users wish to navigate through a search result using faceted or structured navigation. Some users want dynamic categorization – clustering – while others refuse to trust anything that is not pre-defined within a taxonomy structure. Many organizations fail to meet the challenge of accommodating these competing search strategies, alienating one group or another.
I noted last time the seemingly endless debate over the merits of taxonomies versus search. I think one of the reasons this debate lives on is the difficulty in understanding the importance of their integration. The answer is that this is not an either / or question. You need both.
Vivisimo resolves the classic debate between taxonomies and search by simply saying, “Yes.” We are an enterprise search company and can work in the environment that you feel is best for your users. The Vivisimo Velocity search engine supports clustering, auto-classification, conceptual search, end-user tagging and other advanced navigation elements. It can also consume taxonomies and classify an organization’s content against them. Through its partnership with WAND, Inc. (http://vivisimo.com/press/2009/wand-20090126.html), Vivisimo provides taxonomies for organizations that haven’t developed their own and need something to get started.
The debate will likely continue. But each organization must decide what makes the most sense, based on a thorough understanding of user needs as they see them today and in the future. Key questions to ask: Could my users benefit from searching similar terms as suggested by a vocabulary? Do some prefer to navigate using categories, while others want a search box? Are users accustomed to static categories or do they want a dynamic structure that regularly change as the content changes? A careful assessment of needs and preferences will lead to the best overall enterprise search solution for enhancing discovery.
Tags: auto-classification, clustering, conceptual search, enterprise search, intranet search, social search, tagging, taxonomy, topical clusters
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