Search Nuggets » Beyond Search

Ideas on user driven content and search

Espen Klem — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 09:06:36 +0000

What do you do when you have a lot of content, but not many users interacting with it? Ideas for Comoyo on how to go from boring lists to a suggestion engine, letting the users do the heavy lifting.

User driven content and search

The 1-9-90 principle makes you understand who you have to build for: The super user.

Check out the presentation on LinkedIn: “Ideas on how to find a movie to watch“.

Thanks to Harald, Johannes and Tone for feedback and valuable input.

To Err is Human: eliminating search errors

Enda Flynn — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:27:40 +0000

For even the most well-planned enterprise search projects, there is still going to be a variable factor – that variable is people, or end users. Even those with the sharpest minds and walls full of certificates and diplomas are prone to making mistakes when it comes to interfacing with technology. Comperio’s “Sprint Zero” approach can uncover some of the issues commonly met by users and even the nature of errors being made. The method involves extensive end user interviews and search log analysis, which help establish users priorities, their way of working and what they actually need from an enterprise search solution - as opposed to what they think they need.

Here’s an interesting article from Beyond Search which looks further into this topic:

Comperio Provides a Safety Net at SharePoint

Entering a Misspelled word during internet search can lead to a few moments of irritation, but in the business world things become even more complicated. Typing one wrong letter can often send users spiraling downward towards a promotional disaster. Fortunately, some providers are hanging up a few safety nets to prevent the fall.

Microsoft just revamped Bing to recognize common errors during internet search. According to, ‘Bing reveals efforts to help with human search errors Bing will remember key words and phrases most frequently used. To correct issues the search feature itself was altered as:

“We used to show synonyms as part of our recourse links and this would open up some surface area for showing alterations. The query “define interesting” highlights an example where the recourse link was unnecessary. In this case, showing the Recourse Link didn’t enhance the experience. We’ve removed the Recourse Links in cases where we are very confident that they add little value or distract users.”

Basically, Microsoft created a net to catch errors in advance and Comperio can implement similar functions within SharePoint using Fast technology. The safety net Comperio provides can help catch users before they fall into the uncomfortable realm of presentation faux pas. They can customize the programming towards the specific needs of the business to increase efficiency.

For more information about Comperio, visit the company website at http://www.comperiosearch.com/.

via Jennifer Shockley, June 27, 2012

Beyond Search

Document Previews: Necessary but Tricky in Some SharePoint Installations

Enda Flynn — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:29:05 +0000

Thumbnails and previews are a very useful aspect of FAST Search for SharePoint. This feature makes the results of a search query visual, allowing users to recognise the right content faster! Here’s an interesting post from Beyond Search on this topic – it should be noted that document previews is in fact a FAST Search for SharePoint feature, as opposed to SharePoint 2010 Search as implied by the piece. Comperio’s Enterprise Search consultants work with customers to understand user needs, whether it’s visual previews or contextual search, and blends these needs with business goals and technical capaibilites to deliver an effective search strategy. Learn more at http://www.comperiosearch.com/services/search-consulting/.

Users find laundry lists of results a necessary but sometimes hard to use way to pinpoint needed information. Users looking for a PowerPoint presentation want a way to spot presentations without browsing, opening, scanning, and repeating the process. One feature of SharePoint is its document thumbnail and preview function. Instead of a list of text results, SharePoint can display search results with a thumbnail image of the document. Users can quickly identify a document type, which allows a research task to be accomplished more quickly.

There is, however, one challenge in some SharePoint installations. According to the document Office Web App & FAST Search Document Thumbnail and Preview scenarios, many users found document previews and thumbnails to not show up in FAST search results for SharePoint 2010. Microsoft acknowledges:

“Document Previews do not work with Claims Based Authentication and is a known limitation with the Product.”

Microsoft’s knowledge base article provides a number of ways to resolve the problem. But what does a SharePoint administrator do when a third party application is part of the mix? The SharePoint licensee needs immediate access to deep expertise with both SharePoint and FAST search to ensure that system performance and functionality are maintained at a high level.

Comperio, one of the world’s leading firms in FAST search engineering and consulting, can resolve preview issues quickly. Comperio’s engineers have in-depth experience with both SharePoint and FAST search. If you want to tap document previews using Microsoft’s native functions or employ third party software from firms such as BA Insight (www.bainsight.com), Comperio delivers. Comperio combines experience and technical expertise for leveraging FAST search within SharePoint. For more information about Comperio, visit our website at www.comperiosearch.com.

via Jennifer Shockley, June 22, 2012

Beyond Search