Last week I announced the line-up for Search Solutions 2012, to be held at BCS London on November 29. But this year we’re also offering a Tutorial Programme, which will run the day before (November 28). This year’s programme consists of four half day-tutorials:
- 09:30-12:30 MapReduce Algorithms in Information Retrieval, (Dr. Dell Zhang, Birkbeck, University of London)
- 09:30-12:30 Patent Searching and Landscaping (Dr. John Tait, johntait.net ltd.)
- 14:00-17:30 Applications of Text Processing (Dr. Michael Oakes, University of Sunderland
- 14:00-17:30 Designing Search Usability, (Dr. Tony Russell-Rose, UXLabs)
I’ve appended further details of my tutorial below. Full details of pricing and registration will be available on the Search Solutions website shortly. Hope to see you there!
Overview
This tutorial explores the fundamental concepts and principles of User-Centred Design for information search and discovery and demonstrates how to apply them in a range of practical contexts. Participants will learn how to differentiate between various types of search behaviour, develop an understanding of the key dimensions within the search user experience, and discover how to apply UI design patterns to commercial search applications. The session concludes with a group exercise applying these skills to a range of practical design challenges.
Objectives
The aim of this tutorial is to deliver a learning experience grounded in good scholarship, integrating the latest research findings with insights derived from the practical experience of designing and optimizing an extensive range of commercial search applications. It focuses on the development of transferable, practical skills that can be learnt and practiced within a half-day session.
Benefits
Participants in this tutorial will:
- Explore the fundamental concepts and principles of Human-Centred Design for information search and discovery
- Study models of human information-seeking behavior and how to apply interaction design principles based on those models
- Learn how to differentiate between various types of search behaviour: known-item, exploratory, lookup, learning, investigation, etc. and understand how they may be combined to form composite search strategies and patterns
- Develop an understanding of the key dimensions of user type, goal, context and mode of interaction, and how to apply these dimensions when designing for different user contexts
- Understand the role of design patterns, and how to apply UI design principles and patterns from various libraries in designing search user interfaces
- Gain an awareness of the key design resources available within the HCIR community and how to apply these to practical design challenges
Audience
- Information architects and user experience designers
- Developers and managers of search projects
- IR researchers and other search specialists interested in the designing more effective user experiences for information retrieval and discovery
Structure
This half-day tutorial is structured as follows:
- Introductions and objectives
- Understanding Search & Discovery Behaviour
- Varied Solutions for Varied Contexts
- Faceted Navigation & Search
- UI Design Pattern Libraries
- Group Exercise: UX Review
- Group Exercise: UX Review (Feedback & Presentations)
- Conclusions & Wrap-up
NOTE: to get the best out of this tutorial, participants should bring an Internet-enabled device (preferably a laptop or tablet).
Instructor
Tony Russell-Rose is founder and director of UXLabs, a consultancy specialising in user experience research, design and analytics. Before founding UXLabs he was Manager of User Experience at Endeca and editor of the Endeca UI Design Pattern Library, a resource dedicated to best practice in the design of search and discovery experiences. Prior to this he was technical lead at Reuters, specialising in advanced user interfaces for information access and search. And before Reuters he was Group Manager at Canon Research Centre Europe, where he led a team developing next generation information access products and services. Earlier professional experience includes a Royal Academy of Engineering fellowship at HP Labs and a Short-term Research Fellowship at BT Labs.
His academic qualifications include a PhD in human-computer interaction, an MSc in cognitive psychology and a first degree in engineering, majoring in human factors. He also holds the position of Honorary Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Interactive Systems Research, City University, London. He is currently vice-chair of the BCS Information Retrieval group and chair of the IEHF Human-Computer Interaction group.
Related Posts:
- Search Solutions 2012: your opportunity to shape this year’s event
- Search Solutions 2011: Highlights and Reflections
- Informer – Spring 2012 edition
- Search Solutions 2012: lineup announced!
- Everything you ever wanted to know about search (but were afraid to ask?)
MapReduce Algorithms in Information Retrieval
(Dr. Dell Zhang, Birkbeck, University of London)
