Last week I was honored and privileged to present at the ISKO UK meetup on the topic of ‘Searching, fast and slow’. This talk was a slightly updated version of the one I gave at Search Solutions 2020, in which I presented the case for a transformation of the systematic searching paradigm from the attributes on the left (which perpetuate ‘slow thinking’) to the attributes on the right (which facilitate ‘fast thinking’):
Procedural → Declarative
Static → Interactive
Monolithic → Executable
Strings → Objects
In that respect this talk aligns with the argument I presented at Search Solutions, but what is novel this time was the discussion afterwards: in particular, the suggestion that we could take the analogy further by exploring other software engineering concepts and practices that could inject further rigour, transparency and reproducibility into the systematic search/review process. What follows isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather an initial set, along with my thoughts on how they might potentially be applied (or have existing parallels) in the world of structured searching:
| Concept | Definition | Systematic searching equivalent |
| Design patterns | General, reusable solutions to commonly occurring problems | Facet analysis schemas? E.g. PICO, SPICE, SPIDER, CIMO etc. |
| Continuous integration | The practice where members of a team integrate their work frequently into a shared master copy | Living systematic reviews? The review is updated frequently, and usually published as online-only |
| Git | Tooling for version control: tracking changes in files, coordinating work among team members | Currently no direct equivalent, but search strategies would benefit from version control and auditability |
| Github | Internet hosting for development and version control | PRESS forum? Currently no direct equivalent, but search strategy development would benefit from open access, cloud-based, reproducible solutions |
| Containers | A way to package up code and its dependencies so the application runs reliably from one environment to another | Currently no direct equivalent, but search strategies would benefit from portability across databases |
| StackOverflow | A community question and answer site to share solutions and best practices | Expert searching mailing list? ISSG search filters resource? Currently no direct equivalent, but search strategy development would benefit from reusable solutions and knowledge sharing |
Feel free to add to this list, they are just my initial thoughts. I should also give credit to the ISKO community for being the catalyst for this: I think it’s an intriguing thread, and one to which I will give further thought. In the meantime, my slides are attached below.
Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SDLC_-_Software_Development_Life_Cycle.jpg
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