New release: Spring 2024

I am delighted to announce a new release of 2Dsearch, which features a new onboarding experience that provides a much more integrated search journey, particularly for new users. Why does this matter? Well, one of things we’ve come to appreciate since conceiving the 2D approach is the potential of that blank canvas, with its limitless possibilities for constructing precise, accurate searches from simple visual components. But that is also its biggest weakness — faced with a blank screen, many people just don’t know where to start.

This release addresses that, with an integrated onboarding experience that offers four clear journeys:

• a blank canvas
• a set of standardised templates (e.g. PICO, SPIDER, etc.)
• a set of curated samples (showing the types of searches that each source supports)
• an AI-powered search strategy generator (which we covered in our last release)

You could say this release merely re-packages what we had before, since each of these features already existed somewhere in the app. But they were buried within separate, unconnected journeys and options. In bringing them together, we now offer an integrated experience that provides the support you need throughout your search journey, whether you are novice user or seasoned expert.

This is particularly good news for students and researchers who don’t always want to spend time formulating a robust, accurate search strategy. Now you can choose how much support you need from the outset. Want it all done for you? Choose the AI option. Want to start from a proven framework? Choose a search template. Want to see what each source offers? Choose a curated sample. And if after all that you prefer the DIY approach, just select a blank canvas.

There’s lots more in this release, including many UX improvements and bug fixes, so we hope you enjoy checking it out. As always, 2Dsearch is free to use for everyone, whether you’re a student/researcher, an information professional or even a recruiter/sourcing professional. We’ve lots more planned for the next release, so if you’d like to help shape this or have comments or suggestions then do let us know. We’d be delighted to hear from you. 2Dsearch

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New Year, New Release (2024)

I am delighted to announce a new release of 2Dsearch, which includes a new feature we’re particularly excited about: the Search Strategy Generator. All you need do is enter your research question (in plain language) and 2Dsearch will identify the facets, offer suitable keyword suggestions and build your search for you, directly on the canvas.

This is great news for students (and many researchers) who, let’s face it, generally hate doing literature reviews and often avoid even trying to formulate a robust, accurate search strategy. But now, as long as you can articulate your research question, you’ll have a starting point which you can refine and modify, simply using drag and drop. And for the rest of us who are happy to create our own finely crafted strategies, well, who doesn’t like a head start for inspiration (or even an automated second opinion)?

What this means is that you can now use 2Dsearch to automatically generate and execute a single visual search across a multiple databases, and benefit from automated translations for many more. There’s lots more in this release, including many UX improvements and bug fixes, so we hope you enjoy checking it out. As always, 2Dsearch is free to use, whether you’re a student/researcher, an information professional or a recruiter/sourcing professional. We have more in the pipeline for the next release, so if you’d like to help shape this or have comments or suggestions then do let us know. We’d be delighted to hear from you. https://www.2dsearch.com/

 

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PhD project topics 2023

I am recruiting sponsored or self-funded PhD students who wish to undertake projects in the areas of natural language processing, information retrieval and human-computer interaction including the project outlines listed below. 

I have also appended some more focused MSc-level project ideas based on current work with 2Dsearch. Some of these have the potential to be scalable to PhD level work, so feel free to adapt / enhance them to accommodate your own ideas and interests. Note also that this list is not exhaustive: we have other project ideas and proposals which are not quite ready for public dissemination. 

If you are a self-funded student considering a PhD in any of the topics below please look at the further information and/or email me to discuss. 

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A new way to search for patents

I am delighted to announce a new release of 2Dsearch, with various improvements including an integration with two of the world’s biggest patent databases: Google Patents and Lens Patents. What this means is that you can now run a single visual search across 14 different sources and benefit from automated translations for many more. And with the addition of Google Patents and Lens Patents, you can now use 2Dsearch for patent searching and competitive intelligence, with free starter examples for each.

We’ve lots more planned for the next release, so if you’d like to help shape this or have comments or suggestions then do let us know. We’d be delighted to hear from you.

 

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Research Associate in natural language processing

An early Xmas present maybe…? I am currently hiring for the following position. The official job ad has yet to go live, hence the TBDs below, but I am happy to share further details with interested parties. If you know of anyone suitable, please do encourage them to get in touch ASAP:

Goldsmiths, University of London has a vacancy for the following part-time (0.4) position:  

Research Associate in the field of natural language processing 

This role is part of a strategic research project that aims to apply techniques from corpus linguistics and natural language processing (NLP) to capture and analyze the “public conversation” around the ongoing energy crisis. The energy crisis has become a nexus for important social debates around pivotal issues like climate change, as well as the distribution of economic burdens, equality, risk and sustainability. A study of public debates around the energy crisis can help us understand the complex intersection of discourses around fossil fuels, climate change, sustainability and social justice.   

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Research Associate in information retrieval / user experience

I am currently hiring for the following position. If you know of anyone suitable, please encourage them to apply!

Research Associate in the field of information retrieval / user experience (0.5 FTE)

This role is part of a Google-funded research project that aims to use AI (Artificial Intelligence) and data visualization to facilitate more efficient and effective approaches to information retrieval through the development of alternative approaches to search strategy formulation. This has the potential to minimize error and inefficiency in scientific research and facilitate more efficient and effective research workflows for the broader scientific community.

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PhD project topics 2022

I am recruiting sponsored or self-funded PhD students who wish to undertake projects in natural language processing and UX with focus on information retrieval, including the projects listed below.

Note that these topics are based on MSc level project proposals, but most have the scope and ambition to be scalable to PhD level work. Moreover, they are merely ideas at this stage, so feel free to adapt / enhance them to accommodate your own ideas and interests. Note also that this list is not exhaustive: we have other project ideas and proposals which aren’t quite ready for public dissemination.

If you are a self-funded student considering a PhD in any of the topics below please take a look at the further information and/or email me to discuss.

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2Dsearch: new release (Feb 2022)

Delighted to announce a new release of 2Dsearch, with various improvements including new preferences with options for snap-to-grid, advanced query parsing and default databases. We’ve also integrated the latest version of PolyGlot and fixed the query parser bug which so many of you raised.

What this means is that you can now use 2Dsearch to execute a single visual search across a dozen different databases and benefit from automated translations for many more. We’ve also made further improvements to the user experience and now provide example searches for each of the databases.

We’ve lots more planned for the next release, so if you’d like to help shape this or have comments or suggestions then please let us know.

 

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Searching grey literature: a single strategy to search multiple sources

In this short video we take a brief look at searching grey literature. Grey literature is the term given to unpublished documents such as dissertations, technical reports, conference abstracts, newsletters, presentations and so on. Even though they may not have been formally published, these documents can still contain vital information.

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Translating search strategies: a universal language for information needs?

In this short video we learn how to automatically translate search strategies to the syntax of different databases.

Let’s start with a simple search strategy that finds documents on the use of exercise to prevent obesity in older people:

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