Comments on: Federated search: the challenges of incremental results http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/03/28/federated-search-the-challenges-of-incremental-results/ Covers topics in the federated search field. Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:27:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: Peter Murray http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/03/28/federated-search-the-challenges-of-incremental-results/#comment-1099 Peter Murray Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:38:10 +0000 http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/03/28/federated-search-the-challenges-of-incremental-results/#comment-1099 <blockquote>Usability concerns can be overcome by training, documentation, and education.</blockquote> Relying on the user to do something is to set the user up for failure. I'm trying to remember where I read it, but in a book I was going through recently the author suggested to managers that if a software developer starts a sentence with "If we could only get the user to..." then the manager should send the developer back to the drawing board. (I think it was one of the Clayton Christensen <i>Innovator's Dilemma</i> books.)

Usability concerns can be overcome by training, documentation, and education.

Relying on the user to do something is to set the user up for failure. I’m trying to remember where I read it, but in a book I was going through recently the author suggested to managers that if a software developer starts a sentence with “If we could only get the user to…” then the manager should send the developer back to the drawing board. (I think it was one of the Clayton Christensen Innovator’s Dilemma books.)

]]> By: Stephan Schmid http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/03/28/federated-search-the-challenges-of-incremental-results/#comment-1081 Stephan Schmid Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:31:32 +0000 http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/03/28/federated-search-the-challenges-of-incremental-results/#comment-1081 Hi, I'm running myself a European metasearch engine called eTools.ch and was evaluating the possibility of showing incremental results myself. Because there were too many usability issues (e.g. partly merged and ranked results), I decided to try out a user-selectable max. timeout: if a data source does not complete within the max. permitted time (two seconds by default), the results from this source will not/partly shown. A subsequent query with the same search term will most likely return the results from the not completed source, because it was cached in the meantime. Like that, I need less than 1.3 seconds in average to deliver the results from 13 data sources. Anyway, responsive data sources are a must for a federated search solution (have a look at the real-time statistics at http://www.etools.ch/searchInfo.do?r#status). Since the underlaying framework is very flexible, I can choose the best approach for each project individually. Greetings from Switzerland, Stephan Hi,
I’m running myself a European metasearch engine called eTools.ch and was evaluating the possibility of showing incremental results myself. Because there were too many usability issues (e.g. partly merged and ranked results), I decided to try out a user-selectable max. timeout: if a data source does not complete within the max. permitted time (two seconds by default), the results from this source will not/partly shown. A subsequent query with the same search term will most likely return the results from the not completed source, because it was cached in the meantime. Like that, I need less than 1.3 seconds in average to deliver the results from 13 data sources. Anyway, responsive data sources are a must for a federated search solution (have a look at the real-time statistics at http://www.etools.ch/searchInfo.do?r#status).
Since the underlaying framework is very flexible, I can choose the best approach for each project individually.

Greetings from Switzerland,
Stephan

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