Re: FAST and GRIS
Karl Fast <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.infodesign.facetedclassification |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
> - Amazon is operating in an environment where simplicity trumps > nearly all other considerations. While the result is much more than > 'good enough' for the purpose (consumer self-service), I doubt that > any search system that lacked even boolean operators would be > acceptable to LIS professionals. You wrote that this last point was really important. I totally agree, but probably for different reasons. You argue that a search system without boolean operators would be unacceptable to LIS professionals. True, but my criticism of LIS search systems is that we've been designing for the wrong user. For years we've been designing for the LIS professional. Or worse, we've believed that average users should simply become more sophisticated; learning boolean and intricacies of LCSH. Of course we've tried "educating" these silly users, but it hasn't worked. We *should* be designing for the average library user. This average user is the same person who shops at Amazon, uses 2.3 word queries on Google, and thinks boolean is a type of Mongolian fruitcake. A project like FAST, which is how this thread started, correctly understands that our target users are *not* LIS professionals. The big win is with the 80% of users who have basic search skills, not the 20% with sophisticated search skills. For that 20% we can either add extra features later, or give them a specialized search interface. Amazon gets this. Do libraries? Based on the state of OPACs today the answer, to my eyes, is a big fat no. For a profession in which service is a central concept, I find this distressing. --karl ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Rent DVDs from home. Over 14,500 titles. Free Shipping & No Late Fees. Try Netflix for FREE! http://us.click.yahoo.com/ybSovB/hP.FAA/3jkFAA/0bmwlB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ---------- Thanks for playing. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/