Relational Navigation: Unifying Discovery, Access and Participation
client achieved a breakthrough user experience for its customers. The application extends the search and browse metaphor over each of six information types: headlines, articles, downloads, blogs, podcasts and forum posts. These information containers allow a single unified view of all information available. Users are able to personalize the existence and order of the information containers. In addition, many of the information types support additional data visualizations including tag clouds, contributor clouds and timelines. Each of these visualizations puts the user in control of the information by suggesting the next information discovery step to take. The community now enjoys a fast, intuitive and satisfying customer experience that puts the user in control of the discovery process. This could not have been accomplished without relational navigation.
Relational Navigation
Relational navigation puts multi-source content at the user’s fingertips to propel unified access, discovery and participation. Relational navigation is built around the following key experiences:
- Relationships drive action. Seeing and understanding relationships between information allows users to discover and participate in the information flow. This is unlike search, which is all about exact word matches and the user’s ability to remember and use keywords. Also, unlike guided navigation, which supports fixed relationships and drill-down only, relational navigation identifies relationships dynamically and allows users to pivot around the information set. Relational navigation is different from keyword search and from guided navigation.
- Context is key to direction. Context helps users decide what is of interest and how to proceed. Navigation context is the directional signpost that helps explorers find their way in unchartered territory. Navigation metaphors —expand, narrow and pivot—will help information seekers by giving them contextual direction. Search shakes words from the tree, but in a singular list they lose all meaning. Context provides a clear difference from search by maintaining context throughout the discovery process.
- Participation increases value. By facilitating participation, relational navigation allows websites to increase traffic, interest, and stickiness leading to more relevance and value.
Keyword search alone in information-dense websites is obsolete. Relational navigation is different because it provides context which drives user action. Search provides listings—relational navigation is based on graphs of relationships between information. This allows users to follow these relationships for an unanticipated navigation and discovery experience.
Unify Discovery, Access and Participation
According to Enterprise Strategy Group, “One of the reasons the information access market is experiencing a fundamental shift is because enterprises are trying to extract more value from their information assets, thus demanding more features from their search vendors. Enterprises no longer want point solutions to facilitate one function such as enterprise search; rather, they want solutions that blend together different functions such as desktop and Web search, knowledge and content management and analytics and business intelligence. Going beyond traditional search by allowing
users to conduct flexible, spontaneous inquiries, users can also interact with results to uncover relationships that help them find out what they may not know. Discovering these previously unforeseen relationships is a powerful function that gives users the scope they need to make critical business decisions. Without scope, many decisions made in business today could be compromised.”
By implementing a relational navigation solution, you can:
- Deliver on the promise of everything digital in a single view for better/faster
information access; aggregate, navigate and participate; - Improve productivity by providing scope and context to the right user to the right information with the least amount
of clicks; - Reconcile the human desire to start at a “bird’s eye” perspective of information assets before driving down to a “bug’s eye” level; and
- Conduct business across an extended enterprise for your e-business initiatives with minimal impact to development
resources or existing applications.
Siderean Software, Inc. enables organizations to navigate their digital universe. Siderean’s information access platform, Seamark Navigator, uses patented relational navigation technology to allow customers to keep pace with their exploding information access requirements. The next step in the evolution of information access, Siderean’s solutions break through traditional search technology limitations to deliver high-value, high-impact information to users in a personalized and intuitive way. For more information about Siderean, please visit
www.siderean.com.
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