Matching v. Searching
A blog on matching, and why it's better than searching, with a slight bias toward iXmatch, by Bret A. BusseTechnorati Profile Blogroll This
10.8.2003
XIOtech licenses iXfind
XIOtech Corporation, a storage networking pioneer, signed an agreement to license iXfind. “Traditional searching no longer works for people serious about finding relevant content,” said Bryan Scheuler, Director of Services, XIOtech. “We selected iXmatch because of its best-in-class technology, high quality results, outstanding performance and ease of integration. iXmatch’s software will enable us to take full advantage of the content we now have available through our new content management system from Einsof.
9.25.2003
The sizzle
I attended an AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) content management seminar today. There were presentations by Doculabs, Documentum, Stellent, eVisory and bunch of others. The focus was entirely on creating and managing content, with barely a mention of what to do with it after it's been filed away. Stellent's marketing director said search is a core service in the content management architecture, and should be part of any content management system, but that was it.
I sat there, as usual, asking myself and anyone who would listen, what's the point of building elaborate systems to file stuff away if you're not going to make it easy to find later? I even asked the keynote speaker if I was right in perceiving this focus on creating and maintaining content, and lack of focus on retrieving it. He said, "For the most part, that's true. That's where the sizzle is."
9.11.2003
Matching adds value to applications
Applicant tracking systems, content management systems, marketing resource management systems, and any other apps focused on workflow are great for managing content and process. But they assume people have relevant stuff to manage. If you can easily store a million resumes or articles, but can't find the one you're looking for, or if you can keep track of which direct mail campaigns went out last quarter, but couldn't figure out to whom to send them, then what's the point?
Matching enhances all of these apps by identifying the best-fit candidates, most relevant content, and customers with the highest probability of purchase. Once these are identified, then the applications become much more powerful.
8.11.2003
Hunting for information
A government project describes search like this:
"Searching for information with available search technology is analogous to thinking of one town where an enemy might be hiding, dropping down on it, then, if empty, trying another town of the same or similar name or size, no matter how far away. The reason for this awkward hit-and-miss approach is that all current search engines use one of three methods. They either: (1) try to match one or a few words in a query with the same few words in the quarry (keywords) or (2) look in the places where greatest number of other people have looked (Probabilities), or (3) have humans categorize the kinds of places that targets of interest are most likely to be (Bayesian). However, in the physical world a skilled hunter, whenever possible, tracks the quarry, follows its spoor from place to place, paying close attention to the direction of movement, tracing by multiple clues from cooler leads to hotter.
To do the same sort of hunting in the information world, a search technology needs to be able to relate documents or messages to each other not just by a few selected words, but by anything that ties them together; that is, all of their contained "meanings", no matter what words they are expressed in. One could then examine particular relations between the current neighborhood and surrounding areas in "meaning space" and follow trails based on any clues that come to light."
Couldn't have written it better ourselves.
How close is close enough?
Finding exact matches is easy. Unfortunately, very few things in life, or in data, are perfect.
When you start looking at things as bundles of features, and you get to decide how to score things if they're under or over your target, and set your own threshold for "close enough", then you're matching.
8.4.2003
Collapsing hierarchies
When most companies built their product catalogs or Inter/Intranet sites, they spent a lot of time on the hierarchy - the categories and subcategories, and the products and documents that fall into them. I've heard enough horror stories about "debates" about where things should go to know the process isn't much fun. When people in your own organization have a hard time deciding how to categorize your products and documents, imagine how hard it is for your customers to figure out how you think about them.
The main reason for building a hierarchy is there's too much stuff to keep it all at the same level. We think keeping it all at the same level is the way to go. The most important thing remains helping a customer find exactly what s/he's looking for. We offer two options: 1. Identify groups (clusters) of things that are similar; and 2. Identify what makes the products/docs different. Either option gives the customer access to the entire collection and complete control over what to select - without relying on a hierarchy.
7.30.2003
Sometimes you don't know what you don't know
Another great customer quote. Like most people, you probably never get past the first or second page of search results. Think about all the stuff you never even see. There might be a whole set of products or articles that would be interesting to you, but you don't even know they're there.
Text clustering and dynamic differentiation give you a clear picture of everything available. You can select interesting clusters or features and see what's out there.
7.29.2003
Don't put your buyers in a box
As I mentioned last week, our customers and prospects often come up with great ways to describe what we do.
After showing iXnavigator, our dynamic navigation product, to an auto manufacturer, he said "This is exactly what I've been saying we need to do. Right now, we put our buyers in a box by making them select a make and model first. You guys don't put them in a box because they can tell us what's important, and then we can tell them which makes and models best fit their needs."
We couldn't agree more.
Matching is bi-directional
Search only goes one way: you ask for things that contain your keywords and get a list. Matching allows both sides to participate. In every situation, each side has something it requires and something it offers.
In HR, a candidate offers her skills, abilities, experience, etc. and requires a salary, benefits, perks, etc. Bi-directional matches mean the candidate fits the job, and the job fits the candidate.
In dating, each person has certain attributes and interests, and other things they're looking for. Bi-directional matches mean both people "fit".
I'm sure you can come up with plenty of other examples.
You simply can't satisfy both sides' requirements with plain-old search.
