Clear ideas, unclear search results. The rapid expansion of the web has made online search difficult and frustrating, particularly with search engine giants like Google and Bing.
The primary issues are the unmanageable amount of search results, the unreliable methods of saving the results deemed worthwhile, and the nuances that come with searching just the right keywords. Luckily, CDS’ very own Juliana Freire, along with a group of research associates from NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, have set out to streamline web searching by creating the Domain Discovery Tool (DDT), which allows for interactive domain discovery.
Simply put, the DDT continuously modifies a user’s search by learning and accounting for the user’s interaction with the search engine. As it interacts with a user over time, it becomes an “oracle” for their search needs, as one of the research associates, Yamuna Krishnamurthy, put it. Best of all, the team designed the DDT as a ready-to-use platform for any user.
Another key feature that sets the DDT apart from other search engines is how it harnesses the power of visualization. For instance, with the DDT, page results are organized into total, relevant, irrelevant, neutral, and new pages. These are displayed on a dashboard which also contains a Terms window that updates keywords summarizing previous searches, and suggests ideas for new searches. When a user hovers over a term, the DDT displays corresponding result pages as well, allowing for a contextual understanding of the user’s search.
With the DDT, the unreliability of bookmarking URL’s that could change or disappear is also no longer an issue because queries and their consequent results are recorded and maintained by the tool. Moreover, DDT is a significant boon for researchers seeking to capture information about sensitive topics that elide typical search engine algorithms.
In fact, when DDT was compared with Google during an experimental application with a small group of users, the majority of the users found more relevant pages with the DDT than with Google. Could the DDT be on its way to shaking up the search engine industry?