Daniel Newman is the Director of Product Design at NPR. In this role, he leads an experienced team of product designers to create digital news and storytelling experiences that meet listeners both in the places they are now and the places they will be in the future—websites, mobile apps, voice-driven devices, connected cars, wearables, and other emerging platforms. He also co-chaired the 2016 Information Architecture Summit in Atlanta. Prior to joining NPR, Dan managed the Web & Mobile User Experience team at Wolfram (WolframAlpha.com) where he played an integral role in shaping the role of user experience within the company. He holds degrees in sociology and advertising from the University of Illinois. https://speakerdeck.com/danielanewman 2019-03-20 15:29:59 -0400 Google changed user expectations about how search should work, and voice platforms like Alexa are changing mental models again. It's time to modernize our search experiences to meet the user needs of today and tomorrow. This session will discuss 8 key principles of modern search experiences. Then, building on the NPR's own experience in re-platforming its cross-platform search service, this session will explore how to apply those principles to the web, mobile, voice platforms, and beyond. You'll leave this session with a better understanding of: - The fundamental expectations and mental models about "search" that your users are bringing with them when they use your system. - The limitations of machine learning and the essential role that human judgement and high-fidelity metadata play in crafting great search experiences. - The value of domain expertise in crafting bespoke search-based experiences that are specific to your industry, content, and audience. - The forthcoming metadata and filtering challenges posed by emerging platforms like voice assistants and AR/VR—and some potential steps you can take today to better "futureproof" your search indexes. Search helps us discover content we care about and is an escape hatch when navigation has failed us—and by taking cues from Google and Alexa (among others), we can craft new search experiences that are much more responsive to our users' needs. Google changed user expectations about how search should work, and voice platforms like Alexa are changing mental models again. It's time to modernize our search experiences to meet the user needs of today and tomorrow. This session will discuss 8 key principles of modern search experiences. Then, building on the NPR's own experience in re-platforming its cross-platform search service, this session will explore how to apply those principles to the web, mobile, voice platforms, and beyond. You'll leave this session with a better understanding of: - The fundamental expectations and mental models about "search" that your users are bringing with them when they use your system. - The limitations of machine learning and the essential role that human judgement and high-fidelity metadata play in crafting great search experiences. - The value of domain expertise in crafting bespoke search-based experiences that are specific to your industry, content, and audience. - The forthcoming metadata and filtering challenges posed by emerging platforms like voice assistants and AR/VR—and some potential steps you can take today to better "futureproof" your search indexes. Search helps us discover content we care about and is an escape hatch when navigation has failed us—and by taking cues from Google and Alexa (among others), we can craft new search experiences that are much more responsive to our users' needs. Mon, 18 May 2020 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/danielanewman/helping-users-find-their-own-way-creating-modern-search-experiences https://speakerdeck.com/danielanewman/helping-users-find-their-own-way-creating-modern-search-experiences (As presented at the 2019 Information Architecture Conference in Orlando, FL. A written version of this talk is available at http://bit.ly/npr-search) Google has become synonymous with search, and voice platforms like Alexa are changing expectations from lists of potential results to a single "right" answer. In the face of well-performing, well-funded competitors like these, it might be tempting to throw in the towel entirely and assume that building your own site search or app search are no longer needed. However, in truth, search has never been more important to driving great user experiences than it is today. To start, we'll look through some examples of content and navigational search done well and talk about why they work—for instance, Netflix responding to searches for films they don't currently have available for streaming with automated suggestions of similar films. We'll also look at some missed opportunities—for example, Washington Post not returning any relevant results for a search on "subscription" or "home delivery", or Wolfram|Alpha returning images of a moose when the user searches for pictures of a deer (because, obviously, a moose is part of the deer family!). We'll next discuss the changing audience expectations that users bring with them when they open search on your website or app—and what you can do to meet and exceed those expectations. Finally, we'll take a look into the crystal ball to see what today's technology developments (Voice! AR/VR! Machine Learning!) might hold for the future of homegrown search applications. (As presented at the 2019 Information Architecture Conference in Orlando, FL. A written version of this talk is available at http://bit.ly/npr-search) Google has become synonymous with search, and voice platforms like Alexa are changing expectations from lists of potential results to a single "right" answer. In the face of well-performing, well-funded competitors like these, it might be tempting to throw in the towel entirely and assume that building your own site search or app search are no longer needed. However, in truth, search has never been more important to driving great user experiences than it is today. To start, we'll look through some examples of content and navigational search done well and talk about why they work—for instance, Netflix responding to searches for films they don't currently have available for streaming with automated suggestions of similar films. We'll also look at some missed opportunities—for example, Washington Post not returning any relevant results for a search on "subscription" or "home delivery", or Wolfram|Alpha returning images of a moose when the user searches for pictures of a deer (because, obviously, a moose is part of the deer family!). We'll next discuss the changing audience expectations that users bring with them when they open search on your website or app—and what you can do to meet and exceed those expectations. Finally, we'll take a look into the crystal ball to see what today's technology developments (Voice! AR/VR! Machine Learning!) might hold for the future of homegrown search applications. Sun, 17 Mar 2019 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/danielanewman/im-feeling-lucky-building-great-search-experiences-for-todays-users-number-iac19 https://speakerdeck.com/danielanewman/im-feeling-lucky-building-great-search-experiences-for-todays-users-number-iac19