We are currently writing up an evaluation of a new search for the portal. Thank you to everyone who participated, either by interview or by filling in the questionnaire. About 70 people took part, so we have plenty of data to analyse.
The questionnaire is now closed, but if you would like to look at the search that we were trying out, please click the link below.
Click here to try out the prototype search.
Help using the new search
The current search on eep is divided into two: 'websites' and 'database'. As well as having lots of new features, the new search enables you to search the 'websites' and 'database' at the same time.
The new search is a prototype and lacks help pages and 'tool tips' at the moment. Its aim is to provide you with choices about how to look for documents. You can 'browse' a taxonomy of terms, or use your own words to search (like Google).
The left-hand part of the results page offers three options to refine your search. First, you can browse by taxonomy term. Second, you can view documents according to automatically generated 'topics'. Third, you can select documents according to the organisation that published them.
The right-hand part of the results page offers three ways of listing your search results. First, you can view the documents that have been 'selected' by eep organisations as being particularly relevant to eep. Second, you can view relevant results found across all the websites of all eep organisations. Finally, you can view those results that can be found in resource areas on the eep website.
Click here if you would like to read more about the eep portal project.
About the Prototype search engine
The new search is based on 'text mining' technology, which can interrogate, sort and classify thousands of electronic documents. It has been developed by the National Centre for Text Mining (NaCTeM) as part of the JISC-funded 'ASSIST' project (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/einfrastructure/assisteep.aspx).
** We are sorry, but the prototype does not work in Internet Explorer version 6. **
An integral part of the new search engine is the new eep taxonomy. This is a hierarchical list of categories which will enable you to browse through the eep documents.
About the evaluation
The evaluation is being run by members of the EPPI-Centre at the Institute of Education, London. We are aiming to evaluate the general approach to the search (browsing for documents with lots of options for exploring results), and the new text mining features. We will examine users' feedback in order to assess its functionality, useability, efficiency, maintainability and portability. The feedback we receive will be used to develop a new search engine for the portal later in the year.