Intelligent search assistance

According to the IDC whitepaper, The High Cost of Not Finding Information, knowledge workers spend 2.5 hours per day searching for information. Assuming they either find what they are looking for eventually or stop and end up making a non-optimal decision, there is a high cost to both outcomes. Indeed, this problem is particularly acute for knowledge-based professions. The healthcare industry, for example, relies on painstaking and meticulous searching of multiple literature sources as the foundation of the evidence-based approach to decision making. However, systematic literature reviews can take years to complete, and are often compromised by errors and inefficiencies in the search strategies they rely on. To address this problem, UXLabs is developing a radical alternative to traditional keyword search. We are creating a novel, visual framework which allows users to express complex information needs via a simple but powerful visual syntax. The aim of this project is to research and develop a knowledge-based approach to concept generation which can be integrated within our visual framework to deliver a solution which has the potential to profoundly change the way that information needs are expressed. By combining support for both optimal structure and optimal content we can improve their efficiency and effectiveness of search strategy formulation across a broad range of target markets.