Published June 28, 2022 | Version v1 | https://doi.org/10.59350/917v6-y5171

Findability → Known-Item Search, Discoverability → Exploratory Search?

  • 1. Polyneme LLC

I keep confusing findability and discoverability. It seems that findability is often equated to known-item search, and discoverability to exploratory search.

Known-item search is compatible with "instant search", aka search-as-you-type interfaces. Exploratory search is compatible with "autocomplete" (incl. re-spelling, infix matching, synonym substitution, etc.) interfaces.

Recommendation can be a part of exploratory search, i.e. bundled in response to a user's pulling for relevant information. It can also be pushed independently of deliberately registered search intent – via notifications, email digests, etc.

Does the latter activity – the pushy one – "count" for discoverability? I can imagine such activity being framed as periodic re-running of an exploratory-search query on behalf of a user, with query-independent factors for retrieval and ranking being varied over time.

Additional details

Description

I keep confusing findability and discoverability. It seems that findability is often equated to known-item search, and discoverability to exploratory search. Known-item search is compatible with "instant search", aka search-as-you-type interfaces. Exploratory search is compatible with "autocomplete" (incl. re-spelling, infix matching, synonym substitution, etc.) interfaces.

Identifiers

UUID
8a032c51-4b9d-4770-abf7-494cd8590817
GUID
tag:donnywinston.com,2022:/posts/known-item-vs-exploratory-search/
URL
https://donnywinston.com/posts/known-item-vs-exploratory-search

Dates

Issued
2022-06-28T14:15:40
Updated
2022-06-28T14:15:40