DUOLABS
Work

Government knowledge portal

We built the screens of a public information portal that links a government ministry's knowledge and policy information by how items relate, so people find things by meaning rather than by keyword. If the relationships between items do not show on screen, even carefully linked data looks no different from a list of keyword search results. Our part covered the exploration screens, the views that reveal relationships and context between items, and the flow from search to selection and detail.

Launch
2008
Client
A government ministry
Type
Business Systems
01 / 04

Policy information found by meaning, not by keyword

The government knowledge portal is a public information service that links a large body of knowledge and policy information by meaning and relationship. Each item carries data on what it is about and how it connects to other items, so the portal could take people beyond simple keyword search to finding by meaning. The work dates from when the government was starting to bring meaning-based web technology into public portals.

Policy information found by meaning, not by keyword
02 / 04

Exploration screens that draw out relationships and context

Data linked by meaning becomes useful only when those links are visible on screen. What a meaning-based portal hands back is not a single matching item but the other items linked to it and how the two relate. We implemented the structure and visual presentation of the exploration screens so users could see the relationships and context between items. The focus was on letting people explore complex information by following it with their eyes.

Exploration screens that draw out relationships and context
03 / 04

A flow from search to selection to detail without breaks

Exploring an information portal runs in order: search, pick from the results, check the details. Using screen components and handling for user actions, we built this so the sequence carries on naturally without breaking each time the screen changes. The rule for the flow was that users never lose track of where they are while moving between the three steps.

A flow from search to selection to detail without breaks
04 / 04

Portal controls that respond like an application inside the browser

A public portal is opened by anyone in a web browser, so the exploration screens also had to run inside the browser. We implemented the portal screens to respond like an application inside the browser, giving them richer interaction and visuals than ordinary web pages. A web page that still responds immediately to what happens on screen suited exploration that moves between items along their relationships.

Portal controls that respond like an application inside the browser

Highlights

01

Exploration screens that reveal relationships and context between policy information

02

A public portal that goes beyond keyword search to finding by meaning

03

An exploration flow from search to selection to detail

Insights

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