Presentation for a graduate class at University of Baltimore. Presentation covers an analysis of metadata and search on pbs.org.

1. Metadata and Search Analysis:
PBS.ORG

2. About PBS
• Public Broadcasting System
• America’s largest classroom - the nation’s largest stage for the arts
and a trusted window to the world.
• Launch date: October 5, 1970

3. PBS’ Goals
• Educate, Inform, Inspire
• Through television, mobile TV, the web and interactive whiteboards
in the classroom
• Reach nearly 123 million people through television and 21 million
people online each month

4. Search Zones
• Primary and secondary search zones

5. Primary Search Features
• Federated search
• Results appear in a blended integration
• Use of facets on left-hand side of SRP

6. Primary Search Features

7. Primary Search Interface
• Above the fold on home page
• Pagination at bottom of SRP
• 10 results per page
• Snippets
• Highlighted query words
• Sort by date or relevance

8. Primary Search Analysis
• General search completed first
• Query - “fitness for kids” entered into search field
• 122,769 items recalled
• Faceted search completed second
• PBS Parents selected under Programs
• All media types kept as default
• 58 items recalled
• Demonstrate success and validity of search tool, results were compared to a
PBS program website.

9. Primary Search Analysis

10. Primary Search Analysis

11. Primary Search Analysis

12. Primary Search Analysis
• Misspellings
• No spelling suggestions found on any SRP
• “No Results” page - never shown to user
• Recommend autoexpand or spelling suggestion feature
• Sort by date
• No time-stamp given on items recalled
• Not sure how items are sorted
• Sort by relevance
• Meaningless

13. Secondary Search
• Lots of hyperlinks - sitemap approach
• Search all programs: TV shows, radio shows, web exclusive programs, etc.
• Search alphabetically or via search field
• Search field repopulates results based off query

14. Secondary Search

15. Recommendations
• The list of stations under sources may not mean anything to a user
especially if they are not that familiar with PBS. The acronyms are
meaningless. It might be beneficial to the user if there was a way to
find out what the acronym meant without having to select the facet or
leave the page. Perhaps a pop-up tool-tip would remedy this issue.
• Issue with sort by date and relevance needs to be addressed.
• Add additional facets to allow for more precise results. For example,
search by topic can be an additional facet while the options of podcast,
blog, photo, and blogs could be added to media type.
• Query keywords should be bolded in title.