Submissions:2015/There were no results matching your query... or were there? Reducing the zero results rate for search on Wikipedia.

Title

There were no results matching your query... or were there? Reducing the zero results rate for search on Wikipedia.

Theme

Tech

Type of submission

Presentation

Author

Dan Garry

E-mail address

dgarry _AT_ wikimedia _DOT_ org

Username

w:en:User:Deskana (WMF) / w:en:User:Deskana

Affiliation

Wikimedia Foundation

Abstract

Did you know that 30% of search queries on Wikipedia return zero results? Given the amount of content that's available in Wikipedia, that number should be much, much lower. Or should it?

In this presentation I will go over the work that the Discovery Department at the Wikimedia Foundation has been doing to improve the search experience for Wikipedia. I will cover our research into how people and bots alike use our search feature, and what they're using it for. I will go over the data available in our public dashboards, and how we're using that data to reduce the zero results rate for Wikipedia searches. I will elaborate on our successes and failures, and our plans for the future.

Length of presentation

30 minutes

Special schedule requests

Will you attend WikiConference USA if your submission is not accepted?

Hopefully.

Interested attendees

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1. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 05:34, 19 August 2015 (EDT)
2. Tokyogirl79 (talk) 05:00, 20 August 2015 (EDT)
3. Gamaliel (talk) 16:16, 21 August 2015 (EDT)
4. --Sphilbrick (talk) 21:35, 26 August 2015 (EDT)