Search-oriented Architecture

The use of search engine technology is the main integration component in an information system.

In a traditional business environment the architectural layer usually occupied by a relational database management system (RDBMS) is supplemented or replaced with a search engine or the indexing technology used to build search engines. Queries for information which would usually be performed using Structured Query Language (SQL) are replaced by keyword or fielded (or field-enabled) searches for structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data.

In a search-oriented architecture the data tier may be replaced or placed behind another tier which contains a search engine and search engine index which is queried in-place of the database management system. Queries from the business tier are made in the search engine query language instead of SQL. The search engine itself crawls the relational database management system in addition to other traditional data sources such as web pages or traditional file systems and consolidates the results when queried. The benefit of adding a search layer to the architecture stack is the rapid response time in large dynamic datasets made possible by search indexing technology such as an inverted index.

 


 

Selection-based Search

A selection-based search system allows the user to search the internet for more information about any keyword or phrase contained within a document or webpage in any software application on their desktop computer using a mouse.

Traditional browser-based search systems require the user to launch a web browser, navigate to a search page, type or paste a query into a search box, review a list of results, and click a hyperlink to view these results.

Three characteristic features of a selection-based search system are that the user can invoke search using only their mouse from within the context of any application on their desktop, receive categorized suggestions which are based on the context of the user-selected, and view the results in floating information boxes which can be sized, shared, docked, closed and stacked on top of the document that has the user’s primary focus.

In its simplest form, selection-based search enables users to launch a search query by selecting text in any application on their desktop. It is commonly believed that selection-based search lowers the user barrier to search and permits an incremental number of searches per user per day.

Selection-based search systems also operate on the premise that users value information in context and this then saves them from having to juggle multiple applications, multiple web browsers or use multiple search engines separately.

The term selection-based search is frequently used to classify a set of search engine systems, including a desktop client and a series of cloud computing services, but it is also used to describe the paradigm of categorizing a keyword and searching multiple data sources using only the mouse. The US National Information Standards Organization (NISO) uses the terms selection-based search and mouse-based search interchangeably to describe this web search paradigm.

Source: Wikipedia