The new site is out, getting positive reviews and is very stable – this is excellent. There are a few teething issues which we’re dealing with (95% of them have already been fixed). So, our attention turns to the next steps. The immediate area we’re working on is the indexing (as laid out here (with an explanation as to what indexing is)).

The step after that – which needs considerable planning – is to work on improvements to the site. To that end we want to try a new approach – to convene a number of small, online, group sessions with users. These are likely to be grouped by user type e.g. health professional and information specialist. These sessions would allow us to better understand how users access evidence, the problems that they encounter and also for us to ‘pitch’ our current ideas for improvements. The subsequent discussions should allow us to better plan the next steps.

As a flavour of our thinking, these are some of our current ideas:

  • Introduce citation data in to Trip.
  • Improve the search – introducing greater control over the sensitivity and specificity of the search.
  • Add more document grading e.g. guidelines and systematic reviews.
  • Create specific filters for topics such as therapy, prognosis and diagnosis.
  • Introduce a search wizard to allow an easy way to find the documents users need.

Love or loathe those ideas, here’s your opportunity to influence. Send an email to jon.brassey@tripdatabase.com if you want to take part.