Web & Social Media Analytics Case Study

Understanding Search in the Smithsonian Learning Lab

Spring 2022

Written by:

Tess Porter

Project Summary

The Smithsonian Learning Lab is a free platform for discovering millions of digital resources from across the Smithsonian, creating personalized interactive learning experiences, and sharing in the Smithsonian’s expansive community of knowledge and learning. It is designed for PreK–12 teachers and students but is available for anyone to use. Our research focuses on two guiding questions: How are users using the Lab’s search? Are users finding the content they’re looking for? Answering these guiding questions will help the client better understand what users are looking for, how to improve the Lab’s search interface, how to support Smithsonian educators in building new educational content to fill gaps, and how to improve user supports for creating and publishing collections that are easily discoverable by others.