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The “Expert Locator” is a tool for finding people with certain attributes. For example,
it might answer the question, “Who are the most productive scientists in a certain geographic
location in the field of optics?” or “Where in the US are the scientists holding the most
biotech patents located?”
From time to time, every R&D manager feels the need for a “magic people button” to help
locate employees, consultants, or experts with specific attributes. Discovery Logic is
developing just such a people finder, called the Expert Locator, by developing database
and knowledge discovery technologies to identify people by field, affiliation, location,
reputation, or any combination of hundreds of other criteria.
The tool itself is likely to be located on an always-current Website. And its reach is
expected to extend far beyond particular people to include programs, institutions, ideas,
or any entity that can be objectively evaluated. It is likely, for example, to offer a broad
understanding of the scientific (or other) landscape. It can also provide rich datasets for
strategic planning.
The power of the Expert Locator will depend heavily on disambiguation – of people, organizations,
and concepts. It is critical to ensure that we can distinguish people in noisy data, for example
people with the same name, or a person with multiple representations of a name (Ann B. Jones, A. B. Jones, etc.).
This has been an important topic of academic study for four decades, and Discovery Logic
spends considerable effort applying the latest academic insights to its ScienceWire databases.
Effective disambiguation depends on strong algorithms and continual research. A particular
strength of Discovery Logic is the application of such ongoing academic research to its own
and its clients’ needs.
One setting where Discovery Logic has already shown the power of this tool is in demonstrating
the efficacy of NIH training mechanisms. Also, the company has partnered with a US Government
customer to develop a process to identify and qualify experts for service on topical science
panels. The locator is designed to provide instant searches for people based on their scientific
research and provide the context of their activities and outputs, including publications,
associations, colleagues, patents, research data, boards, expert panels, grants, service activities,
and awards.
The broad applications of such a tool can only be imagined at present. For example, some experts
are not aware of the work of other experts in the same field, even though it may be happening one
building away and they would benefit greatly by association. Should they learn of each other and
decide to collaborate, the value of their work is likely to increase. Such an outcome would mean
that the grants funding their work would immediately have more value. The Expert Locator can also
provide a powerful tool for recruitment, job searches, productivity analysis, policy planning,
and many other activities.
The potential value of the Expert Locator is directly related to the size of the searchable population.
It is not yet clear whether it will be possible to perform worldwide searches, given the wide variations
among countries in data quality and presentation. Answers to these questions are expected to emerge
quickly as the concepts and scale of the Expert Locator are evaluated.
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