Summary
Lots of effort in research is lost after it’s published. The problem is not the value of the insights but that the findings are fragmented across wikis, research repositories, and random folders in the cloud. Hear our expert panel share how they have designed research repositories that have succeeded at scale. Our all-star panelists will spend 30 minutes sharing their insights, followed by a Q&A session in Slack! You’ll hear from: Matt Duigan, Product Manager at Microsoft Andrew Michael, Founder at Avrio Research Repository Dr. Emily DiLeo, Archivist and Repository Designer
Key Insights
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Internal research and stakeholder interviews are essential first steps before designing a research repository.
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Research repositories must meet an organization’s current research program and user needs, not impose an idealized system.
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There is no single source of truth for research repositories; data lives dispersed across hundreds of apps and platforms.
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Integrating qualitative UX research with quantitative data analytics into one repository amplifies impact and decision-making.
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Building a research repository requires a thoughtful distribution strategy to deliver insights to users proactively.
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Researchers experience a cognitive bias favoring immediate rewards over deferred impacts, reducing motivation to contribute reusable insights.
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Reducing friction in tagging and uploading research content and providing immediate benefits encourage contributor participation.
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A graph-based insight system with linked atomic insights and reusable knowledge helps track evolving evidence and contradicting findings.
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Content quality requires dedicated roles like content product managers and systematic processes, including human and ML-supported tagging.
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Not all research insights are evergreen; tagging validity periods and automated clean-up improve repository longevity and usefulness.
Notable Quotes
"Everyone should know where everything is all the time, because when you manage materials like the Bach manuscript, it’s critical."
"Your repository design needs to be guided by people, process, and internal research first."
"There isn’t really a single source of truth; it’s more a myth given the hundreds of apps where insights live."
"Creating a distribution center rather than just a central repository is key to successful insight sharing."
"It’s only in the movies that you build a repository and people just come; you have to work on discovery and access."
"People have a bias toward immediate gratification — the UX researcher dopamine corner — versus deferred product impact."
"You need to design incentives and reduce friction for researchers to contribute reusable insights over time."
"Hiring content product managers to maintain quality and tagging is essential; it’s both an art and a science."
"Tagging and taxonomy require ongoing management because you can’t predict all future topics or organizational priorities."
"Some insights are evergreen while others are transitory — knowing what lasts is part of the challenge."
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