Academia
From PDFs to instant insights, 39 years of research now at your fingertips!
SOM Institute and Datastory have made decades of Swedish research accessible with a new tool, helping users navigate key societal trends.
From PDFs to instant insights, 39 years of research now at your fingertips!
For nearly four decades, the SOM Institute at the University of Gothenburg has been studying Swedish society, producing thousands of publications packed with valuable insights. However, with most books and reports stored as PDFs, users had a hard time navigating reports efficiently and finding relevant topics.
To solve this, SOM Institute partnered with Datastory to create the Publication Search, a smarter, faster way to explore their research. Whether you’re a researcher, journalist, policymaker, or simply curious about societal opinion and trends, you can now seamlessly browse and engage with SOM’s publications.
The Challenge: Valuable insights were hidden in reports
The SOM Institute has worked hard to build an impressive knowledge base, but accessing it came with challenges. With 2,000+ publications stored in PDF or print formats, users faced several obstacles:
- Difficult searches: Finding relevant information required manually scanning PDFs.
- Limited accessibility: Without structured filters, users struggled to locate relevant themes and insights.
- Platform limitations: Being a part of the Gothenburg University system meant SOM was constrained to the available tools, limiting options to create an effective search.
"We wanted to create a solution that makes publications more accessible, allowing more people to find what they are looking for in our vast library of reports and anthology chapters. Giving empirical and trustworthy information back to the public is our way of repaying the hundreds of thousands of Swedes who have lent us their time by replying to our surveys throughout the years," says Daniel Jansson from the SOM Institute.
The Solution: A smarter way to navigate research
Datastory developed the Publication Search, an intuitive tool designed to make SOM’s research easily accessible. Key features include:
- Powerful search: Smart ranking ensures the most relevant publications appear first.
- Advanced filtering: Sort reports by type, topic, and year for quick discovery.
- Connected insights: Automatically linked reports provide a broader view of research themes.
- Seamless navigation: A clean, user-friendly interface makes it easy to browse and find publications or topics.
"Through technical innovation, user-driven design and a great collaboration with the SOM Institute, we’ve transformed their publications into a dynamic resource making insights easier to find, explore, and use to drive real change,” says Katie Skagerlind from Datastory.
The Result: Faster, smarter, and more accessible research
With Publication Search, what once required hours of manual searching can now be done in seconds. The tool opens up SOM’s research to a wider audience, ensuring that publications and topics are easy to find and explore.
By transforming research from a static archive into an interactive resource makes decades of research now more impactful than ever. With just a few clicks, anyone can uncover insights that inform decisions, shape policy, and drive meaningful discussions.
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