building (and sustaining) impact for your web resource

A centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk

Building (and Sustaining) Impact for your Web Resource

Brian Kelly, UKOLN,

University of Bath

Bath

[email protected]

UKOLN is supported by:

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/arlis-2007-05/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/arlis-2007-05/

Acceptable Use PolicyRecording this talk, taking photographs, and discussions using blogs, instant messaging, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. Also a Creative Commons licence for the talk and slides is available - as this can maximise impact of my ideas!

Acceptable Use PolicyRecording this talk, taking photographs, and discussions using blogs, instant messaging, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. Also a Creative Commons licence for the talk and slides is available - as this can maximise impact of my ideas!

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)

Resources bookmarked using ‘arlis-2007-05' tag


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ContentsAbout This TalkBuilding Impact

• Simple techniques• Ethical issues and best practices

Usage Statistics• Strengths and weaknesses

Impact Analysis• What is it?• Impact Analysis tools and techniques

Web 2.0 and Impact Analysis• Using Web 2.0 tools for impact analysis• Web 2.0 is impact

Web 2.0 • Enhancing quality of your services• Challenging existing orthodoxies


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About This Talk

Context:• You’ve heard how to overcome the barriers to

digitisation

This talk will cover:• How to maximise knowledge of and impact of your

Web site (your digitised service, organisation, …)• Some ethical issues• How to measure the impact• How new technologies (Web 2.0) can help this

process• How new technologies may influence existing

policies and approaches

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About The Speaker

Brian Kelly:• UK Web Focus – an advisory post which provides

advices on making effective use of the on Web (with focus on standards, emerging Web technologies)

• Involved in Web work since January 1993

About UKOLN:• National centre of expertise in digital information

management• Based at the University of Bath• Funded by MLA and JISC to support the cultural

heritage and higher/further education sectors

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Building Impact

Telling people• Marketing issues• Real world: press releases, articles, ‘stuff’, …• Online: Searchability, memorability, advertising,

relationships, …• “My boomerang won’t come back”

Engaging people• Talking with your users, peers, developers, …• Supporting discussions and debate• Your users as creators

Quality of your Service• Content, functionality, usability, accessibility, …• Commissioning quality Web sites

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Simple Techniques

Google is (can be) your friend:• Encourage people to link to your site / your pages

(lots of links-Google-friendly)• Have links from well-established & trusted services• Use Google-friendly formats (e.g. clean HTML)• Create your Web site a long time ago!

Have friendly URIs:• SAMS: Short, Accessible, Memorable and Stable• Stable: independent of technological and

organisational changes• See ‘Cool URIs Don’t Change’, Ariadne (31)

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http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/code/InternetHome.hcsp

Address of RNIB Home Page


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Search Engine OptimisationSearch Engine Optimisation (SEO):

• “For only £xxxx I will ensure your Web site is in top 20 in Google”

Really?• Large organisations & dodgy companies will pay

more than you can afford• Are they ethical? (e.g. link farms which create

many links to your site to try and fool Google) • Clever techniques won’t persist

Recommendations:• Have quality content, follow best practices and

ensure service is stable (there is no silver bullet) (e.g. Google for ‘exploit’ or ‘cultivate’)

• Get these best practices in your design spec.• But SEO could work – so share experiences

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http://www.cultivate-int.org/http://www.cultivate-int.org/

Your Responsibilities

Cultivate Interactive:• EU-funded e-journal

developed by UKOLN• No. 1 hit (May 2006) in

Google search for ‘cultivate’

• Part of larger Cultivate project

But:• The cultivate-europe.org and cultivate-eu.org sites aren’t what they were

http://www.cultivate-eu.org/http://www.cultivate-eu.org/

A Web site isn’t just for the funding period! (it’s unfortunate that EU-funded cultural heritage projects make such mistakes)

A Web site isn’t just for the funding period! (it’s unfortunate that EU-funded cultural heritage projects make such mistakes)


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Review

We’ve seen:• Simple techniques for making Web

resources easier to find• Some of the ethical issues, covering SEO

techniques we could use and our longer-term responsibilities

Next section:• How do we measure usage of our

services (and perhaps the effectiveness of our outreach activities)

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Web Statistics

Web statistics provide information on usage of Web sitesProvided automatically by Web server softwareExternally-hosted stats counters can provide extra information (maps of locations of visitors, details of the PC used, …)May be issues of long-term sustainability of the services to consider and dependency on JavaScript

http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/

Use of SiteMeter and ClustrMap Web usage statistics services on UK Web Focus blog (together with statistics provided by blog service)

Use of SiteMeter and ClustrMap Web usage statistics services on UK Web Focus blog (together with statistics provided by blog service)


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Usage Statistics

Exploit Interactive example:• EU-funded e-journal

funded from 1999-2000• Steady growth in usage

measured by Sitemeter & usage logs

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Deeper analysis:• Popular article on

"Are You Linking To A Porn Site?", April 1999

Issues: Is popularity of Web site based on "wrong hits" and growth reflects growth in Internet usage? How can we aggregate usage data in a meaningful way?

Issues: Is popularity of Web site based on "wrong hits" and growth reflects growth in Internet usage? How can we aggregate usage data in a meaningful way?


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Usage Statistics

Usage statistics:• Can provide useful and valuable data …• … but can also be flawed

Implications:• Collect and use as they can be useful for

formative statistics e.g. has a new marketing campaign worked; what keywords do users use to find our Web site; …

But also:• Be honest about limitations and don't over-hype

statistics• Use as a part of a portfolio of metrics

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Impact Analysis

Usage statistics:• Data on who is using Web site and how they're

using it e.g. how many visitors are there?Impact analysis:

• Attempting to measure the impact of the Web site or the contents of the Web site e.g. how has the Web site visit affected the visitors

Challenges:• More difficult to measure than simpler 'visits'• Requires thought as to aims of Web site

Requires • Objective and subjective metrics e.g. 'possible'

indicators of impact• Automated and manual measurements

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Types Of Metrics

Automated:• Usage statistics • Link analysis• Search analysis

Manual:• Focus groups, surveys, etc.

Hybrid:• Blogs, RSS feeds, social bookmarks, etc.

Let's use a case study for the Institutional Web Management Workshop (IWMW) 2006 Web site – an annual 3 day event for University Web managers

Let's use a case study for the Institutional Web Management Workshop (IWMW) 2006 Web site – an annual 3 day event for University Web managers

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Link Popularity

Why link popularity?• A link to my Web site is an

indication that a Web author felt strongly about the resource

• Links help drive traffic (and so can boost usage statistics)

• Links enhance Google rating (and so can boost usage statistics)

http://www.linkpopularity.com/http://www.linkpopularity.com/

Note that you can receive a monthly email report, which can provide information on trends

Note that you can receive a monthly email report, which can provide information on trendsIt may be desirable to remove links from your own Web site, otherwise growth may just reflect growth in your site

It may be desirable to remove links from your own Web site, otherwise growth may just reflect growth in your siteMany site analysis tools now provide RSS feeds. This can help Web managers in their monitoring activities

Many site analysis tools now provide RSS feeds. This can help Web managers in their monitoring activities


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Search Analysis

Why search engine analysis?

• Search engines help drive traffic (and so boost usage statistics)

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Technorati:• There's more to search

engines than Google• Searches Blogs, RSS

news feeds, etc.• Use of tags (e.g. ARLIS-2006-05) can help searching services such as Blogs, Flickr, etc

Note that having access to recent comments allows you to respond rapidly.

Note that having access to recent comments allows you to respond rapidly.


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Talking To Users

Impact analysis can be carried out by talking to / listening to the user community:

• Focus groups• Visitor books• Evaluation forms• Anecdotes• Media watch• …

Such techniques are well-known – but how can technologies be used to support such activities?

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Using Blogs

Blogs can make it easier to gather quotes & other impact measures:

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Blogs provides good indication of user satisfaction and of impact analysis of event "I've come back with ideas to …"

Blogs provides good indication of user satisfaction and of impact analysis of event "I've come back with ideas to …"

• Finding Blogs (e.g. tags, Technorati)

http://j4.livejournal.com/2006/06/19/http://j4.livejournal.com/2006/06/19/http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/2006/06/10_years_of_the.html

http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/2006/06/10_years_of_the.html

• Blogs associated with Web site

Official Bloggers has proved useful: set a standard for others; claimed a tag in tag space; shown benefits of trust; …

Official Bloggers has proved useful: set a standard for others; claimed a tag in tag space; shown benefits of trust; …


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Being Open

The impact of ideas can be maximising by allowing the ideas to be used freely:

• Open source software

• Open standards• Creative Commons

licence for contentCC licences for IWMW 2006 resources allows:

• Info about event to be used by others

• Blog articles, news, etc. to be syndicated

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http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2006/publicity/

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2006/publicity/


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Imp

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isProviding Mashups

You can maximise the impact of your Web site by allowing others to make use of your content e.g.

• Syndication• News feeds• Third party

applications• …

Note CC licence for event details permits such reuse

http://upcoming.org/event/69469/http://upcoming.org/event/69469/

Providing details of your exhibitions allows 3rd party services to promote your service for free

Providing details of your exhibitions allows 3rd party services to promote your service for free


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Building A Community

Building a community for your Web site can:

• Maximise impact by allowing interested parties to discuss their shared interests

• Provide you with feedback & ideas

• Allow you to provide targetted information

http://www.frappr.com/iwmw2006http://www.frappr.com/iwmw2006

Web 2.0 services such as Frappr, Blogger, MySpace, etc. allow Web communities to be easily set up (and may be particularly valuable to the 'Net Generation')

Web 2.0 services such as Frappr, Blogger, MySpace, etc. allow Web communities to be easily set up (and may be particularly valuable to the 'Net Generation')


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Sharing ResourcesSocial bookmarking tools like del.icio.us:

• Provide indication of impact (others have felt Web page worth bookmarking

• Support community building (finding others with similar interests)

Who else has bookmarked the ARLIS home page?

What else have they bookmarked?

http://del.icio.us/lisbkhttp://del.icio.us/lisbk


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Maximising Impact & Web 2.0

We have seen how Web 2.0 technologies (Blogs, RSS feeds, syndication technologies, third party services, etc) can:

• Maximise impact by providing additional access mechanisms for users

• Minimise resource effort needed by making use of 3rd party services

• Be used to measure the impact of our Web services

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The Bigger Picture

Usage analysis and impact analysis aren't self-contained, but form part of a bigger picture

Usage Analysis• Who's accessing

the Web site?• How are they

finding site?• What's popular?

User Testing• How do users navigate

site?• What's difficult to find?• Have they achieved their

aims?

Impact Analysis• How has Web site

influenced the users?• What do the users

find interesting?• What changes do

users make as a consequence?

Big

ger

Pic

ture

Richer Functionality

• User engagement• User generated content• Challenging orthodoxies


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Exploiting Web 2.0

We’ve seen how Web 2.0 can be used to:• Measure impact• Maximise impact by engaging with users

It can also:• Provide richer (and possibly expected) functionality

(“you don’t let users comment – I’m off elsewhere!”)

• Challenge existing orthodoxies:Content must be reviewed & created by expertsWe provide quality content – what about a “quality experience”

We can’t do this due to copyright & other legal issues

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Brooklyn Museum Case Study

Brooklyn Museum described uses of Web 2.0 services at MW 2007 to fulfil their community-oriented mission & engage with a diversity agenda (& limited funding):

• Mobile phones audio tours• Podcasting• MySpace• Virtual Graffiti exhibition to

complement Graffiti exhibition (blended; engage with new audiences; …)

• …

Building an On-line Community at the Brooklyn Museum: A Timeline, N. J. Caruth and S. Bernstein, <http://www.archimuse.com/mw2007/papers/caruth/caruth.html>

Building an On-line Community at the Brooklyn Museum: A Timeline, N. J. Caruth and S. Bernstein, <http://www.archimuse.com/mw2007/papers/caruth/caruth.html>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklyn_museum/sets/...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklyn_museum/sets/...


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Issues You May FaceWe can’t adopt Web 2.0 due to copyright & IPR issues

• Risk assessment approach• Trial with resources you own copyright (or resources such

as dates, locations, …)• Copyright owners may change their views based on new

business models (cf music industry)

We can’t trust our users• You do already (see blog posting about radical trust)

We must our IT services, so we can’t use Flickr, Google, …• Adopt a risk management approach. See “Risk Assessment

For Use Of Third Party Web 2.0 Services”

Our council, our trustees, our managers, … won’t let us• You need a deployment strategy (low-hanging fruit,

encouraging enthusiasts, using ‘Friends of Museum’ ..) See ‘Web 2.0: How to Stop Thinking and Start Doing: Addressing Organisational Barriers’, M. Ellis & B. Kelly, MW 2007


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Conclusions

To conclude:• Usage statistics should form a part of an impact

analysis strategy• A more comprehensive impact analysis strategy is

needed• This should be part of a user-satisfaction strategy• Web 2.0 technologies can help• Embedding Web 2.0 culture (openness, trust,

etc.) can help the impact of Web sites which aim to maximise engagement with its user community

• "Impact Analysis For Web Sites", QA Focus briefing document no. 99, provides further advice – see <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/briefing-99/>

• Web 2.0 changes things!


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Questions

Any questions?

building (and sustaining) impact for your web resource

Technology