Usage patterns of a world wide web site

Abstract

The Internet is now a major player in the world of information with many organisations setting up their own web sites in order to utilise this new technology and reach a wider audience. Research focusing on usage patterns (including demographics and geographies) of web sites is of great importance to both web site producers and those involved in the maintenance of sites. In the library and information field there has been little research undertaken in this area to date. The result of research such as this is useful in determining site design and management, target audiences, and to justify resource expenditure. The study undertaken looked at the usage patterns of a web site over a 6 month period, aiming to find answers to questions such as 'who are the users of the site?', 'where do they come from?', 'what do they look at on the site?' Data was gathered using a web server analysis software package. Due to the short period of investigation it was not possible to obtain any definitive patterns of use. It was also found that using a software package to collect data was not reliable. It is recommended that the study be performed over a longer period of time (two years or more) in order to gain more conclusive results, and that the study be performed using raw data.