| dc.description.abstract | This lecture presents an overview of the Web analytics process, with a focus on providing insight
and actionable outcomes from collecting and analyzing Internet data. The lecture first provides
an overview of Web analytics, providing in essence, a condensed version of the entire lecture. The
lecture then outlines the theoretical and methodological foundations of Web analytics in order to
make obvious the strengths and shortcomings of Web analytics as an approach. These foundational
elements include the psychological basis in behaviorism and methodological underpinning of trace
data as an empirical method. These foundational elements are illuminated further through a brief
history of Web analytics from the original transaction log studies in the 1960s through the informa-
tion science investigations of library systems to the focus on Websites, systems, and applications.
Following a discussion of on-going interaction data within the clickstream created using log files
and page tagging for analytics of Website and search logs, the lecture then presents a Web analytic
process to convert these basic data to meaningful key performance indicators in order to measure
likely converts that are tailored to the organizational goals or potential opportunities. Supplemen-
tary data collection techniques are addressed, including surveys and laboratory studies. The overall
goal of this lecture is to provide implementable information and a methodology for understanding
Web analytics in order to improve Web systems, increase customer satisfaction, and target revenue
through effective analysis of user–Website interactions. | vi |
