One thing we should all be wary of are all those providers who promise to
tell us the number of 'hits' a web page gets.
The numbers only indicate how many times a document was ordered from the
server, but once the document has been to the end-user the server no longer
has any information on how the page is used, how long is it being viewed, or
even the speed of the connection the user has.
There is also no way of knowing how many of those came from the same person.
If we make the mistake of trusting the number of 'hits' we'll get a warped
picture of many people visiting on-line, only a small number of which are
actually coming to the museum.

The point is - the number of hits per page is not a reliable indicator.


John Chadwick ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
: At 8:11 AM 9/15/95, HNEEDHAM wrote:

: >Well, mates, the anecdotal evidence do seem to be a-comin' in!
: >
: >So far, Richard and the chums out in the SW, Zahava at the Smithsonian,
: >Christina  at the Glenbow in Calgary and I are planning to do some
WWW-related
: >research of a quantitative nature.
: >
: >I'm a strong believer in using multiple lines of inquiry and would be happy
to
: >see more qualitative data of this sort. There does appear to be quite a bit
: >hiding out there!
: >
: Harry,

: If there is a possiblity of forming a team to come up with a design, count
: me in. I am getting close to the dissertation, and my interest is the Web
: and Museums, especially the use of the Web as a means to deliver
: instruction. Although I am more interested in doing some quantitative work,
: my heart is with the qualitative approach.

: --john