HOME
Discussion
Overall, a number of trends became apparent. Most interest was shown in the first three weeks after the abstracts became available online. The numbers of hits and the numbers of users dropped over the first seven weeks of the study, with only a slight increase over the eighth week, when the Opening remarks were added. From the daily figures, we also noted that there were consistently fewer accesses at weekends, particularly on Sundays, which again appears to indicate that there were relatively few casual or chance visitors to the abstracts.
It is apparent that large numbers of surfers, or browsers, not our targeted users, were attracted to the site. This can be deduced from the difference between the number of accesses on any given day and the amount of accesses which resulted in the user consulting one of the abstracts under a project title. These data clearly distinguish the more serious users from those who are simply browsing.
Such users, though interested enough to enter (and thus to constitute a misleading hit) cannot be said to constitute a potential market. But from the point of view of publicity and promotion, these users do form part of our wider target audience. In addition, they are probably people whom we could not usually reach by conventional methods. Their interest, probably quite genuine, has already served more than one of the purposes of a Web page, i.e., to enhance the public image of an institution, and to provide information about its activities on the international scene.
Figure 2 visibly demonstrates this discrepancy, and on the surface seems to depict a rather depressing situation, or what would be a depressing situation if we had been relying on recorded high access numbers to provide a potential market for saleable information. Paradoxically, perhaps, we feel that we have succeeded in another of the aims of an effective Web page: to provide a targeted set of users with specialised information in the hope that they will use it.
From the data presented in Figure 3, giving a measure of the popularity of each project, it was quite significant that most accesses were made to the index. This shows that these users were genuinely in search of information, and were not merely browsing. It is also easy to see why the two most accessed projects, MERMAIDS and CINCS, achieved this level of interest. MERMAID'S success has already been explained. Nevertheless, the equally high level of interest in the CINCS project was not entirely unexpected, for several reasons:
- CINCS is an IMBC- coordinated project;
- IMBC had run the MTP workshop;
- IMBC made a very large amount of useful information freely available to all comers. Otherwise it can be seen that there was a lower, but fairly uniform level of interest in all the projects.
The relatively short time spent on average by users (less than 5 minutes) could, however, give ample time to print out the abstracts consulted. It is evident from Figure 5 that several users did not print out, nor skim read, but spent quite a considerable time reading. There is also the possibility that those who spent a seemingly insignificant amount of time in the program had simply printed those details of interest to them.
Conclusions
First, our literature search revealed that there is no consensus in respect of pricing, nor of the best method, nor of the profits being made on these transactions.
Second, there were clearly far more overall hits than serious consultations of freely available information. However, this type of access also fulfils one of the aims of a research organisation Web site, so that successfully attracting browsers should not be dismissed out of hand.
Third, contact was made with the serious searcher, the targeted user, who did consult the information, and this is considered to be of major importance at the IMBC.
Fourth, there seems to be an optimum amount of time (about four or five weeks) when interest in such information will be sustained, an important aspect when planning Web site activities.
References
1. IMO Working paper 94/3 (1994). The Internet and the European Information Industry. Information Market Observatory, Luxembourg
2. Webber, S, 1995. Online pricing: changing strategies in a changing world. In Proceedings of the 19th International Online Information Meeting, December 5 - 7, 1995, London, U.K. pp 1 - 11. Eds. D.I.Raitt & B.Jeapes.
Introduction | Methods | Results | Discussion
WHAT'S NEW - THE INSTITUTE - PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES - CASE STUDIES
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SERVICES - PRODUCTS & SERVICES - INTERNET RESOURCES