Like many other bloggers I too use Google Analytics, but I’m perhaps not quite as enthusiastic as most Analytics users. Anyway, I checked the traffic today, for the first time in a month or so, and got a huge surprise. My traffic is usually very modest, below 50 hits a day, some days below 20, but one day in mid-May I got a new traffic record. My new record for unique visitors on a single day is now 649! Google Analytics is a nifty tool, because it allows you to study the traffic in more detail. A blog post I made in January about Facebook being down had been viewed 666 times that day (I wonder if there’s some kind of a prediction or omen about the number of page views?). 606 of the page views were made from the United States. This to me suggests that Facebook was down on May 22 in the US. And actually a quick search in the blogospehere seems to support that (Boss hatch (?), Live Crunch (?)).

This awakens the researcher’s curiosity in me. What could you do with this data? Add knowledge about traffic with a content analysis of where the traffic is going and what do you get? Could this be used to design some large scale study about underlying trends and opinions? Well, that would require that you have access to a lot of traffic data. Could this be used to predict trends? As a matter fact, it sort is already. Some search engines occasionally publish their top searches, but to get really usefull data out of this, one should get more in depth into the data. How usefull is it to know that Britney Spears is in the top ten searches one week, and Paris Hilton the other? Not much…

Kartoitimme vuoden alussa kiinnostusta yhteisen suomalaisten oppilaitosten alueen perustamista kohtaan virtuaalimaailma Second Lifeen (www.secondlife.com). Hanke on edennyt alkuvuoden aikana ja oppilaitosten yhteistä EduFinland-aluetta ollaan nyt perustamassa. Teemme yhteistyötä Suomen eOppimiskeskus ry:n kanssa, joka toimii alueen hallinnoimisesta vastuullisena organisaationa ja huolehtii alueen ylläpitoon liittyvästä maksuliikenteestä.

Suomalaisten oppilaitosten keskittyminen yhdelle alueelle Second Lifessa palvelee monta tarkoitusta. Yhtenäinen alue tarjoaa mahdollisuuksia tehokkaaseen yhteistyöhön sekä eri oppilaitosten opettajien että oppilaiden välillä. Yhteisellä alueella myös yhteisten tapahtumien järjestäminen ja resurssien jakaminen on helppoa.

EduFinland-alueelta suomalaiset oppilaitokset saavat vuokrata maata opetus- ja tutkimustarkoitukseen. Saarelta löytyy myös yhteisiä tiloja joita saarelta maata vuokranneet oppilaitokset saavat käyttää. Tulemme järjestämään saarella ja sen ulkopuolella erilaisia ja eripituisia koulutustilaisuuksia ja työpajoja.

Lisätietoja osoitteesta http://edufinland.fi

The research project Library 2.0 – a new participatory context at Informations Studies, Åbo Akademi (http://library2pointoh.fi/about/) is looking for a Doctoral student. The post is part of an Academy of Finland funded project.

The goal of this project is to deepen the understanding of the interactive information source called Web 2.0 focusing on knowledge, experience, collaboration, and creation of new contents. The project aims to develop the skills needed to manage the new information platform (Library 2.0) and foresee the development of needed competencies in the information society.

The main task for the doctoral student is to do research towards a doctoral dissertation with the aim to finish the doctoral degree in 4 years. There are two sub-project themes that are possible but also other perspectives or contexts may be discussed.

• Collective quality of Library 2.0 services in the context of university libraries
• Mapping opinions and trends from library blogspace

The tentative start date of the post is 1.8.2008, and the post has currently granted funding until the end of 2010, with the possibility of extension depending on further external funding.

More information on the project web site.

On April 3-4 the research project Library 2.0 -  a participatory context organised a workshop and a symposium. More about these can be read on the project web site. We had about 50 guest, including invited speakers from Estonia, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. To compensate the pollution and burden on the environment all the travelling caused, we decided to plant a tree, an ash (Fraxinus excelsior). I got the idea from ESSIR last year where the organisers did the same thing. The city of Turku was immediately interested in the idea and wanted to provide a space in one of the parks in the city centre. Next to the tree we placed a copperplate explaining the purpose of the tree. We’d like to challenge everybody that are organising a conference, seminar or a workshop to think about what they could do for the environment.

Isto, me and Gunilla in front of the Ash.