J. Ryan et al., Lessons from analysis of world wide web server activity data: http://www.swsahs.nsw.gov.au/livtrauma, EURO J SURG, 165(12), 1999, pp. 1121-1124
Objective: To establish visiting patterns and use of resources within an ed
ucational world wide web site, to develop strategies for its more effective
use as a teaching medium.
Design: Prospective descriptive study.
Setting: A web site maintained by a major Australian metropolitan trauma se
rvice.
Subjects: All visitors to the web site over a 40 day period.
Main Outcome Measures: Number of visitors, requests for pages, and transfer
of files; timing and duration of visits; first and last pages viewed durin
g visits; pages viewed most often; source of referral and country of origin
of visitors.
Results: There were 2237 visits, and a mean of 5.8 pages/visit were viewed.
Mean duration of each visit was 4 minutes 35 seconds, and only half the vi
sitors entered through the home page. The collection of radiographs was mos
t commonly consulted. Visitors came from 26 different countries, 42% from A
ustralia.
Conclusions: Factors that influenced the use of the site were identified an
d have altered our plans for development.