Web information monitoring: an analysis of Web page updates

The dynamic nature of information content on the Web has posed a serious pr oblem to users who need constantly to keep track of the latest updates on s pecific information. Traditional search engines enable users to retrieve po tentially relevant Web information, but they do not track and monitor Web p ages based on users' interests. On the other hand, Web information monitori ng systems are designed specifically to help users track and monitor Web in formation. However, to make Web monitoring effective, it is necessary to id entify and understand typical Web page update characteristics so that usefu l monitoring features and functions can be designed and built into these sy stems. In this study, a total of 105 Web pages from the Internet were colle cted and monitored over a one-month period. These pages are selected from s even domains under Yahoo's directories. The analysis results are presented according to Web site domains, Web page types, Web page attributes and chan ge frequency. Based on this study, different functions and features for a W eb monitoring system are identified. These features have been incorporated into a Web monitoring system, WebMon, that has been developed at the School of Computer Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.