Last week we saw the launch of visual.ly, an online space to explore, share, and (one day) create data visualizations. I’m a big fan of attempts to explain complex concepts through visualization. I’m also very comfortable with complex datasets, of course there are many who are not. Data visualization makes data approachable. Data visualization is […]
Friday Diversion: Story of Stuff
Ok, so this video is ancient in internet years. It was released all the way back in December of 2007 and, according to the site, it’s been viewed over 12 million times. If you have not seen the video, watch, it’s a great example of using simple animation to help tell a story. You can […]
Why track visits?
Since the early days of website hit counters much of our analytic attention has been focused on overall site visits. Just about every piece of analytic software you try out will start you out with that metric showing you, day-by-day, how many people have visited your site. But is it really all that important? Say […]
Web Analytics: Page Tagging
Have you ever heard of a program called Google Analytics? It’s offered by some little online search company for absolutely no cost, just out of the kindness of their hearts…Or maybe the web giant is providing the service to help sell more ads, who can tell, either way it’s FREE. Google Analytics uses a method […]
Web Analytics: Logfile Analysis
Ok, so if you’re like some of the people I know, this might be your approach to web analytics… Dr. RandE: “Hmm, I would like to know how many people are visiting the blahblah foundation website. I’ll give my website guy, Chuck, a call.” Ring…Ring… Chuck: “Hello” Dr. RandE: “Hi Chuck, Dr. RandE here. I […]
Topic Blog: Flowing Data
Without a doubt the most popular blogging approach is just picking and sticking to a topic. Specialization makes a lot of sense. There is a lot of competition on the web, so making it easy for a reader to know what they will find on your site is critical. The key is to […]
Me Blog: Chris Brogan
Look at Me! Look at Me! It’s something my 2 year old daughter says when she is doing something for which she is particularly proud. Like spinning really fast or dancing with her Belle doll. As adults, we’re often too modest to call attention to ourselves so directly. But on the web, where there is […]
Blogging Community: Scientific Blogging
Yesterday I covered the community blog, today, the blogging community. What’s the difference? In short, while a community blog is often a single blog with multiple authors, a blogging community is multiple blogs combined into one site. Usually when you have a single community blog, there is a fair amount of editorial control. Someone often […]
Community Blog: AEA365
I want you to use your imagination and picture something. You decide to join some interesting professional association and take a trip to the annual conference. You pick up a registration packet and start leafing through sessions. Then you notice something weird…every single session is presented by the same presenter. Silly right? Seems kind of […]
Blogger as Curator: Brainpickings
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there is a lot of information waiting to be found on the world wide web. If only someone would take the time to pick out the most interesting things… Oh wait, there are people that do that. Many people. It’s the curator approach to blogging. Usually involving a […]
There is really no such thing as a blogosphere
Lately I’ve been bothered by the term blogosphere. Maybe it’s because I hate being roped together with people like Andrew Breitbart. Or maybe it’s because I hear blogosphere being used as if it was a source in its own right, like some sort of online collective consciousness that breaks stories and is somehow responsible for traditional journalism’s impending doom. […]
Practice What You Preach
I’ve had a busy and productive year. Of course, if you follow this blog, you would not know it. Some of the highlights include giving a presentation on web analytics, building a community of practice for a federal grantee, creating a social network for a local eval group, and helping a friend put together a […]