Evaluating Internet information services in the Asia-Pacific region

• Published in: Internet research Vol. 8; no. 3; pp. 266 - 271
• Main Authors: Watters, Paul A., Watters, Maya F., Carr, Stuart C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford MCB UP Ltd 01.01.1998; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Academic Libraries; Access to Information; Asia; Asia Pacific Region; Case Studies; Communications sector; Computer Interfaces; Computers; Culture; Delivery Systems; Electronic Equipment; Electronic Journals; Electronic publishing; Evaluation; Evaluation Methods; Foreign Countries; Information industry; Information Services; Internet; Internet access; Marketing; Mathematics Education; Networks; Online information retrieval; Online information work; Pacific region; Periodicals; Printed Materials; Psychological Studies; Psychology; Resistance (Psychology); Scholarly Journals; Science Education; Search engines; Social Science Research; South Pacific; Studies; Use Studies; Asia; World Wide Webb
• ISSN: 1066-2243; 2054-5657
• DOI: 10.1108/10662249810217894

States that there has been a trend for publications in the Asia-Pacific region to move to a combined print and electronic medium, in an effort to achieve the goals of social equity and increased exposure to the worldwide community through the World Wide Web (WWW). Reviews some of the mechanisms by which this transition can be evaluated with respect to these two goals, both economically, but more importantly, in terms of user-behaviour recorded WWW server access logs. The auditing of these logs facilitates new forms of market research which are impossible to conduct on traditional paper publications, as objective, quantitative information about usage patterns can be measured directly from key variables such as country of origin, most popular content pages, and typical access errors. It is argued that these audits can be used effectively for future planning, developing popular content areas, and creating publicity policy for electronic publications. The transition to a joint paper and electronic format for the South Pacific Journal of Psychology is presented in a three-month case study, with important issues, such as the importance of indigenous contributions, being resolved using statistics computed from the server access logs.