Evaluating the online activity of users of the e-Bug web site

Abstract

Web server log analysis is being increasingly used to evaluate the user behaviour on healthcare resource web sites due to the detailed record of activity that they contain. This study aimed to use this information to evaluate the e-Bug web site, a healthcare resource that provides a range of educational resources about microbes, hand and respiratory hygiene, and antibiotics. This evaluation was conducted by analysing the web server logs of the e-Bug web site for the period January 2008 to November 2009, using a proprietary application named Sawmill. The e-Bug web site has had >900,000 page views generated from >88,000 users, with an increase in May 2009 during the swine flu epidemic and a further increase in September 2009 following the official launch of e-Bug. The majority of visitors were from the UK, but visits were recorded from 190 different countries. Word(®) document resources were downloaded >169,000 times, with the most popular being a swine flu factsheet. PowerPoint(®) document resources were downloaded >36,000 times, with the most popular relating to the 'chain of infection'. The majority of visitor referrals originated from search engines, with the most popular referral keywords being variations on the e-Bug name. The most common non-search engine referrals were from other healthcare resources and agencies. Use of the site has increased markedly since the official launch of e-Bug, with average page views of >200,000 per month, from a range of countries, illustrating the international demand for a teaching resource for microbes, hygiene and antibiotics.