Lessons from analysis of world wide web server activity data: http://www.swsahs.nsw.gov.au/livtrauma

Objective: To establish visiting patterns and use of resources within an educational 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 service. 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 during 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 visitors entered through the home page. The collection of radiographs was most commonly consulted. Visitors came from 26 different countries, 42% from Australia. Conclusions: Factors that influenced the use of the site were identified and have altered our plans for development.