Australians will probably recognise Doctor Karl S. Kruszelnicki, the rest of the wwworld probably won't, basically he is a TV and Radio Scientist dude who works for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and as his email signature reads........ (Full version at bottom of this page ;0)--~ http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2 currently has over 1,000,000 words in it!


-----Original Message has been edited ;O)--~ -----
From: Peace Pipe Project <peacepipe@gasgroup.com>
To: Karl Kruszelnicki in OZ <karlk@physics.usyd.edu.au>
Date: Saturday, 23 January 1999 19:27
Subject: wwweb stuff ;O)--~

K= My homepage gets about 70,000 pages downloaded each week. We prefer to measure pages, rather than hits, as there may be 10 or more "hits" on a complicated page.

G= That is the correct and only way to measure activity, mostly because you can code extra activity in, for example, the cyber structure of the 1996-1997 web zone www.gasgroup.com/bbt (which, by the way, was constructed BEFORE frames layout was "invented.") is designed so that all pages in it are accessible from the index/home page as well as from the header and footer of each individual page, this layout tends to "loop" visitors thru the index/home page and this style is where the big numbers come from and is pretty much standard web layout.

The current design concept at PPP is totally different, it is a linear zone, rather than a loop zone, by linear I mean, that I assume ALL visitors to gg/ppp have never been there B4 (I also work on the theory that you only get one chance to make a first impression ;O)

First Time visitors MUST click thru gg/ppp/entrylevel/????.htm to get to main body of the web zone (gg/ppp/centralhub/????.htm) If they don't make it to the /centralhub the first time they visit, then it is highly likely that the zone DOESN'T contain the content they are looking for or hasn't aroused their interest sufficiently. I no longer write to this audience, instead I prefer to concentrate my talents on the dudes who WANT the specific content I provide.

Once a Newbie has decided to become "A member" they then enter thru www.gasgroup.com/peacepipe99 (another GjG innovation ;O)--~

How ever, activity is one thing and "membership another", by this I mean that when a member downloads a page they read it, discuss the content with their friends etc, with a newbie well, it's like a hotel lobby with a well known piece of Art in the foyer, heaps of dudes will walk in off the street to look at it, (if it's free and not out of their way,) but not many will want to book a room in the hotel or peruse / purchase a back catalogue of other works by the same artist. In fact to continue with the hotel analogy, launching a web site is exactly like building a hotel in the middle of a desert, first you build and decorate it, and THEN you build the roads to it.

In short I believe that a well balanced web zone requires a Newbie zone, a NOW zone and an ALL zone and each zone requires a different dynamic and interpretation.....

Dear Peace Pipe,

Thanks for the dissertation on the web.  I haven't learnt so much about the web, in such a short time, for a long time.

The busiest section of our homepage is the Self Serve Science, and yet it's buried a layer back from the front door.  Could I have your opinion on this?

karl

G= Hmmn, opinion on the popularity of audience generated content / bulletin board / guest books as opposed to popularity of Artist generated content or opinion as to why self serve is the busiest section?

Second part is easier to answer, the self serve section is pretty much the only section where dudes can interact with your content (& see their own name up in lights) not to mention the fact that the underlined text sublink to it is also featured near the top of the index page blurb, so it's not exactly buried.

As to the first part, well, audience generated content usually only
interests the individual audience member until their query is answered or for as long as their comment/ statement is "Starring." For example what is the pulse rate of the Self Service archives? Is, say, August 98 still getting clicks in January 99? If the archives ain't clicking, it means that dudes are only accessing self service as a NOW function. if it's low clicking it means that dudes are visiting the archives to show their friends their comment / question / answer.. If it's growing it means that the content is worth the MEG space.

Dear Peace Pipe,

thanks again.

karl

Karl S. Kruszelnicki,
Julius Sumner Miller Fellow,
The Science Foundation for Physics,
School of Physics,
Building A-28,
The University of Sydney,
NSW   2006
PHONE (OZ) 02-9351-2963 (w),  0419-29-6610 (m)  FAX   02-9351-7726(w)
PHONE (INTERNATIONAL) +61-2-9351-2963 (w), +61-419-29-6610 (m)
FAX   +61-2-9351-7726(w)

This homepage http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2 currently has over 1,000,000
words on it!

This is a list of my books that are currently in print, and still selling
fabulously well

1991 "Latest Great Moments in Science", Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Enterprises, Sydney, Australia, ISBN  0 7333 0144 4

1992 "Spacescape", Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, (Australia),1992, ISBN 0 7295
0876 6

1993 "Bizarre Moments in Science" Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Enterprises, Sydney, Australia, 1993, ISBN 0 7333 0210 6

1994 "Absolutely Fabulous Moments in Science" Australian Broadcasting
Corporation Enterprises, Sydney, Australia, 1994, ISBN 0-7333-0407-9

1995 "Sensational Moments in Science" Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Enterprises, Sydney, Australia, 1995, ISBN 0 7333 0456 7'

1996 "Pigeon Poo the Universe & Car Paint - and other awesome science
moments", HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 1996, ISBN 0 7322
5723 9

1997 "Ears, Gears and Gadgets", HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd,
Australia, 1997, ISBN 0-207-19610-9

1997 "Forests, Fleece & Prickly Pears", HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd,
Australia, 1997, ISBN 0-207-19611-7

1997 "Flight, Food & Thingummygigs", HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd,
Australia, 1997, ISBN 0-207-19612-5

1997 "Flying Lasers, Robofish and Cities of Slime - and other brain-bending
science moments", HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia, 1997, ISBN
0-7322-5874-X

AND, JUST RECENTLY RELEASED IN OCTOBER.....

1998 "Munching Maggots, Noah's Flood and TV Heart Attacks - and other
Cataclysmic Science Moments", HarperCollins Publishers Pty Ltd, Australia,
1998, ISBN 0-7322-5858-8