Interwebometry Blog Looks at How We See the Web

Technically I'm barred from writing detailed search engine optimization articles by my current employment contract. I can republish old articles (which I do on The SEO Theorist and I can still write about pure SEO Theory but beyond that I'm limited in what I can say about what I am most passionate about professionally.

On the other hand, it occurred to me recently that I could write about Webometrics without getting into trouble. Webometry -- the measurement of the Web and its impact on people -- is a young science but it influences search engine optimization. In fact, I have been involved in a number of Webometric projects over the years. I think it's a fascinating subject.

So I recently started a blog about Webometry at Science 2.0, which is a community blogging site for scientists and people who want to write about science. I have been publishing 1 article per week, although I am starting to think that may be a little too aggressive for that service.

The blog is called Interwebometry and its purpose is to share my insights (and experiences as much as possible) into how we measure the Web, why we measure the Web, and what challenges we must overcome in our attempts to do so.

I have often compared the Web to the universe: ever-changing, ever-expanding, larger than we can possibly see. I hoped that metaphor goes over well with the scientific readers of Science 2.0. I guess time will tell.

The articles I have published so far include:

"Gazing at the Web from the Back Porch", which discusses how we can use non-search referral data in our analytics reports to see how many Websites are strongly connected to our own (the more the better, of course).

Last week's article was "How Webometrics Become a Liability in Webometry". The biggest problem facing Webometricists (Webometrics Analysts) these days is that they have fewer and fewer tools to work with. What are the new challenges facing us?

A couple of weeks ago I published "Seeking Shape and Cardinality in the 0-Dimensional Web". When you set out to measure the Web you have to measure Websites, but how do you do that if Websites have no dimensions? The Web is not a 3-dimensional Cartesian space like the physical world in which we live, and yet we try to impose Cartesian-like grids on our perspectives of Websites and the Web.

"Reflections of the Realized Imagination" was the kickoff article for the series. It introduces some of the limitless aspects of the Web and ways we need to think about it. There are philosophical questions tied up with Webometry. One needs to lay down some definitions before creating useful measurements.

I hope you'll take a look at the articles and that you find the blog useful. I'll welcome any comments you want to leave there.

____________________________________________ SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.