GSLAP: a graph‐based web analysis tool
| Pages | 162-172 |
| Published date | 14 March 2008 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02635570810847554 |
| Date | 14 March 2008 |
| Author | S.E. Kruck,Faye Teer,William A. Christian |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
GSLAP: a graph-based
web analysis tool
S.E. Kruck, Faye Teer and William A. Christian Jr
Computer Information Systems and Management Science,
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a new software tool that graphically depicts
analysis of visitor traffic. This new tool is the graph-based server log analysis program (GSLAP).
Design/methodology/approach – Discovering hidden and meaningful information about
web users’ patterns of usage is critical to optimization of the web server. The authors designed and
developed GSLAP. Presented in this paper is an example of GSLAP in the context of an analysis of the
web site of a small fictitious company. Also included is an explanation of current literature that
supports graphical display of data as a cognitive aid to understanding data.
Findings – GSLAP is shown to provide a visual server log analysis that is a great improvement on
the textual server log.
Research limitations/implications – The benefits of the output from GSLAP are compared with
the typical textual output.
Originality/value – The paper describes a software tool that helps the analysis of usage patterns of
web traffic.
Keywords Internet, User interfaces, Software tools
Paper type Technical paper
Introduction
The internet is called the “world wide web” because when its constituent networks are
mapped, it literally looks like a tangled web around the globe. In addition, an individual
web site can also be considered a web when one examines a map of the links between
pages. Discovering hidden and meaningful information about web users’ usage patterns
is critical for optimization of the web server. Web developers create web sites for users to
access information quickly and efficiently. Part of the web site maintenance process isan
analysis of actual usage patterns. A graph is a natural structure that can be used to
capture the abstract model of the relationships that represent actual usage pa tterns.
Countless web traffic analysis tools and graph drawing programs exist; however, there
are no packages that unify these tools. To fill this void, we designed and develop
graph-based server log analysis program (GSLAP), an interactive, graph-based tool for
analyzing web site traffic based on user-defined criteria.
After a review of the related literature, we will discuss web analysis tools in general
and then discuss GSLAP. We illustrate GSLAP by presenting a small fictitious
company’s web site. We justify why an analysis tool such as GSLAP would benefit site
designers (those who create and maintain web pages) as well as site engineers (those
who manage on what machines web pages are physically located). Then, we will
examine some of the primary features of the tool. Lastly, we will describe some future
improvements to the tool.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
IMDS
108,2
162
Received 24 August 2007
Revised 26 September 2007
Accepted 15 October 2007
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 108 No. 2, 2008
pp. 162-172
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/02635570810847554
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