Web service surveillance data feedback for directing user behavior Teemo Tebest

TUT/Hypermedia Laboratory

PhD Research Plan (14/04/2011)

Researcher Teemo Tebest

TEEMO TEBEST

WEB SERVICE SURVEILLANCE DATA FEEDBACK

FOR DIRECTING USER BEHAVIOR

Research PlanSupervisor: Ossi NykänenTampere University of Technology: Hypermedia Laboratory

1 Research question

Research's work name is �Web service surveillance data feedback for directing user behavior�.Main research question is �How to direct user behavior in web service with web service usagevisualizations�. Another important question which will be researched is �How the feedback a�ectsto the usage of the web service?�. The a�ect can vary between web services and a positive a�ectis not an absolute value. Important thing is to point out a noticeable and proveable improvementor change in the usage of the web service. Following questions are �What kind of informationinterests the user of web service?� and �How and where the information must be presented so theusers are able to absorb it?�. Interesting research trend is also to study does it matter �Whenthe information is shown to the user?�. It the research it is important that results can be given aquantitative form so they can be compared.

Surveillance data is data that is collected from the web service usage. In popular web systemsthe amount of this data can be huge. Feedback information is manipulated web service surveillancedata that is returned back to the user. For example in social media web service surveillance datacan reveal users that are similar to other users. System can therefore feedback the data that iscollected from the user's actions as an information that tells the user other users can might havethe same interests.

Relevant things in the study are context-sensitive information and di�erent kinds of usersand �lling up their needs. Context-sensitive information is data that is collected from the usage ofthe web service processed and placed to a logic location in the web service so the user can adopt andunderstand the information easily. Di�erent kinds of users have di�erent kind of limitations whichrestrict the understanding of the information that is o�ered to them. The level of understandingis not easy to measure but it is possible to make assumptions based on user actions. Informationthat is delivered to the user must be semantic, meaningful and intentional. To do this we muststudy which kind of things interest di�erent kind of users.

The �gure 1.11 describes the idea in a simple feedback system. User enters the system (A)and reacts in the system. System is monitored (B) and the collected data is returned to the systemin some manipulated form which a�ects the user's behavior in a desired way.

1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Feedback&oldid=388212656

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Web service surveillance data feedback for directing user behavior Teemo Tebest

Figure 1.1: Simple feedback system1

The objective of the feedback system can vary depending on the needs and the nature ofthe service. For example if we want to provide more e�cient ways for users to �nd the contentthey are looking for by suggesting them context-sensitive information we could actually decreasethe amount of page loads because users don't have to wander around the web service. This couldseems bad if we are just monitoring qualitative page load data. In other cases the feedback systemcan increase the amount of page loads. The objective of each feedback system must be de�nedindividually. Often the objective can be described so that afterwards the user gets the feeling thathe or she is getting more from the usage of the web service. Other point of view is that the webservice provider gets more from the users. This study explains which kind of feedback systems andsolutions are available and can be used in web services. The veri�cation and measurement to showthat the system works must be made in the terms of the objective. This means that the resultsthat are gathered must be looked from the objective's point of view. Results that seem generallypositive can actually be unwanted.

Research is based on several known textbooks which de�ne the problem of web servicemonitoring and analysing the gathered data. Kaushik is a known web service analytics expertwho have written several books on the subject. Kaushik is recognized as an authoritative voiceon how web service analytics should be implemented and how the collected data can made in use.Textbooks include (Kaushik, 2007) and (Kaushik, 2009).

The conclusion of the research could be a method or series of common solutions which de�nehow user behavior can be a�ected in web services. These methods can be exploited for example bycompanies with �nancial interests because they can be used to direct company's web service userstowards company's interests.

2 Research targets

In the research it is vital that it is possible to test the stated questions and verify our presumptionsin real life web services. The research is conducted in university environment which means thatit is also possible to exploit university students and systems in the study. Moodle is a systemthat is widely used in Tampere University of Technology and it could therefore be a system thatcould used to verify the results of the study because Moodle is a world wide used system so it givesinternational reference that can be used to point out the results of this research. It is also impossibleto implement simulation models to test developed systems before introducing them to the users.Simulations could help avoiding problems that could occur. When working in environment wherewe study user behavior time is an essence because certain user behavior can only be expected incertain time of the year. In addition to Moodle at least the following web services can be modi�edand used for research purposes.

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Web service surveillance data feedback for directing user behavior Teemo Tebest

Erimenu.�2 is a web services that supports users who have special diet. Site has about 300 to500 daily users and over 4000 users have registered accounts. Erimenu.� provides large user basewhich can be studied. In Erimenu.� the ambition for the data feedback could be to increase thetime that users spend on the site. Currently the time between user entry and exit is about twominutes. This could be increased if the site provided more interesting information that could beexamined by the user.

TUT Circle3 is social media web service where users provide the content and the web serviceit self is just an empty shell. TUT Circle users are mainly freshmen who come to study at theTampere University of Technology (TUT). TUT Circle can be used in this research to study howwhich kind of feedback information interests users in social web service environment. In TUTCircle the problem is that the returning percent is very low. Even 50% of the users that visit thesite are new users which means that not many users return to the site.

Statster4 is a web service quite similar to popular web service called Last.fm5. Statster storesuser's music listening data and creates various visualizations based on the data. Visualizations anddata feedback can be considered Statster's main task. In Statster it is possible to study how evencomplex data visualization can be made adoptable and so useful to the users.

3 Topicality of the research and publication

The research is topical because web services are becoming more and more daily hang out placeswhere people spend time. Web services like Facebook and Twitter have reached a status whereusers may spend several hours of the day just hanging on the web site. If web service can provideenriching information which is interesting and useful this kind of user behavior can be brought toother web services as well.

Business minded this research can help companies to understand the user's needs and so getgrowth in the e-business market in overall. For companies the user is a customer and so worth itis clear that more users on the web page mean more customers for the company.

This study links to several di�erent areas of science. The base lies on computer scienceas the surveillance it self is quite technology orientated. Human-computer interaction (HCI) andhuman-centered technology is the another level that is comes relevant because web services arevery user-centered while they are used by human beings. Business will be in very important rolein this study while companies interest then selves greatly that their web services are used in a waythat it serves their needs. Mathematical and pedagogical aspects can be also found. Mathematicis needed while compiling the data into a needed visualization. Pedagogical orientation comesnaturally from the university environment. It is planned to publish articles in all of the mentionedareas of study.

Visualization communities on computer science are IEEE Vis (IEEE Visualization), IEEEInfoVis (IEEE Information Visualization) and IEEE Vast (IEEE Visual Analytics Science andTechnology). These communities are helding annual conferences and for example this year theyare helding a joined conference called VisWeek2010 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. it would beinteresting to link this research with the mentioned communities. VisWeek 2010 (2010)

2http://www.erimenu.�/3http://www.tut.�/piiri/4http://statster.info5http://last.fm/

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Web service surveillance data feedback for directing user behavior Teemo Tebest

4 Materials

Literary materials includes books from web service analytics (Croll & Sean (2009), Kaushik(2009), (Kaushik, 2007)) visualization information theories (Ware (2004), (Geroimenko & Chen,2005)) and feedback system theories (Sontag (1998), Åström & Murray (2008)). Also other relatedliterary is listed in references.

Surveillance data is the data that is collected from the usage of the web service. The datais collected di�erent ways in di�erent web services and the amplitude of the data varies betweensystems depending on what kind of data is vital to the measurement. Surveillance data is used topoint out variation in the web service usage which can con�rm the made presumptions.

Interviews can be made in the web services under study. Specially Statster and TUT Circleusers can be easily contacted. The objective is to conduct semi structured interviews to verify theresults.

Form surveys and interviews share the same objective to verify the presumptions that havebeen made. Form surveys can be made with web based forms. The preliminary idea is to executeseveral shorter surveys which would provide quality information.

Experts estimates can be used to verify used methods and the results. Web service analyticsand visualization experts could be found from the communities and conferences that would beparticipated.

5 Tools and technologies

The study makes use of several tools and technologies. Main coding languages will be Python andPHP. These are widely used in Internet and also the web services under research are developedwith these languages. Web frameworks that are exploited include at least Django6 and Drupal7.JavaScript is used to provide any dynamical content. The result veri�cation process can exploitvarious di�erent tools including Matlab among others. The documentation and writing is madewith LATEX based program called LYX. User surveys are processed with an appropriate tool.Programs like Irfanview and GIMP are used for image manipulation. Other used technologies areCSS, SQL and XML among others.

6 Study trends and study schedule

Usability Tampere University of Technology Human-Centered Technology unit o�ers doctoralstudies. Main study trends would be usability and human-centered design. Postgraduate studies

(2010)

Web service publication Information modelling and organising in web services can be studiedin Tampere University of Technology Hypermedia Laboratory unit. Studies (2010)

6http://www.djangoproject.com/7http://drupal.org/

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Web service surveillance data feedback for directing user behavior Teemo Tebest

6.1 Preliminary schedule for studies and publications

Spring 2011

Courses: TUT-9006 Orientation to Doctoral Studies (5cr) and studies in web designing (5cr).

Publications: none.

Autumn 2011

Courses: studies in web designing (5cr) and studies in usability (5cr).

Publications: publication in the area of Computer Science (CS).

Spring 2012

Courses: studies in usability (10cr) and studies in visualization theories (5cr).

Publications: publication in the area of Business Business Intelligence (BI).

Autumn 2012

Courses: studies in visualization theories (5cr) and studies in user behavior (5cr).

Publications: publication in the area of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

Spring 2013

Courses: studies in user behavior (5cr).

Publications: publication in the area of Mathematic (MATH).

Autumn 2013

Courses: studies in web designing (5cr).

Publications: publication in the area of Computer Science (CS).

Spring 2014

Courses: none.

Publications: publication in the area of Pedagogical Sciences (PEDA).

Autum 2014

Courses: studies in usability (5cr).

Publications: publication in the area of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

Spring 2015

Courses: none.

Publications: publication of dissertation work in the area of Web service surveillance data feedback for

directing user behavior.

This schedule has been made in the assumption that TISE funding will be obtained. If thefunding is not obtained it means that graduation will delay. How big an a�ect will it have dependson the projects that given to the researcher over the years. There are more �exiple resourcesavailable for researching in other projects more than others while on TISE funding the resourcestays more stable. Not getting the funding means roughly a delay of one to three years.

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Web service surveillance data feedback for directing user behavior Teemo Tebest

Publications

Silius, K., Miilumäki, T., Huhtamäki, J., Tebest, T., Meriläinen, J., & Seppo, P. (2009, December).Social media enhanced studying and learning in higher education. IEEE EDUCON EducationEngineering 2010 - The Future of Global Learning Engineering Education; April 14-16 2009,Madrid, SPAIN. Available from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/

stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5492586

Silius, K., Miilumäki, T., Huhtamäki, J., Tebest, T., Meriläinen, J., & Seppo, P. (2010, January).Students' motivations for social media enhanced studying and learning. Knowledge Management& E-Learning: An International Journal (KM&EL); Mar 2010, Vol.2, No.1. Available fromhttp://www.kmel-journal.org/ojs/index.php/online-publication/

article/view/55/39

Tebest, T. (2010). Web service monitoring and visualization of surveillance data [Master Thesis].Available from http://dspace.cc.tut.fi/dpub/handle/123456789/6664

References

Croll, A., & Sean, P. (2009). Complete web monitoring (1st ed.; S. Laurent, Ed.). O'Reilly Media,Inc. (ISBN:978-0596155131)

Feedback. (2010, 10 12). Wikipedia. Retrieved 2010, 14. October, from http://en.wikipedia

.org/w/index.php?title=Feedback&oldid=388212656

Geroimenko, V., & Chen, C. (2005). Visualizing the semantic web: Xml-based internet and

information visualization (2nd ed.). Springer. (ISBN:978-1852339760)

Kaushik, A. (2007). Web analytics: An hour a day (1st ed.). Sybex. (ISBN:978-8126513284)

Kaushik, A. (2009). Web analytics 2.0; the art of online accountability & science of customer

centricity (1st ed.). Sybex. (ISBN:978-0470529393)

Postgraduate studies. (2010). The unit of Human-Centered Technology. Retrieved 2010, 25.October, from http://www.cs.tut.fi/ihte/english/studies/postgraduate/

Sontag, E. (1998). Mathematical control theory: Deterministic �nite dimensional

systems. Springer. Available from http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~sontag/FTP_DIR/sontag

_mathematical_control_theory_springer98.pdf

Åström, K. J., & Murray, R. M. (2008). Feedback systems: An introduction for scientists and

engineers. Princeton University Press. Available from http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~murray/

books/AM08/pdf/am08-complete_22Feb09.pdf

Studies. (2010). Hypermedia Laboratory. Retrieved 2010, 25. October, from http://matriisi

.ee.tut.fi/hypermedia/en/studies/

Visweek 2010. (2010). VisWeek. Retrieved 2010, 25. October, from http://vis.computer.org/

VisWeek2010

Ware, C. (2004). Information visualization; perception for design. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.

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