[FM Discuss] Stats for downloads

[Michael McAndrew]

Hey there,

Here are some reasons why I see statistics as useful:

Our book is aimed at the non-technical end user whereas our wiki (
wiki.civicrm.org) is aimed at the technical user/developer.  Knowing how
many people are reading the one compared to the other gives us really useful
information about our audience.  Information that is really useful in
shaping our project.

It takes 5 minutes to make a book...why do we need to prioritise which one
> gets made?
>

I don't want to prioritise which books get made.  I am interested in
prioritising resources within the CiviCRM project.  Having stats on how many
people read the manual and what parts of it they read would be very useful
for us to prioritise our resources.  We could say things like  "wow, 10
times more people are reading our chapter on 'event management' compared to
the chapter on 'membership administration' - lets ask our volunteer with one
day to spend on the project to concentrate on that chapter".

I disagree with you that if flossmanuals collected stats they would 'become
the rule', but I don't think I would be successful in convincing you of my
point of view on that subject!

if [a funding application] needs backing up, get testimonials...any thoughts
> on this?
>

Yes.  Testimonials are great and we have collected a few already.  But they
are take a fair amount of effort to collect and are anecdotal and can't
claim to be representative.  Pageviews, in comparision, are incredibly easy
to collect and they give us very reliable information who is reading what.

I take your point that creators should take more responsibility for their
books - it would be a good solution for a project like ours which is
interested in stats.  Can anyone give me an idea of how much time it would
take to re-create http://www.sesawe.org/-Manuals-.html for CiviCRM?

If we were to go down that route would you be up for 'discouraging' people
from browsing the CiviCRM on flossmanuals.net in order that we get a better
picture of our stats?  What do you think about a redirect from
http://en.flossmanuals.net/civicrm to http://book.civicrm.org? or something
a little less blunt like 'are you sure you want to read this manual here?
We'd prefer it if you read it at http://book.civicrm.org.

Michael


2009/9/29 adam hyde <adam at flossmanuals.net>

> On Tue, 2009-09-29 at 07:56 -0500, Anne Gentle wrote:
> >
>
> >
> >
> >         We are not your distribution agent.
> >
> > Ok, that last line speaks volumes. It explains why reader experience
> > hasn't changed much. I can agree with that now that I understand
> > that's your stance.
>
> So, reader experience aside. I think its really up to each group to push
> the manual they are working on as hard as they can.
>
> >
> > For the torrent, is it the PDF output only? What are some other
> > examples of HTML distribution? I know the XO laptop is one example,
> > and at one point NGO in a box was using FM content, though I don't
> > know if they still are. I'd like to explore this idea further.
> >
>
> Sesawe use the embed API to host the Circumvention Manual
> http://www.sesawe.org/-Manuals-.html
>
> NGO in a box use it also but i dont know URLs
>
> There are a few people, but not enough, using the Book Store API.
>
> adam
>
>
>
>
> > Thanks,
> > Anne
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Discuss mailing list
> > Discuss at lists.flossmanuals.net
> > http://lists.flossmanuals.net/listinfo.cgi/discuss-flossmanuals.net
> --
> Adam Hyde
> Founder FLOSS Manuals
> German mobile : + 49 15 2230 54563
> Email : adam at flossmanuals.net
> irc: irc.freenode.net #flossmanuals
>
> "Free manuals for free software"
> http://www.flossmanuals.net/about
>
>
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