Blackwell Reference Online

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Log-file analysis uses the records stored in the transaction logs of information retrieval systems, web →  search engines , and websites to offer valuable understanding of the interactions between these systems and people. This understanding informs system design, interface development, and information architecture. Log files (or transaction logs) are an unobtrusive and relatively easily method of recording significant amounts of usage data on a considerable number of users at low cost. A log file or transaction log is a record of the interactions between a system and the users of that system. Rice and Borgman (1983) present transaction logs as a data collection method that automatically captures the type, content, or time of transactions made by a person from a terminal with that system. Peters (1993) views transaction logs as electronically recorded interactions between online information systems and the people who search for the information found in those systems. Once one has collected and recorded the data in a log, one must analyze this data in order to obtain useful information. The process of conducting this analysis is transaction log analysis (TLA) or log-file analysis. TLA can focus on many issues and questions, but it typically addresses issues of system performance, information structure, or measurements of user interactions. Peters (1993) describes TLA as the ... log in or subscribe to read full text