lankes**Great, could you tell me what kind of information you attempt to gather from/about yourusers? Dronen**For this particular part of VolcanoWorld, we ask for very little information. In fact,they can submit questions without telling us anything. However, Dronen**we do ask for their name and email address. Without the email address it is very hardto get a response to them! Interestingly enough, Dronen**most people offer more information than we ask for. lankes**So besides the questions, do you try to get other user information, web logs or focusgroups for example? Dronen**We used to keep extensive web logs, but as time went on they began to use up more andmore of our system reources and they even slowed down our server. Now we only get limitedinformation in the logs. Dronen**An example... Dronen**we keep track of IP addresses, and where they visit within our site. lankes**So what can you tell me about the users of your service? Dronen**I can say that from the information most people give us, a majority of our users fallinto a few categories. Dronen**Nearly all are associated with educational institutions in some way. Dronen**Most are K-12 Dronen**who are doing internet projects within their classes. lankes**And this information is derived solely from the questions being asked? Dronen**Some are also graduate and undergraduate level at universities. Dronen**This information is usually contained within the question they are asking us! lankes**How do you track questions...i.e., determine trends in the questions...or do you dothis at all? Dronen**For example, someone will say, "Hi, I am so and so, and here is a little aboutme....then here is my question". Dronen**We try to track the questions, and here is how: Dronen**a lot of questions are easily recognized as repeats, for example Dronen**"how hot is lava" comes every day! Dronen**What we try to do, is take the repeats, and put them in a FAQ type section of ourwebsite. Dronen**Then, we...
