Handbook

This unit introduces web metrics, analytics and digital story telling along with the collection, analysis, and reporting of online data sets. While data plays a key role in a range of online and web-based activities, it is also central to a range of broader social, political, and economic processes. To provide a holistic understanding of the role that web data play in our lives, we examine topics such as big data, personal data collection, privacy, surveillance, and ethics. This unit also provides students with the toolsfor understanding how web data can be collected, interpreted, analysed, reported, and used. A key emphasis is placed on the role of web analytics for search engine optimisation (SEO). Beyond this, we also examine how web analytics can be applied to influence areas such as strategic communication, policy formation, governance, social media, and the news media. The unit rounds out with a deeper examination of the use of web analytics in context by examining different case studies.