About the Project

Why this project?
Companies like Google, Microsoft and Facebook constantly improve their products, based on the data that they collect from their users. Open-source software developers and researchers normally have no access to this data, which puts them into a disadvantage.

We aim to create a public repository of web usage data for the profit of these communities - and eventually you will benefit from better browsers, add-ons and other tools.

Who started the Web History Repository Project?
We are two researchers from the L3S Research Center in Hannover, Germany. The L3S focuses on fundamental and application-oriented research in all areas of Web Science.

Eelco Herder
Eelco Herder conducted a long-term Web Usage Study some years ago, which resulted in publications at - among others - WWW 2006, CHI 2007 and the ACM Trans. on the Web 2 (1). Results are discussed in several media and cited by researchers from Mozilla and Microsoft Research. His colleague, Ricardo Kawase, is a Ph.D. student and Web developer at the L3S.

Are you sure that enough people will submit their data?
What is enough? Our aim is to collect Web usage data of at least several thousands of users. For this, we need your help. Send us your data and invite your friends and colleagues to do so as well via email, or via social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

I would like to know about the results and products when they are there
Once the repository is online, we will announce it at various mailinglists and social media. Developers and researchers who use it are encouraged to share their insights, add-ons and other tools via these channels as well. The principle is simple: the more people contribute, the more you will hear from the project.

How can I contact you?
You are encouraged to share your questions, comments and suggestions via Facebook and Twitter, or to post a comment in this blog. You can also contact us via email.