Tag: request-for-feedback

Google Analytics in BlueGenes: what should we track?

TL;DR: We’re implementing analytics tracking in BlueGenes. We can probably track anything you like, within reason. Leave a comment [comments now closed] or email us if you have anything you’d like to see! Must adhere our privacy policy.

Longer version:

InterMine’s JSP pages (the current, older UI) are set up with a couple of different types of tracking:

  1. Google Analytics, which currently anonymously records things like:
    1. Number of users and their locations
    2. Pages viewed
    3. With a bit of effort you can figure out what items were searched for by analysing query strings.
  2. InterMine home-brew internal analytics (to view in your own mine, log in as the super user and select the “usage” tab.) It tracks:
    1. Logins (anonymously)
    2. Keyword search terms
    3. Popular templates
    4. Count of custom queries executed
    5. List views by InterMine object type (but not list contents)
    6. Count of lists created, by type

So we have a couple of questions we’d love some feedback on, as we implement Google Analytics in BlueGenes:

  1. Do you use the current analytics? Which, or both?
  2. What would you *like* to record? Here’s a list of ideas

Things that are probably okay to track

  • Pageviews including counts and times – e.g. “17 views for /region-search on Monday the 13th at 10:pm”
  • Logins (anonymously)
  • Visitor location
  • Tools used (e.g. report page tools interacted with)
  • Popular templates
  • Mine used / switched to a different mine

Things we’re not sure about – what do you think?

  • Keyword search contents (anonymously). Pros: interesting analyses like this one. Cons: Could someone avoid InterMine out of fear someone would notice their gene is getting too much attention?
  • List contents (anon, as above).
  • What about mistyped identifier names in list upload?
  • Region search
  • Queries built in the query builder

I’m sure I’ve missed off quite a few things from both lists. We’d love to hear your input and feelings, both with regards to privacy and with ideas about useful trackable events and pages. Tweet us, comment on the web services tracking  github issue, email the dev group, or contact us some other way: http://intermine.readthedocs.io/en/latest/about/contact-us/