Software/dataset: Online Browsing Behavior Study

Dear colleagues,

We would like to announce DOBBS, the DERI Online Browsing Behavior Study =
- http://dobbs.deri.ie/, which is a research tool for understanding the b=
rowsing behavior of Web users, e.g., how often they visit a website, how =
they use their browser, etc. DOBBS is an easy to install add-on for the F=
irefox and Chrome that keeps track of a user's browsing behavior in a com=
pletely anonymous and privacy-preserving way. The collected data will be =
provided as a public dataset for research purposes.

The motivation behind DOBBS is that new browser capabilities and new inte=
ractive (social) offerings have changed the behavior of users on the Web.=


For example, a user can now search for information while listing to an on=
line radio station in a background tab and occasionally check the latest,=
 automatically updated, stock data in another browser window and addition=
ally being mobile while doing this, i.e., being influenced by location an=
d context in the physical world. The user behavior has changed from passi=
ve consumption of web pages, to immersed, mobile, interactions. This chan=
ge in interaction style, features new characteristics which are not well =
understood so far, which is largely due to the lack of meaningful dataset=
s capturing user behavior as server-side data sources, such as Web server=
 access logs or search engines transaction logs, do not provide sufficien=
t information to investigate user behavior in more detail. DOBBS is an ef=
fort to create such a dataset in a non-intrusive, completely anonymous an=
d privacy-preserving way through an open source tool and providing a publ=
ic dataset. We would like to encourage you to use DOBBS and contribute to=
 this effort.

DOBBS provides a browser add-on for Firefox and Chrome which anonymously =
tracks:

* how often and long users visit web pages

* how people navigate between pages (e.g., by clicking on links or bookma=
rks)

* how many browser windows or tabs user during a session

* how often users switch between multiple tabs

* how often and how long users are idling, i.e., not actively using
  the browser window

DOBBS protects the privacy of contributors. Most importantly (more infos =
in [1]):

* no personal data (e-mail address, IP address, etc.) are collected,  tra=
nsferred or stored

* all sensitive data, i.e., visited URLs, are being encrypted before  tra=
nsferred and stored, making it impossible to infer the user's  identity, =
location, and visited web sites.


Benefits of DOBBS
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Having deeper insights into the browsing behavior of users would allow sc=
ientists from a large variety of disciplines to derive both fundamental a=
nd applied knowledge from different perspectives:

* knowledge about how long and how active users visit websites provides i=
mplicit feedback about its quality, potentially improving the ranking alg=
orithms of Web search engines.

* knowledge about browsing behavior enables the design and development of=
 new features that improve the online experience of users.=20

* understanding how and when users browse the Web also allows for derivin=
g statements on WHY they use it (e.g., for information seeking, entertain=
ment, socializing, etc.), providing further insights into the sociologica=
l impact of the Web - that is, how the Web and being online shapes people=
's lives.


Availability of Data
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The collected data is publicly available. Information about the current s=
tatus of DOBBS and the download information os provided on the project we=
bsite [1].


Thanks to everyone in advance for contributing,

The DOBBS Team: Christian von der Weth, Manfred Hauswirth


[1] http://dobbs.deri.ie/

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