There is a whole bunch of great things going on in my world right now leading me to be pretty busy, but I came across something that was too good to pass up so a new post was warranted. Web analytics are probably one of the most useful tools for folks that make their living on the web, regardless of whether you are directly working for an association or simply providing services to them. Sure, you could use the high-power pay for services like WebTrends, Omniture, or CoreMetrics, and in some cases they may provide additional features, functions and ease of use that warrant the price. However, for many of us Google Analytics is the tool of choice – and for good reason it’s free, it’s feature-rich, and it’s pretty easy to integrate and use.

Regardless of how good it is and how easy it is to use, it’s still a pretty complicated tool to use effectively. To use a metaphor, in the hands of a regular person a hammer is a hammer and a saw is a saw. In the hands of a craftsman those two tools can build houses and furniture. Unfortunately in order to become a true craftsman you have to put in time to gain the experience necessary to earn that respected designation. Using analytics packages aren’t too much different. It’s easy enough to sign-up for an account an copy-and-paste some code to paste into a template. It’s even easier to check-in on the results periodically. But those two attributes don’t make you an analytics expert and also don’t make your website, marketing campaigns or product sales any more effective. What’s needed is more knowledge.

Enter Google Conversion University, and more specifically an online course in web analytics techniques and Google Analytics implementation, administration, and analysis tools that was very recently introduced. Now you can not only implement Google Analytics but also gain a much better understanding on how to use both it and the results to make some lasting and impactful changes to your web initiatives. In addition, if you are a really passionate user and want to prove your “Googleness” you can even use the learning to prepare you for the Google Analytics IQ (individual qualification) test.

The online presentations are a pretty good example of solid online learning. Granted they lack any sort of job aids or formative assessments – to assess per lesson knowledge transfer, but they include reasonable learning objectives and a modicum of interactivity. Overall, they are well executed, pretty effective and definitely worth a look especially if you user or responsible for or interested in web analytics.

It’s easy to get caught up in specific facets or aspects of the broader Internet that we use regularly or that makes our lives easier, more connected or more informed at the expense of losing perspective of what is going on in the broader context. Often it helps to take a step back and survey where the road we are traveling is leading and what the implications of following that path will have. And while many experts and pundits have their own opinions of where we are going or what lies ahead few have the respect and clout of Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf.

In celebration of Google’s 10th anniversary, here is what he had to write on the Official Google Blog when asked about the societal and technological impact of the Internet over the course of the next ten years.

In the next decade, around 70% of the human population will have fixed or mobile access to the Internet at increasingly high speeds, up to gigabits per second. We can reliably expect that mobile devices will become a major component of the Internet, as will appliances and sensors of all kinds. Many of the things on the Internet, whether mobile or fixed, will know where they are, both geographically and logically. As you enter a hotel room, your mobile will be told its precise location including room number. When you turn your laptop on, it will learn this information as well–either from the mobile or from the room itself. It will be normal for devices, when activated, to discover what other devices are in the neighborhood, so your mobile will discover that it has a high resolution display available in what was once called a television set. If you wish, your mobile will remember where you have been and will keep track of RFID-labeled objects such as your briefcase, car keys and glasses. “Where are my glasses?” you will ask. “You were last within RFID reach of them while in the living room,” your mobile or laptop will say.

You can read more from Cerf here: The next Internet

His He goes on to offer a number of other analogies and examples to reinforce his thinking. I am struck by the ubiquity, convenience and connectivity that he suggests while simultaneously being fearful of the implications of the same. All gain comes with a cost and the cost for this enhanced connectivity could be the potential loss of privacy; at least if this information is used in a less than ethical or scrupulous manner. It’s an interesting thought to ponder but one that must be considered especially in this age of increasing business and governmental involvement in all things we do. I’m not suggesting that we revert back to the way things were or recommending that we retreat into isolation but I do think we need to be aware of the actual price of what we are getting. With great power comes great responsibility. Thought provoking no doubt.

On a similar vein it would be interesting in hearing from those involved in the association world to hear some of your thoughts on what the challenges and opportunities that the next 10 years, specific to leadership, learning and technology, of the Internet may bring. Share your thoughts below.

I just received the Spring 2008 issue of Converge, a magazine covering strategy and leadership in school technology, and I found the cover story entertaining and mildly enlightening. It is titled Technobabble: Demystification of new words in the new world where they define a number of new (and newer) terms that seem to be gaining some traction in the online world. The terms include:

Weblish

Altered English specific to online or digital forms of communication such as “lol“, “brb“, “jk“, “omg“.

Web Rage

Anger stemming from World Wide Web frustrations such as slow download speeds, broken or non-existent links and information that is difficult to find.

Citizen Journalism

News and commentary from the public at large

Google Generation

Those born after 1993 who don’t remember a time when the internet wasn’t readily available.

WYSIWYG

Acronym that stands for “what you see is what you get”. Pronounced wizzy-wig, this term is used in computing to describe a system in which content during editing appears to be similar to the final product.

Dancing Baloney

Web page-baded animated images, Java applets or other bells and whistles that detract from the overall quality of the page itself.

Bake-off

Instead of comparing muffins or chili this term applies to competing technologies.

Google Juice

The presumed quality of a Web page that allows it to appear at or near the top of a Google search.

OpenMoko

A Linux-based operating system designed for a mobile environment.

Webrarian

A person who is an expert at not only finding information on the web, but also at prioritizing, organizing and cataloging that information.

Moblogging

Not mobs of bloggers, but mobile blogging using your cell phone or other mobile device to blog whenever and wherever the urge hits.

Burn

To test a new electronic system by running it for some length of time. Weak components often fail within the first few hours of use.

Wikiality

Reality as defined by a consensus, particularly in a collaborative endeavor such as Wikipedia

Googleverse

Google is everywhere: news, videos, photos, RSS, e-mail, calendar, IMing.

GUI

Acronym that stands for “graphical user interface”, pronounced “gooey” this is a graphical rather than purely textual, user interface to a computer.

Webisode

An episode of a Web-based show or movie.

Blog

Short for web log

Poking

A little online reminder or a simple hello

Last Gen

Outdated technology products

Hot Spot

A location in a building or area – a college campus or coffee shop for instance – that provides access to wireless Internet on a secured network.

Nook Surfer

An Internet user that only frequents a limited number of websites.

Wugging

Web use giving. Similar to online fundraising, wugging is a way of accepting monetary donations online.

Knowbie

A knowledgeable and experienced Internet user

RSS

An acronym that stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a web feed format that frequently updates published content such as blogs, news items or podcasts to a web site for easy reading and review.

GNOME

Pronounced “guh-nome” or “nome”, it is actually an acronym that stands for GNU Network Object Modeling Environment. GNOME is the GUI-based user interface for Linux and other Unix environments.

One of the things that I found most interesting were the number of references to Google (3) and Open Source/Linux (2), their combined total represented 20% of the total list. For me it is fitting considering the role that both play in my life.

There was one error in the article: part of the definition for OpenMoko actually included the acronym explanation for GNOME. As an additional aside, I would have simply linked to the article online but it was one of the only ones that weren’t online. Perhaps it was how it was formatted for print, but regardless, I find it ironic that a list describing web words was not available online. That said, it shouldn’t diminish the value of the article. It’s still a really fun list and that included a number of terms that I hadn’t heard of previously. My favorites: Knowbie and Wugging. And to give credit where credit is due, this list is not my own. I found it in the Spring issue of Converge Magazine and the editors give reference to WordSpy for providing the definitions. There is no way to tell how many of these will stick and how many will fade away, but I am sure we’ll be hearing more of some of these in the future.

If you were creating the list, are there any others that you would definitely include or exclude from the list above? Let me know in the comments.