Come to Web Analytics Day, Learn about MS Gatineau

We love conference season. This year, the Federation of Enterprises in Brussels, Belgium will be hosting OX2's Web Analytics Day, which takes place next Friday the 14th of September.

The big news is that Ian Thomas, the gent responsible for the Microsoft Gatineau project, will be doing the first public demo of the beta version.

What's Gatineau, you ask? Why, its Redmond's stab in Google Analytics' back.

If you’re not familiar, project Gatineau — a temporary “code name” — is the coming complimentary Web Analytics tool from our friends at Microsoft. It's a direct competitor of the (also free) Google Analytics product, but so far, claims to focus on an area that Google does not cover.

People who have seen Gatineau say it goes beyond current Web analytics products and is able to tie in demographic data.

Yeah. Are you scared yet?

While Google asserts its fidelity to the infamous “Don't be evil” tagline, it seems others may be willing to cross it more publicly. Details forthcoming on how this magic occurs, but from what we understand, demographic data is tied in via visitors' Microsoft Live ID (formerly known as Microsoft Passport) profiles.

Redmond has apparently also stressed that the MS Live data is associated anonymously, and that there is no use of personally identifiable information.

Right-o! Are we the only ones who find it ironic that the first public demo is being conducted in Brussels, home of the very privacy-concerned European Commission on Data Protection?

Beyond the Gatineau demo, Eric Peterson and Web Analytics Team Leader Aurélie Pols will be exploring the perhaps more universally palatable topics, including:

• Introduction to Web Analytics
• Setting up a Web Analytics Project
• Web Analytics Key Performance Indicators
• Web Analytics and Social Networks
• Web Analytics and Web 2.0

Importantly, during the day's workshops and talks you'll learn how to milk some ROI out of the analytics tools that are already out there. And these days there are a ton. The range spans from video-based analytics, to traditional click-based trackers, to sophisticated (and free!) visualization tools, and more.

Read more or register at the OX2 Web Analytics Day website. Do note that the event is free for practitioners. And though we're not sure what a practitioner is exactly, we get the feeling that you, dear reader, are one.

In preparation, you might also read the Web Analytics Association's series of updated Web analytics definitions, which can get you savvy on the lingo before hopping over to Brussels. Finally, thirsty ones can sign up for the Gatineau beta or read more news about Web analytics.

Related Web Publishing Articles

• How They Hack Your Website: Overview of Common Techniques
• Web Design: Top 5 Wireframing Tools
• Web Content Management with SharePoint MOSS 2007 (Part 1)
• Drupal vs Joomla: Which CMS is Best?
• Results: Most Popular CMS in Technorati's Top 100

Job Openings  View all | Post a job | RSS

• Analyst, Serving Customer Intelligence Professionals at Forrester Research
• Senior Sales Rep at Clickability
• Project Manager/Digital Media at http://www.tmgcustommedia.com/
• LiveServer/RedDot/OpenText - CMS Developer at LP Associates
• Lead Developer (Drupal) at Sandusky Newspapers, Inc
• Android Developer at Yelp
• CMS Technical Lead at Sapient
• Freelance ASP.NET Developer at Daydream

Featured Events  View all | Add event | RSS

• Mar 16, 2010 – Webinar: Smart Fixes for Slacker Web Pages
• Apr 21, 2010 – Drupalcon San Francisco 2010
• Apr 22, 2010 – AIIM International Expo 2010
• May 5, 2010 – CMS Expo 2010 (Evanston)
• May 20, 2010 – Gilbane Conference San Francisco