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世界中からのホームページアクセス
以前から人のホームページを見て楽しんでいた雅子さん。数ヵ月前に自分のホームページを新しく作り直したところ、毎日、世界中の人からアクセスがあります。どんな人がどんな目的で見ているのか分からないのは少し不安ですが、たくさんの人に見てもらえるのはうれしいことです。
A Worldwide Audience
By MASAKO YAMADA
I used to find great pleasure in surfing personal Web
pages of people I'd never met. I now don't have the time
to do that sort of thing, but I recall very vividly the
thrill I felt in catching glimpses of an unknown life
... a story that, somehow, seemed forbidden.
Of course, people who make personal Web pages know
full well that (unless the page is password protected)
anybody can look at that Web page. Indeed, some people
feel an extreme sense of pride in getting as many hits
as possible.
However, I think it's fair to say that most people
expect only a limited number of viewers, and they know
what sort of viewer to expect. Because of this, they can
adjust the content accordingly.
For instance, business professionals or academics
often try to remove all traces of human personality
from their Web pages. College students expect their
friends, family and perhaps, students from their
university, to look at their Web pages, so they adopt a
casual, inviting persona. Movie stars expect their fans
to visit their sites, so they combine juicy tidbits
with, ultimately, a thick wall of privacy.
When I renewed my new Web page a few months ago, I
expected only my friends, family, fellow Boston
University students and ST readers to look at the page.
This was logical to me, since I advertised my site only
to a limited range of people. My Web page is listed in
the general BU Web directory, as well as the Physics
Department directory, so visitors to the BU site could
easily make a detour to my site, even if they don't
know me.
I mentioned the Web page in an ST article too, so I
knew that some of the readers would probably check it
out.
It follows that I expected most of my hits to come
from the United States or Japan. Indeed, this has been
the case. However, much to my surprise, I have been
getting viewers from other parts of the world, as well.
Since I design my own Web page, and keep it on my own
computer account, I can see which countries I get hits
from. I do not know how to find out who the actual
viewers are (unless they write to me), but just keeping
track of the different countries has been very
interesting.
My Web page has gotten visitors from as far away as
Mexico, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Austria, Denmark,
France, U.K., Italy, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Norway,
Belgium, Romania and Estonia. I don't know how to react
to this.
On the one hand, I am very excited, and
flattered, to know that I have a worldwide audience.
I'm especially happy to see all these European entries,
since I like to think of myself as having a slightly
European sensibility (the actual Europeans that I know
might protest, but at least I know what I like).
I certainly have a sense of accomplishment for
successfully collecting hits from three Scandinavian
countries. Next, perhaps I can hope to attract
representatives from all of Eastern Europe!?
On the other hand, I know that I have to be skeptical.
For instance, I am afraid that my site might have gotten
included in some Web page directory for men with Asian
fetishes. One person with multiple international
accounts has been checking out the site frequently, but
has been trying to do so in a way that doesn't arouse
suspicion.
Perhaps I'm overreacting, but these possibilities
do exist. It's otherwise very hard for me to figure out
why the viewers are from such a wide range of
countries.
By putting up a personal Web page (not to mention
writing about my life every week) I've obviously
identified myself as a slight exhibitionist. And by
viewing my site, a bunch of strangers have revealed
to me that they are slight voyeurs.
However, this is not the end of the story. By knowing
what countries they are from, I know I hold a kind of
power over these anonymous viewers.
Granted, the viewers probably know that they are
leaving digital footprints — a paperless paper trail
-- all over the place, and perhaps wish to be "found
out," too. Of course, the big question is how all these
people stumbled across my Web site. I can't think of
any data analysis I can do to find the answer.
I used to find great pleasure in surfing personal Web
pages of people I'd never met. I now don't have the time
to do that sort of thing, but I recall very vividly the
thrill I felt in catching glimpses of an unknown life
... a story that, somehow, seemed forbidden.
Of course, people who make personal Web pages know
full well that (unless the page is password protected)
anybody can look at that Web page. Indeed, some people
feel an extreme sense of pride in getting as many hits
as possible.
However, I think it's fair to say that most people
expect only a limited number of viewers, and they know
what sort of viewer to expect. Because of this, they can
adjust the content accordingly.
For instance, business professionals or academics
often try to remove all traces of human personality
from their Web pages. College students expect their
friends, family and perhaps, students from their
university, to look at their Web pages, so they adopt a
casual, inviting persona. Movie stars expect their fans
to visit their sites, so they combine juicy tidbits
with, ultimately, a thick wall of privacy.
When I renewed my new Web page a few months ago, I
expected only my friends, family, fellow Boston
University students and ST readers to look at the page.
This was logical to me, since I advertised my site only
to a limited range of people. My Web page is listed in
the general BU Web directory, as well as the Physics
Department directory, so visitors to the BU site could
easily make a detour to my site, even if they don't
know me.
I mentioned the Web page in an ST article too, so I
knew that some of the readers would probably check it
out.
It follows that I expected most of my hits to come
from the United States or Japan. Indeed, this has been
the case. However, much to my surprise, I have been
getting viewers from other parts of the world, as well.
Since I design my own Web page, and keep it on my own
computer account, I can see which countries I get hits
from. I do not know how to find out who the actual
viewers are (unless they write to me), but just keeping
track of the different countries has been very
interesting.
My Web page has gotten visitors from as far away as
Mexico, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Austria, Denmark,
France, U.K., Italy, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Norway,
Belgium, Romania and Estonia. I don't know how to react
to this.
On the one hand, I am very excited, and
flattered, to know that I have a worldwide audience.
I'm especially happy to see all these European entries,
since I like to think of myself as having a slightly
European sensibility (the actual Europeans that I know
might protest, but at least I know what I like).
I certainly have a sense of accomplishment for
successfully collecting hits from three Scandinavian
countries. Next, perhaps I can hope to attract
representatives from all of Eastern Europe!?
On the other hand, I know that I have to be skeptical.
For instance, I am afraid that my site might have gotten
included in some Web page directory for men with Asian
fetishes. One person with multiple international
accounts has been checking out the site frequently, but
has been trying to do so in a way that doesn't arouse
suspicion.
Perhaps I'm overreacting, but these possibilities
do exist. It's otherwise very hard for me to figure out
why the viewers are from such a wide range of
countries.
By putting up a personal Web page (not to mention
writing about my life every week) I've obviously
identified myself as a slight exhibitionist. And by
viewing my site, a bunch of strangers have revealed
to me that they are slight voyeurs.
However, this is not the end of the story. By knowing
what countries they are from, I know I hold a kind of
power over these anonymous viewers.
Granted, the viewers probably know that they are
leaving digital footprints — a paperless paper trail
-- all over the place, and perhaps wish to be "found
out," too. Of course, the big question is how all these
people stumbled across my Web site. I can't think of
any data analysis I can do to find the answer.
Shukan ST: March 2, 2001
(C) All rights reserved
chu.htm
- surfing
- (インターネットのサイトを)見て回る
- vividly
- 生き生きと
- thrill
- 興奮
- catching glimpse of 〜
- 〜 をかいま見る
- forbidden
- 禁じられた
- is password protected
- パスワードで保護されている
- hits
- アクセス数
- it's fair to say that 〜
- 〜 と言ってもいいだろう
- adjust
- 手直しする
- accordingly
- (サイト訪問者に)合わせて
- business professionals
- ビジネスの専門家
- academics
- 学者
- traces
- 形跡
- human personality
- 個性
- inviting persona
- 感じのいいイメージ
- juicy tidbits
- 興味をそそる話
- ultimately
- 結局
- fellow 〜
- 友達の 〜
- logical
- 理にかなった
- BU Web directory
- ボストン大学のサイト録
- Physics Department
- 物理学部
- make a detour
- 寄り道する
- check it out
- のぞいてみる
- It follows that 〜
- そこで 〜 ということになる
- keeping track of 〜
- 〜 についての情報を把握していること
- On the one hand
- 一方で
- (am)flattered
- うれしく思う
- entries
- サイトへの訪問
- slightly European sensibility
- ちょっぴりヨーロッパ的な感性
- sense of accomplishement
- 達成感
- have to be skeptical
- 疑う気持ちも持っていなくてはならない
- Asian fetishes
- アジアフェチ(アジアが盲目的に好きであること)
- multiple
- 複数の
- frequently
- しばしば
- arouse suspicion
- 怪しいという気持ちをかきたてる
- (am)overreacting
- 過剰反応している
- putting up
- 作る
- obviously
- 明らかに
- (have)identified 〜 as 〜
- 〜 を 〜 として打ち出している
- slight exhibitionist
- 自己顕示欲が強い傾向のある人
- a bunch of 〜
- 〜 の何人か
- have revealed
- 明かした
- voyeurs
- のぞき趣味的な人
- anonymous viewers
- 匿名のサイト訪問者
- Granted, 〜
- それはそうだが、しかし 〜
- digital footprints
- コンピューター上での痕跡
- paper trail
- 個人の過去がわかるような、文書に残った記録
- stumbled across 〜
- 〜 に出くわした