Interesting Figures

Howdy!

I got my copy of "Des nouvelles de l'Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Qu�bec" [pdf link] in my email inbox this afternoon, and as I did not have much to do other than twiddle my thumbs or gaze fondly at my navel, I figured "what the hey?" let's click on the link, what's the worst that could happen?

Well my computer didn't explode, but I was almost blown out of my chair when I read this:

Le site Web de l'Observatoire est tr�s fr�quent� L'Observatoire aime tellement les statistiques qu'il a eu l'id�e d'en faire sur la fr�quentation de son propre site Web. Les r�sultats : en 2003, le site a enregistr� 64,402 visites dont 18,923 des pages en anglais. C'est au cours des mois de septembre et de novembre que les visites ont �t� les plus nombreuses. Rappelons que l'Observatoire diffuse gratuitement sur le Web les resultants de tous ses travaux; il a choisi l'Internet comme principal outil de diffusion. Compte tenu d'une moyenne de 176 visites par jour, on peut affirmer que les pages de l'Observatoire sont tr�s fr�quent�es.

Or if you prefer, in blokespeak:

The Web site of the Observatory is very attended the Observatory likes the statistics so much that it had the idea to make some on the frequentation of its own Web site. Results: in 2003, the site recorded 64,402 visits including 18,923 of the pages in English. It is during November and September that the visits were most numerous. Let us recall that the Observatory diffuses free on the Web the resultants of all its work; it chose the Internet like principal tool for diffusion. Taking into account an average of 176 visits per day, one can affirm that the pages of the Observatory are very attended.

Right now, this blog is averaging almost 50 readers a day, (48.71 per day for the past seven days, if any of you are interested in the various stats, let me know, I'll email them to you). And I've only been writing since December. For the past two months I've been increasing readership at about 15% per month, if this keeps up, I'll be averaging 144 readers per day by the end of the year, and will have had more than 27,000 visits (not page views, I don't track no stinkin' page views). What would the Ministry of Culture and Communications say about that?

Then again, my projections could be wrong.

Then on a slightly different note, who's your favorite Macarthur Fellow? I'm thinking of inviting some/all/a bunch of them to come talk at the gallery. Who do you want to show up first? I initially thought that it would be a quick and easy way to score a Canada Council grant (don't get me started about the Canada Council). But then discovered that the deadline for "Off the Radar: Initiatives in Critical Thinking." Had come and gone a long time ago. But then in a desperate attempt to gain more insight into how the CC worked I called up Claude Schryer and asked him if it was going to be continued. His answer in its entirety: "no." So I figured it probably would be a better thing if I did it without their participation. Hence my asking you who you would like to hear speak. Email me, or knock something in the comment section, ok?