Tracking OERs: URL redirects

This page is one of several describing technical approaches to tracking the use of OERs.

The idea of using URL redirection for tracking is that instead of providing a link that goes directly to a web resource one provides a link to a service which first logs data for tracking purposes and then redirects the browser to the required resource. Such an approach is common in catalogues and search engines, Google for example uses this to track which links from search engine results pages are followed. With the recent rise in popularity of URL shortening services, which are in essence just URL redirection services, and competition between them we have seen some of these services begin to provide tracking functionality which allows their users to monitor the traffic being routed through the shortened URL.

The approach may be applied to OER tracking in two distinct ways: links to the OER may be redirected or links from the OER may be redirected


 * One may gather information about how often a resource is accessed by providing a redirected URL as a link to that resource and examining the data gathered through it. This is useful if one wants to track the use of the resource as a result of a specific dissemination or advertising initiative (e.g. a listing in some directory or an email announcing the resource). It is less useful if one just wants general information about how often a resource is accessed since the direct URL for accessing the resource is bound to become known to people who will more than likely use that rather than the indirect URL.


 * Information about who is using a resource may be gathered by using indirect links in the resource so that anyone following a link from the resource leaves some tracking information. If a suitable link is chosen this can be a reasonable indicator that the resource is actually being used (as opposed to those methods which only show that the resource has been downloaded). The information recorded may include the web location of the OER, which can be valuable if one wants information on whether OERs are being copied and used from sites other than the original host.


 * Where the licence allows modification of the OER indirect links from the resource may be replaced with direct links or with links elsewhere, thus some re-use will be missed.


 * Use of a third-party redirection service comes with the risk of that service failing within the lifetime of the resource, thus breaking the link. Unless one has confidence that this won't happen third-party services should only be used for short-term tracking, e.g. tracking the effectiveness of a short-lived dissemination campaign.


 * The redirect need not be handled by a third party; it could be the resolution service hosted by the OER provider for HTTP-URI identifiers for the resource that are independent of where the resource is hosted.


 * Redirect URLs are sometimes used for nefarious activities leading to some malware scanning services and security filters blocking them.