Towards open government through open source software for web analytics: The case of Matomo

Web analytics technologies provide opportunities for organisations to obtain information about users visiting their websites in order to understand and optimise web usage. Use of such technologies often leads to issues related to data privacy and potential lock-in to specific suppliers and propriet...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jonas Gamalielsson, Björn Lundell, Simon Butler, Christoffer Brax, Tomas Persson, Anders Mattsson, Tomas Gustavsson, Jonas Feist, Erik Lönroth
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Danube-University Krems 2021-12-01
Series:JeDEM - eJournal of eDemocracy & Open Government
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.jedem.org/index.php/jedem/article/view/650
Description
Summary:Web analytics technologies provide opportunities for organisations to obtain information about users visiting their websites in order to understand and optimise web usage. Use of such technologies often leads to issues related to data privacy and potential lock-in to specific suppliers and proprietary technologies. Use of open source software (OSS) for web analytics can create conditions for avoiding issues related to data privacy and lock-in, and thereby provides opportunities for a long-term sustainable solution for organisations both in the public and private sectors. The paper characterises use of and engagement with OSS projects for web analytics. Specifically, we contribute a characterisation of use of OSS licensed web analytics technologies in Swedish government authorities, and a characterisation of organisational engagement with the Matomo OSS project for web analytics.
ISSN:2075-9517