A growing global audience

5th May 2008

posted in blogs, geography, globalvoices, web 2.0 |

This evening I took some time to review the ClustrMaps for my blog over the course of the past month (April 2008.) ClustrMaps is a wonderful website which provides code people can insert onto their blog or other website to track (by IP address) the general locations of people who are accessing and viewing content on that particular website. As I have remarked previously, these visual representations of readership continue to absolutely astound me! The Pitcairn Islands ClustrMap Mystery continues, however. I would love to know who my reader(s) are on the Pitcairn Islands, or on the other south Pacific island which is showing up on my ClustrMap again! The April 2008 ClustrMaps show visitors to my blog from almost 25,000 different locations worldwide. This is a clear sign of the times. We’re not living in 20th century Kansas anymore.

Hello to Sue Waters in Perth! I can see your city on the ClustrMap image above! But who is making that access dot in Alice Springs?!

What I’d really love to do is arrange to travel IN PERSON to all these locations around the world, along with members of my family. Planning an international education, learning, or educational technology conference in 2008-2009? Please consider me as a possible keynote speaker and drop me a line! I was able to take my son to COSN this past March in Washington DC, but I’m sure he’d flip if at some point he could accompany me to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or another location which seems quite exotic to us living here in central Oklahoma!

Technorati Tags:
clustrmap, blog, readership

On this day..

Abandoning Juice Receiver - At least for now - 2008
Beyond the Fear Factor with Internet Safety - 2008
links for 2008-05-05 - 2008
A warning that came too late - 2008
Do you need a Second Life?? - 2007
Advice to curb wordpress spam? - 2006
Cut to the Core - 2006
Great advice for student bloggers - 2006
Honda Cog Video - 2006
Major Milestone: Authenticated iMovies Online! - 2005

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 1:25 am and is filed under blogs, geography, globalvoices, web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

1 On May 5th, 2008, Sue Waters said:

You just can’t do that to me Wes :). I’m looking at the dots in Australia on your map (plus those in New Zealand) and I think I would have to come close had getting most of them correct except the name in Alice Springs. And the mystery has deepened because when I check the Comment Challenge Clustrmap I see the same dot. Not sure if I will be able to sleep tonight from not knowing :). So I’ve been forced to do some twittering to investigate. Sadly they don’t seem much help other than to suggest who next to ask.

Your clustrmap has made me re-examine my thoughts on their use. I know teachers love to use them with their students because it really engages them to the reality of the global audience but those little red dots have annoyed me on my own sites.

2 On May 10th, 2008, Toffler said:

I wonder if some of the random locations you are getting are from proxy servers. With the internet filtered or blocked in many countries in Asia (Russia, Myanmar, China), South America (Brazil), and Africa, people often use proxy servers to get around filters and firewalls. These proxy servers may shoot people’s IP addresses to places like the Pitcairn Islands or any place that offers easier access to your site.

Your idea to travel to the places where your site visitors come from is awesome! I hope you can, and share the joy of traveling and discovering with your family.