about this site

This page provides an introduction to the Caslon Analytics site.

It's the equivalent of what you'd hope to find when you arrive in an unfamiliar city: where are the points of interest, are the natives friendly, can you drink the water, should one feed the bears ...

     background

This site has been developed by the people at Caslon Analytics.

It's a companion to the Analysphere site that offers weekly news, reviews and analysis.

The sites have three functions -

They showcase our work and expertise.

Although we get most of our business from referrals by satisfied clients, we hope that potential clients will make their own assessment. The sites give some sense of capability and values.

That's one reason why we've emphasised content rather than glitz. There are no animations, no artful images of executives in very nice suits and high-rise offices. We prefer functionality to funkiness, insights rather than gratuitous images.

They offer a free resource for clients and the community.

There's a lot of information on the web (some estimates are here) but alas much of it is incorrect. And finding information is increasingly difficult as the web grows and churns. The sites aggregate information that we think is of value, offer an evaluation and attempt to provide some context. They're a demonstration of arguments about the shape of electronic publishing.

Finally, they're entertainment or a distraction from dripping taps, dogs, cats, cockatoos and children.

We enjoy the ingenuity of projections from some new economy forecasters (and hope that they'll forgive a certain testiness on occasion) and the writings of lawyers, advocates or scholars. We hope that you will find them similarly enjoyable.

     structure

To assist use of the site (and its maintenance) we've adopted a minimalist approach. No flash. No pull-down menus. A broadly consistent layout and readily identifiable URLs on every page.

With one or two exceptions, every page should download within nine seconds using a 56k modem. We've identified PDFs as a matter of course and where possible hyperlink to HTML/XML versions of documents.

As you'll have noticed by now, some scrolling is required. Contrary to the edicts of some web design zealots, it's clear that some markets prefer to scroll rather than flick through a very long sequence of short screens.

The basic structure of the site is identified in the menu bar at the top of each page and on the home page.

About provides information about Caslon Analytics

Site Use deals with the copyright, liability and other considerations you would expect in any electronic publication

the Guides are multi-part discussions of areas of interest such as intellectual property, accessibility, web design, online censorship and internet taxation. They highlight legislation, technologies, regulatory bodies, industry reports and academic studies

they are supported by shorter more specific Profiles on subjects such as ICANN, auDA, email and SMS, digital divides and the evolution of the web

we are progressively adding past submissions, briefings and presentations

     navigation

A schematic of the overall site is here. It points to descriptions of each part of the site.

The index is updated weekly and thus does not always catch all changes. It is weighted towards single word searches: sorry, for the moment you can't use Boolean strings.

The site consists of over 700 pages, a large number of hyperlinks and several hundred thousand words. That means searches using some terms will produce a large number of results and may identify multiple citations of particular documents, since some are relevant to more than one guide/profile.

Links to documents outside this site are set to open in a new browser page. We're of course not liable for information or the performance of sites outside our control.

     optimisation and accessibility

The site is optimised for recent versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer but should be usable with other browsers such as Netscape or Opera. Questions about optimisation are explored in the Design and Accessibility guides. Different browsers can display information quite differently; we've optimised for MS IE because it's used by more than 85% of the online population in Australia and has a similar market share in many other countries.

We're rebuilding the site on an ongoing basis to ensure full compliance with global accessibility guidelines.

     copyright

We encourage you to read the information on this site and strongly welcome links to it.

We ask, though, that you treat the site and us with respect. Don't pass the work off as your own. It is protected under Australian and overseas intellectual property law. Information about the site's copyright status (and questions about non-commercial copying) can be found here. And there's detailed coverage of intellectual property law, principles and practices in the separate IP Guide.

     privacy

We don't make money by selling advertising space (or demographic data) so this site is wholly cookie-free ... not a chocolate chip or blueberry muffin to be found. We have a very strong privacy policy and aspire to best practice regarding your visit and our clients. Information about the site's privacy is here. There's a detailed Privacy Guide about data collection, manipulation, storage and dissemination.

     liability

Some questions about liability regarding use of this site are addressed here.

     design, construction, graphics

This site was developed by Caslon Analytics Pty Ltd. 

Page titles are in Georgia 20. The elephant graphic is based on the Caslon Analytics logo.

     hosting

Hosting is supplied by Inspired Networking. 

Inspired provides high-quality connectivity and great service for professionals and others across Australia.

     feedback

We welcome feedback about this site.

If you experience problems with this site or have comments about it, please contact the webmaster.

     sources

This site includes pointers to other sites, articles and books. 

References to sites were correct at the time of publication. The web is dynamic; some sites/pages may thus no longer be available.

References to books are to the editions we have used, usually those in our corporate library.




::