Grammar-based task analysis of Web logs

Abstract

The daily use of Internet-based services is involved with hundreds of different tasks being performed by multiple users. A single task is typically involved with a sequence of Web URLs invocation. We study the problem of pattern detection in Web logs to identify tasks performed by users, and analyze task trends over time using a grammar-based framework. Our results are demonstrated on a corporate Intranet portal application with 7000 users over a 6 week period and demonstrate compelling business value from this high-level task analysis.