Digital preservation and knowledge in the public archives: for whom?

This paper explores the use of automated user observation (web analytics, WA) in archive user profiling. Previous studies have considered the use of Google Analytics in a usability context, but this article looks at the use of another WA tool, Piwik, in the context of defining a designated community (DC), as set out in the open archival information system (OAIS) model. It explains the OAIS view of knowledge and knowledge bases, which is closely associated with its proposal of a DC, and it proposes a model and a method to support the profiling of such communities.