Ann L. Kranz
Director
Violence Against Women Online Resources
Jennifer Root
Internet Content Coordinator
Minnesota Center
Against Violence and Abuse
Publication Date: December 2002
Violence Against Women Online Resources (VAWOR) is a web site that provides law, criminal justice, and social service professionals with current information on interventions to stop violence against women. It is a cooperative project between the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) within the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota and the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice.
Violence Against Women Online Resources offers over 150 full text documents related to sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking. VAWOR staff solicit content for the site from national and international organizations in order to disseminate state-of-the art resource materials for criminal justice professionals, state coalitions, tribal coalitions and victim advocacy groups about effective interventions to violence against women. The site integrates stratified resources into a comprehensive, centralized, user-friendly site that meets the demands of busy professionals who require immediate access to quality resources. Between October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002, VAWOR added 36 new items to the site's Document Library, which contains papers, reports, research findings, curricula, presentations, training manuals and multi-media resources related to violence against women.
Usage of the site has been on a steady incline since its development in 1997. Today, the site averages 1,096 user sessions per day, an increase of 25% from the previous year. A three-year glance at user sessions demonstrates the site's increasing user-base from an average of approximately 200 user sessions per day in 1999 to almost 1,100 user sessions per day in 2002. Site users primarily come from the United States, however, usage statistics reveal that VAWOR also has an international presence in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Singapore, Germany, and many other countries.
VAWOR also provides individualized technical assistance through its automated web form. More than 655 requests for information were sent to VAWOR staff between October 1, 2001 and September 30, 2002. Concerned citizens, students, victims and professionals sent in the majority of requests for technical assistance, predominantly in the areas of research and networking. Requests from victims represented 23% of requests, an 8% decrease from last year, which may be attributed to the implementation of the site's new web form that educates users regarding Internet safety and privacy before allowing any information to be submitted.
VAWOR initiated several new features during the report period that improved the site as content grew, categories changed and users' needs became more apparent. Significant accomplishments include the addition of an Internet safety page and features; an improved user feedback form; a virus and SPAM scanner for the server; a new search engine, Google; and the conversion toward using XML as the primary document format, which supports representation of documents in many different formats and optimal ADA compliance.
This document provides an overview of Violence Against Women Online Resources website and a summary of usage data from October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002. This report describes the project's funding, staffing structure, usage statistics, and new content acquisitions during the report period.
Violence Against Women Online Resources is a cooperative project between the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) within the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota and the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice. The site provides law, criminal justice, and social service professionals with current information on interventions to stop violence against women.
VAWOR is supported by grant number 98-WT-VX-K001 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
Approximately 2.5 FTE staff members support VAWOR, including a full-time Program Director; a .75 FTE Internet Systems Designer and Administrator; a half-time graduate assistant; a partial-time Information Requests Coordinator; a partial-time administrative assistant; and a small percentage of time from MINCAVA's Director.
The site is advised by a 20-member National Advisory Board comprised of criminal justice and related professionals who set topic priorities and review new content for the site.
MINCAVA's Executive Director, Jeffrey L. Edleson supervises the Director of Violence Against Women Online Resources.
Ann L. Kranz, VAWOR Director, manages the daily operations of the site, including project design, management and staff supervision. She acts as the key liaison to the Office on Violence Against Women and the National Advisory Board.
Russ Burdick, Internet Systems Designer and Administrator, is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the site's mail, web, and database servers. He performs security audits and updates, web programming and administration.
Jennifer Root, Information Requests Coordinator, responds to requests for technical assistance received through the site's web form by providing information and referral. She also collects data on the number and nature of these requests.
Yukiko Nakajima, Coding Specialist (Graduate Assistant), supports the project by identifying and obtaining material for the site, coding content into XML and HTML, and entering and updating data into the site's databases.
Patricia Wright, Principal Administrative Specialist, works closely with project staff to coordinate correspondence, order supplies, and provide support related to online publishing.
Since its inception in 1997, Violence Against Women Online Resources has experienced tremendous growth in site usage. The graph below illustrates the average number of user sessions per day since the site originated. Such data provides insight about how many times per day users conduct a session on the site. A 'user' is considered a unique person accessing the site. A user commits 'hits' on the site when visiting various pages on the website. Therefore, one user may commit several hits during a single user session. However, because a single person can also perform multiple sessions in a given day, this table does not inform us about the number of unique people accessing the site per day.
A multi-year glance at user sessions demonstrates the site's steadily increasing user-base from an average of approximately 50 user sessions per day in 1997; 200 user sessions per day in 1999; and almost 1,100 user sessions per day in 2002. Between October 1, 2001 and September 30, 2002, the site averaged 1,096 user sessions per day, an increase of 25% from the previous year.
The following figures provide a monthly breakdown of user sessions and hits per day from October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002. The lowest usage month was January 2002 with 886 user sessions per day. The highest was April 2002 with 1,398 user sessions per day. The site averaged 1,096 user sessions per day for the report period.
The term `hit' can be thought of as the number of times the site was accessed by users. The average number of hits per day ranges from 4,325 in January 2002 to 7,839 in April 2002. On average, the site received approximately 6,056 hits per day, an increase of 51% from the previous year.
The above chart represents the most active countries in terms of site usage. The United States represented the most active country between October 1, 2001 - September 30, 2002 with an average of 261,293 user sessions (90%) for the report period. The top five countries include:
Other users accessing the site come countries including but not limited to:
The following chart represents the top ten most downloaded PDF documents on the site.
| Document | Total Number of Downloads |
|---|---|
| An Advocates Guide to Full Faith and Credit | 4,311 |
| Police Response to Crimes of Sexual Assault: A Training Curriculum (Modules 1, 2 , 3 and 5) | 3,950 |
| Evidence Collection and Care of the Sexual Assault Survivor: The SANE-SART Response | 2,498 |
| Marital Rape | 1,841 |
| Domestic Violence Organizations Online: Risks, Ethical Dilemmas, and Liability Issues | 1,839 |
| DVERT's Training CD Lesson Plan | 1,446 |
| Considering the Victim in the Implementation of Megan's Laws | 1,326 |
| Suspect Typology; Profiling the Sex Offender | 1,264 |
| Increasing Your Safety: Full Faith and Credit for Protection Orders | 1,130 |
| Critique of the "Battered Woman Syndrome" Model | 710 |
The following chart represents the top ten most accessed HTML documents on the site.
| Document | Number of User Sessions |
|---|---|
| Marital Rape | 47,296 |
| Handbook for statutory rape issues | 11,382 |
| Child Custody and Visitation Decisions in Domestic Violence Cases | 10,631 |
| Poverty, Welfare and Battered Women: What Does the Research Tell Us? | 8,092 |
| Abuse and Women with Disabilities | 7,845 |
| Problems Associated with Children's Witnessing of Domestic Violence | 6,871 |
| Annual Report on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Domestic Violence | 5,676 |
| Critique of the "Battered WomanSyndrome" Model | 5,264 |
| Certification of Protection/Restraining Order | 4,609 |
| Domestic Violence Organizations Online: Risks, Ethical Dilemmas, and Liability Issues | 2,867 |
Violence Against Women Online Resources offers over 150 full text documents related to sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking. Staff members solicit content for the site from national and international organizations. The site houses papers, reports, research findings, curricula, presentations, training manuals and multi-media resources related to violence against women.
From October 1, 2001 - September 30, 2002, VAWOR added the following 36 items to the website:
VAWOR provides individualized technical assistance to site users who submit requests electronically through the site's automated web form that educates users regarding Internet safety and privacy before allowing any information to be submitted. A three-year glance at requests reveals that 427 requests were received in 2000; 696 requests in 2001; and 655 requests in 2002, a decrease of 6% from the previous year, which is most likely attributed to the implementation of the new web form. VAWOR staff view this as a positive result of increased online education about Internet security and safety.
From October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002, Violence Against Women Online Resources received 655 information requests for individualized technical assistance. Requests ranged from a low of 34 in September 2001 to a high of 85 in March 2002.
The majority (51%) of the requests received between October 1, 2001 and September 30, 2002 were identified as technical assistance. Requests for crisis support/advocacy, typically sent by primary and secondary victims, represented 23% of the requests received. Solicitation/Ad (SPAM) accounted for 22% of the messages received. The remaining 4% of the messages were categorized as "other" or "undisclosed."
VAWOR identifies the type of request as one of the following five categories:
The majority (55%) of the requests for technical assistance were for research; 29% for networking; 9% for article information; 3% for training information; and 4% were "other" requests.
VAWOR defines these types of technical assistance as:
The largest category of requestors (33%) is comprised of "undisclosed" individuals sending ads or solicitations (SPAM). Victims sent in 23% of the requests, an 8% decrease from last year, which is most likely attributed to the implementation of the site's new web form that educates users regarding Internet safety and privacy before allowing any information to be submitted. Previously, users sent requests directly from their email program. In many situations, this was not safe as information regarding the email was saved on their personal computer, allowing an abuser to potentially know about their activities and messages. Under the new system, a user is first informed about the risks associated with using a computer that an abuser may have access to and how to protect their records and activities. Once they have read the educational information, a message can be sent to VAWOR through the automated web form. To further protect their safety, when a user submits a request, he or she must explicitly state whether a written response should be sent to an email the user provides.
In addition to victims, professionals (social service, criminal justice and health care professionals) and concerned citizens are also major users of the site representing 20% and 10% of the requestors respectively.
VAWOR staff made improvements to the site as content grew, categories changed and users' needs became more apparent. The following activities were accomplished to identify future needs and support long-term growth:
This document was not developed by Violence Against Women Online Resources. The document's author or sponsoring organization granted VAWOR permission for placement on this site. Points of view in this document are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
This web site is a cooperative project of Office on Violence Against Women and Minnesota Center Against Violence & Abuse at the University of Minnesota and is supported by grant number 2004-WT-AX-K075 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
Additional information about this site can be obtained by reading Email us for more information and assistance.
©Copyright 1998-2005 Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA)
File Last Modified on: 16