Every now and then I like to review the locations of the visitors to Alumni Futures. Since I first started writing the blog in early 2007, the site has had more than 40,000 page views, and visitors have come from 77 countries. Last week, readers came through from Tasmania, Singapore, Germany, Iran, Turkey, Spain, and dozens other regions and countries.
The map above shows visits for the year ending 22 July, 2008. The legend underneath the map shows the number of visits represented by each size dot.
There are clicks from Scandinavia, Russia and (more than you might guess) from Africa and the Middle East. Then there's the Caribbean, Canada, and Australia. Even a few Pacific Islanders are reading Alumni Futures.
But look at where the visits don't come from. In particular, it's very rare to see a visitor from South America. Why is this?
Our professional organization, CASE, has a US—Canadian focus, plus an office in London, and staff covering the Asia-Pacific region. But on the CASE web site, resources aimed specifically at Latin American advancement professionals seem scarce. I assume there's little demand for these services, because advancement hasn't...well, hasn't advanced there yet. At least, not as much as in the other regions.
Maybe I'm reading too much into the dots; and it's worth pointing out that CASE's last Strategic Plan (2003) mentions South America as a target for ongoing attention. For all I know, the continent is getting the attention it needs to build institutional advancement.
But the map represents a lot of traffic on this blog — 22,000 visits during a 12-month period. The South American dots represent at most 144 visits, which is less than seven-tenths of a percent (0.7%) of all visitors (and it could be as few as 15 visits, since each dot actually represents a range). Africa has delivered about five times as many visits. And a quick scan of the CASE member directory reveals just six institutional CASE members from South America. Bermuda has five.
I know very little about advancement in Latin America; can Alumni Futures' readers help identify the factors determining South American participation in the professions? Organizational development; governance and funding models; nationalized education; cultural bias; traditional administrative roles...what is it? And if there is a need for more attention in this area, how can we fill that need?
If you're one of our few South American readers, or have insight into this question, leave a comment.
View the current Alumni Futures visitors' map (shows visits since 22 July, 2008)
