Summary: Aggregate download statistics across CRAN mirrors to gain global view of R package ecosystem.

Description: Currently each CRAN mirror collects statistics on package downloads, but there is no way to centrally aggregate all download statistics. This is a problem because it makes it difficult to get a global view of the R package ecosystem: how many people are downloading packages, and which package are most popular. This must be done in such a way that it is easy for CRAN mirror maintainers to install and that does not compromise user privacy (e.g. individual ip addresses should be obfuscated).

An additional component would be to develop an opt-in R package that would allow you to send

There are also challenges associated to weed out people who are downloading every package, and to take package dependencies into account when computing rankings.

Skills required: Should be able to use R to perform data manipulation and aggregation. Familiarity with apache web statistics a plus.

Test: A test an applicant has to pass in order to qualify for the topic

Mentor: Hadley Wickham. With guidance from Stefan Theussl