ONI data shows heavy filtering in many countries across the Middle East and North Africa; from Morocco to Saudi Arabia, countries in the region block sites for political reasons, social reasons, or both. With Herdict Web – Arabic native speakers can make reports, which are then integrated with the English user interface.

Herdict Web – Arabic isn’t the only thing up our sleeves today…We’re also proud to announce the launch of our Internet Explorer toolbar, which allows IE users to report sites on the fly, without having to visit Herdict.org. Simply install the toolbar, and whenever you want to report a site, just click on the sheep icon! The sheep will turn red when a site you’re visiting has previously been reported inaccessible in your country, orange when the site has been reported inaccessible somewhere in the world, and green when it’s accessible everywhere.

As always, contact us with any questions:
contact [at] herdict [dot] org

يمكن لمتكلمي اللغة العربية الاتصال بنا بالكتابة إلى
arabic [at] herdict [dot] org

The Herdict Reporter is a web-based way of reporting site accessibility to us.  When you access the Reporter, you are automatically provided with a site in a frame – if you can see the site, you should report it accessible using the green button to the left.  If you can’t, report it inaccessible.

What information does the Herdict Reporter collect?

The Herdict Reporter uses your IP address to automatically populate the country where you are located and the ISP which you are using.  Of course, this information could potentially be incorrect, in which case, you can manually type the correct information.

The other information the Reporter hopes to collect is from you.  There’s a field to enter your location (e.g. home, work, cyber cafe), tags as they pertain to the site shown (e.g. political, social, news), and any comments you have about the site’s accessibility.  You can also view other people’s comments from within the Reporter.

After you have deemed a site inaccessible or accessible, the Reporter will automatically populate with another site from our premade list.  You can skip a site at any time if, for whatever reason, you’d prefer not to report it.

Any questions?  Please leave a comment and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!

Herdict Web is a project with global appeal and global reach.  Ideally, our hope is for Herdict to be available to folks all over the world, with translation into many languages and dialects.

Of course, we can’t reach everyone…not yet, anyway!  Thus, the Herdict team (which includes the OpenNet Initiative team) has thought long and hard about how to best serve the global population and determined that we’ll start with two languages: Chinese and Arabic.

Why Chinese and Arabic?

There are two main reasons for choosing these languages to start.  The first is Internet penetration, and the second is the prevalence of filtering.  China alone has approximately 253 million Internet users.  The Arabic-speaking Middle East and North Africa follow with approximately 64 million (comparatively, Russia has 32 million, and thus Russian would make a great third choice!).  In addition, both the Chinese and Arabic-speaking online populations contain significant activist communities, making them prime users for Herdict Web!

In addition to the Internet penetration rates for both regions, the high prevalence of Internet filtering as discovered by the OpenNet Initiative, makes the input of users in the regions invaluable.  China‘s practices are well-known, making headlines as recently as August for filtering the Internet during the Olympics.  And although filtering practices vary as widely as customs from Morocco to Saudi Arabia, one thing is certain: filtering in the Arab world is on the rise.

What do you think?

Of course, as always, the Herdict team wants to hear from you!  What do you think about our choices?  What other languages should we consider for the future?  Let us know!

-Jillian C. York

The first thing you can do for Herdict, of course, is spread the word.  But more importantly, we want your participation once Herdict has been released.  As I mentioned before, Herdict crowdsources reports of inaccessibility from around the world to paint a real-time picture of Web inaccessibility.  But how?

This Herdict Network Health (now Herdict Web) sample screen shows the reports for YouTube.com, the popular video-sharing site.  You can see how inaccessible reports for China reach into the thousands – a clear vision of Herdict participation.  Although this screen is just a mockup, we hope to see numbers like these (but preferably more green accessible reports than orange inaccessible reports!) Each report denotes that an individual reported whether or not they could see the site in question.

So how does one participate in Herdict Web? There are actually three ways to participate!  You can download the Herdict add-on for Firefox and IE, directly report a known inaccessible site via Herdict.org or use the web-based Herdict Reporter to test a predetermined list of sites.  The Herdict Reporter is one of the coolest things about Herdict…if you want to participate but prefer not to download an add-on or don’t have much time, the Reporter allows you to quickly cycle through a list of sites and simply click the green or orange button, depending on whether or not you can see the listed site.

Stay tuned for more information on Herdict.  And follow us on Twitter!

As you know, you can do a lot for Herdict. Your input and your submissions are what drive the herd. Without you, Herdict would simply cease to exist, starved of data. But, as with any good relationship, Herdict needs to give something back to you…

Herdict does this by providing a variety of reports that tell you what’s going on in your region, or with your favorite web site. Here’s a breakdown of the different reports that Herdict can provide:

1. The Country Report shows you what’s going on in your country (or a country of your choice). Specifically, it shows you a listing of web sites, along with the number of times those sites have been reported inaccessible, as well as accessible. The Country Report also shows you how many inaccessible reports and accessible reports total have been received for your country, as well as where your country ranks compared to the rest of the world in terms of reports.
2. The Site Report provides the same information, but for a specific web site. For example, you might be interested in youtube.com’s accessibility. By checking out the site report for that URL, you can see in which countries youtube.com is most often reported inaccessible (or accessible), as well as where the site ranks compared to other sites. This page will also include an accessibility map.
3. The Detailed Report…because sometimes you just want a lot more information. The Detailed Report isn’t for casual users; this report gives you details on specific sites within specific countries. Let’s say you want to see where wikipedia.org stands in Algeria. The Detailed Report can tell you how many times wikipedia.org has been reported accessible/inaccessible in Algeria, if any sub-pages of wikipedia.org are inaccessible (for example, a wikipedia entry on the Western Sahara), as well as a time-comparison for inaccessibility of that site in that country (kind of like the Billboard Top 100 list!). You can also read users’ comments, and search for specific periods of time.

I’m sure I’ve left something out…there are just so many nifty things that Herdict can do! Don’t forget; this blog (like Herdict) is a two-way street. If you have any questions or concerns (or praise) about Herdict, don’t hesitate to comment.

-Jillian C. York

ONI’s aim is “to investigate, expose, and analyze Internet filtering and surveillance practices in a credible and non-partisan fashion.” In order to do this, ONI employs a multidisciplinary approach to ensure accurate results, using a rigorous approach to determine technical means of filtering.

Herdict, on the other hand, provides a user-generated perspective of web accessibility by allowing users to submit sites they find to be inaccessible (or accessible, of course). Herdict is dynamic, offering up-to-the-minute information from all around the world.

Of course, it’s the potential interaction between the two initiatives that’s most fascinating – Let’s say the ONI team is working hard, looking at countries known to employ heavy filtering tactics, when suddenly a Herdict user in Canada (a country which is unlikely to heavily filter the Internet) reports YouTube inaccessible. That information would allow ONI to respond quickly, running tests to determine whether or not the site is truly blocked. And that’s only one potential scenario!

We’re just beginning to discover the different possibilities for Herdict and ONI to interact and look forward to launching Herdict for Network Health soon so that you can share in our excitement!

-Jillian C. York

“Herdict” is a portmanteau of “herd” and “verdict” – used to mean “the verdict of the herd.” Since the goal of Herdict Network Health is to gain insight into what the world – that is, the herd – is experiencing in terms of web accessibility, we’ve chosen to go with a sheep to represent you, the herd.

Now, you might be thinking, “Wait a minute…who are you calling a sheep?” To many, the sheep is considered to be an unintelligent species content to simply run with the flock. On the contrary, sheep tend not to follow the herd when no natural predator is present.

While considering web inaccessibility and online censorship as a predator might be a bit farfetched, when faced with it, it makes sense to join the herd. And the more folks who do so, the better the picture we are able to paint of the network.

For example, if you, User A, is in Morocco and finds YouTube blocked, you will probably want to know if others are having the same problem. With Herdict, you can see – in real time – if others are reporting the same phenomenon, giving you a better sense of possible reasons of why the site is inaccessible.
In other words, Herdict presents your verdict, allowing you, the user, to take control of the process and try to determine what’s going on.

-Jillian C. York