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

* Here is a new video with Prof. Z navigating the screen and explaining how to use Herdict.

* Helping us get the word of Herdict out to the herd-at-large, Shep has taken on some impressive language skills (and more impressive gender changes) to promote Herdict in a number of different languages for the Berkman YouTube channel.

Currently videos are available in Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Malagasy, Italian, Hindi, and Korean. Also, we have a growing library of subtitled versions available on dotSUB , which includes Arabic, Bengali, Danish, Flemish, French, Hungarian, Russian, Portugese, Castilian, and Indonesian, just to name a few. For those who missed it, here is the original video.

-yvette wohn

* On NPR’s On the Media, Prof. Z talks about the future of the internet and security issues

* Z introduces  Herdict on the World Technology Podcast 234, Air Mozilla (Media player available on Air Mozilla’s website), and Radio Berkman.

-yvette wohn

Speaking at the Berkman Center earlier this year before the official launch of Herdict, Prof. Z described Herdict’s potential as being a real-time tool for mapping web filtering activities around the world. “Should it start producing a map of filtering as it happens, I think it will have a major impact,” he said.

Several weeks into the official launch, people are using Herdict to monitor website blockages around the world– and not just because they’re bored.

As the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising in China (and one-year anniversary of the Tibet riots) draws near, bloggers are pointing out increased inaccessibility in China of U.S.-based web services such as Twitter and Youtube, using Herdict data that shows statistical trends and information of the IP addresses where the blockage is happening (examples here and here). One blogger used Herdict data to create a visual representation of accessibility within China on a political map.

Of course one could find information about web blockage of YouTube in China on Twitter or in discussion forums, which reflects personal experiences. Herdict, however, aggregates that data from a self-reporting crowd and presents it in a manner that makes it easy to analyze trends.

I know this all sounds great, but what happens when China wants to block Herdict for reporting which sites are getting blocked? Z hopes that in the near future, the concept of knowing which sites are accessible or not will be something people take for granted.

Think of something that starts as inane as you can imagine. Herdict doesn’t get much more inane than Twitter or Wikipedia, where months later you say “How do we ever get on without this?” I would like to see this in that category, that provides a momentum onto itself–  now that it’s invented, it’s too good of an idea so that if you shut it down, someone else is going to write it. My idea is that when that is established, it’s obvious that this is part of the functioning Internet– to know where you can get to and why.

Jonathan Zittrain’s brainchild Herdict was officially released today. (Watch the project’s mascot — a sheep — demonstrate “the verdict of the herd” in a short video… does its voice sound familiar?)

Herdict is a tool that employs the distributed power of the Internet community to provide insight into what users around the world are experiencing in terms of web accessibility. People can participate by reporting websites that they cannot access, testing sites that others have reported, or downloading the browser add-on for reporting sites on the fly.

Herdict is a portmanteau of ‘herd’ and ‘verdict.’ Using Herdict Web, anyone anywhere can report websites as accessible or inaccessible. Herdict Web aggregates reports in real time, permitting participants to see if inaccessibility is a shared problem, giving them a better sense of potential reasons for why a site is inaccessible. Trends can be viewed over time, by site and by country.

Herdict Web builds out from the OpenNet Initiative‘s research on global Internet filtering. The OpenNet Initiative tests Internet filtering through an academic methodology. Herdict Web takes a different approach, crowdsourcing reports to learn about and display a real-time picture of user experiences around the globe.

Watch Prof. Z discussing Herdict Web at a recent Berkman luncheon, or listen to a podcast of Herdict on Radio Berkman.

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