Global Voices Advocacy is proud to announce the launch of Herdict Web.  Herdict Web is a natural extension of The OpenNet Initiative; but whereas ONI views Internet filtering through an academic lens, Herdict Web crowdsources reports from users to discover, in real time, what users around the world are experiencing in terms of web accessibility.

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.

The project’s mascot — a sheep — demonstrates “the verdict of the herd” in a short video:

Herdict Web is the brainchild of Professor Jonathan Zittrain (The Future of the Internet: And How to Stop It) and is part of The Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

For more about Herdict Web:

• Visit the Herdict About Us page
• Sign up for email updates and announcements, including translations of Herdict Web into other languages
• Check out the Herdict blog
• Watch and listen to Jonathan Zittrain discussing Herdict Web

I hope you will join me and my colleagues in celebrating the launch of Herdict Web!