Visualizing the Web Index Challenge

Posted on 27 November, 2013 by Gabe Trodd

Bright Simons, Lily Cole, Jimmy Wales and Sir Tim Berners-Lee – the panel of speakers at the Web Index 2013 launch in London.

The World Wide Web Foundation has partnered with Vizualising.org to set a challenge to you to use the Web Index data and design to visualize the Web Index so that we can gain a better understanding of the impact of the World Wide Web. We are offering $4,000 in prizes and the winner will be invited to attend a World Wide Web Foundation event in 2014 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the web.

The World Wide Web is used every day by billions of people across the globe. The more we understand about this powerful tool, the more we can help empower people with opportunities to use the Web to make decisions about their needs and developmental possibilities.

The 2013 Index contains data on 81 countries and includes indicators on gender, privacy rights, censorship, open data, and more. There are various files containing data on the Web Index website. Some sheets contain statistical facts whereas others contain expert assessment survey results. The data includes the overall rankings for all the countries (only for 2013).

Data

Challenge Web Index 2013

We’ve provided the data in XLS files and have compiled a data set for you to use in the challenge.

For the full data set and additional Web Index resources, click here.

We also encourage you to use other open data sets.

Prizes

First Prize: $3,200 and an invitation to attend a Web Foundation event in 2014 to celebrate the Web’s 25th anniversary.

Honorable Mention: $500

Student Prize: $300

Enter

Please upload your entry on Visualizing.org by clicking on ‘Enter This Challenge” to select and submit your visualisation.

Deadline: Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Scoring

Visualizations will be judged on the following criteria:

Understanding (10 Points): How effectively does the visualization communicate? How well does it help you make sense of this issue?

Originality (5 Points): Are the approach and design innovative?

Style (5 Points): Is the visualization aesthetically compelling?

More information is available on the Visualizing.org website here: http://visualising.org/contests/visualizing-impact-world-wide-web

You can register for the challenge here.

Web Index 2013 Launches in London

Posted on 22 November, 2013 by Dillon Mann

The 2013 edition of the Web Index – the first multi-dimensional measure of the World Wide Web’s contribution to development and human rights globally – is being launched today, 22 November in London.

Speaking alongside Web inventor and Web Foundation Founding Director Sir Tim Berners-Lee are:

Lily Cole, the actor and founder of the social network, Impossible @lilycole
Anne Jellema, Chief Executive Officer of the World Wide Web Foundation
Rebecca MacKinnon, the co–founder of Global Voices Online
Bright Simons, the founder of the mPedigree

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia

You can download the full report here, and follow the launch event via #webindex on Twitter from 10AM GMT.

Web Index Team To Speak At GWU Conference on 14/15 November

Posted on 5 November, 2013 by Dillon Mann

Members of the Web Index team, including Karin Alexander, Web Index Manager, will be speaking at a conference we have helped to co-organise on 14/15 November.

Entitled ‘Known-Knowns and Unknowns about the Internet: Measuring the Economic, Social, and Governance Impact of the Web’, the conference will take place at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. The event is free to attend, but registration is essential. Find out more and watch the recorded sessions by visiting the conference website here.

Web Index Science Council Member Interviewed on CNN

Posted on 4 September, 2013 by Dillon Mann

Professor Nii Quaynor, a member of our Web Index Science Council and one of the ‘fathers of the internet’ in Africa was recently interviewed by CNN. This video is embedded below – it’s a fascinating interview, and we hope you’ll enjoy watching it as much as we did!

The Web and Turkey: New Internationalist

Posted on 4 July, 2013 by Dillon Mann

The New Internationalist have today featured an article on their blog penned by Web Index Manager Karin Alexander which examines the use of the Web in the recent Turkish protests. Click here to read the piece.

Further Web Index publications

Posted on 7 May, 2013 by jules

Firstly, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all who have sent us feedback on this first publication of the Web Index, and for their encouraging statements and insightful comments.

As many of you have noted, there was indeed a small glitch in some of the numbers we provided in the country one-pagers. Those numbers only concerned the supplementary country metadata, and are not part of the Web Index computation. Nonetheless, the issue has now been fixed and the links are back in the Index country pagers.
We have also released more materials available for download including the Web Index dataset in CSV and excel formats as well as an Assessment of the Web Index, a report by the European Commission Joint Research Center.

In the coming days, we will also make available pdf versions of the country one-pagers translated in French, Spanish and Arabic.

Best regards,

Researchers Required: Help Us to Build the 2013 Web Index

Posted on 4 April, 2013 by Dillon Mann

Are you a researcher with expertise in ICT and Web issues? Do you want to play a key role on a groundbreaking international project? We are entering the data gathering phase for the 2013 Web Index – and our partner, Global Integrity, is recruiting lead researchers and reviewers for the project.

Support is required in over 60 countries – from Argentina to Zimbabwe. If you believe you could play a valuable role, please visit the Global Integrity site by clicking here for full details and to apply.

This Is Africa – FT Infographic: State of the Web

Image

Click to view full

Source: This Is Africa

UK Department for International Development Press Release: Technology At the Heart of Development

Posted on 13 November, 2012 by justin

Britain will give millions of the poorest the power to hold their government to account
and improve their lives through mobile technology, International Development Secretary
Justine Greening will pledge at the Open Up! Conference in London’s tech city.

Speaking at the conference hosted by Omidyar Network and the Department for
International Development, she will set out how Britain will help six million of the world’s
poorest people to benefit from innovative new projects across Africa and Asia.
She is also committing to use mobile and internet technology to make governments
more effective and transparent and help the poorest to have a say in the future of aid.

Source: Press Release

LACNIC News: World Wide Web Foundation’s Web Index Ranking

Posted on 9 October, 2012 by justin

Leading the Region – Chile, Mexico, and Brazil

According to a report published by the World Wide Web Foundation (thewebindex.org/data/index/), Chile (19), Mexico (22) and Brazil (24) are the Latin American countries that ranked the highest in the first global Internet impact measurement.

Source: LACNIC News