New Research Tools: Harvard’s Berkman Center Launches “Internet Monitor Dashboard”
From the Berkman Center:
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is pleased to announce the launch of the Internet Monitor dashboard, a freely accessible tool that aims to improve information for policymakers, researchers, advocates, and user communities working to shape the future of the Internet by helping them understand trends in Internet health and activity through data analysis and visualization.
[Clip]
The dashboard lets users customize a collection of data visualization widgets—some offering real-time data—about Internet access and infrastructure, online content controls, and digital activity. Users can create multiple collections that enable easy comparisons across countries and data sources, and are quick to configure, edit, and share. In addition to creating their own collections, visitors to the dashboard will be able to view a selection of featured collections based on topics such as online media and network traffic around the world.
[Clip]
The Internet Monitor dashboard launched on September 28 at the World Economic Forum’s Future of the Internet Initiative (FII) core community meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. As a Knowledge Partner of the FII, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society is leading and participating in a set of activities that aim to foster an open, interoperable, and affordable Internet, serving the global public interest.
[Clip]
Internet Monitor’s public data platform and Access Index, which launched in July 2014, offer free public access to an initial set of primary and secondary data and related analysis. The project’s research series focuses on key events and new developments in Internet controls and online activity. The new dashboard offers an interactive view of of the state of the Internet across a variety of dimensions. By making data more available and approachable, the dashboard aims to inspire both greater use of the data that exists and greater efforts to collect and share that data that does not yet exist.
Internet Monitor continues to seek and integrate new sources of data in order to provide policymakers, digital activists, researchers, journalists, and user communities with an authoritative, independent, and multi-faceted set of quantitative data on the state of the global Internet. Current data partners include organizations such as Akamai, which is contributing data on country-level Internet connection speeds, network attacks, and web traffic; Kaspersky, which is contributing data on spam, cyberattacks, and infections; Media Cloud, which is contributing data on online media worldwide; and Herdict, which is contributing data on crowdsourced reports of website unavailability. The project will continue to add new data partners and sources on a rolling basis.
Direct to Internet Monitor Dashboard
Direct to Internet Monitor Project Homepage
Read the Complete Berkman Center Announcement
Overview Videos
Tutorial
Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Dashboards, Data Files, News, Patrons and Users, Reports

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.