tor-webwml.git

en/gui-contest.wml   1) ## translation metadata
en/gui-contest.wml   2) # Revision: $Rev$

gui-contest.html     3) 

en/gui-contest.wml   4) #include "head.wmi" TITLE="GUI Contest"

gui-contest.html     5) 
gui-contest.html     6) <div class="main-column">
gui-contest.html     7) 
gui-contest.html     8) <h2>Tor GUI Contest</h2>
gui-contest.html     9) <hr />

gui-contest.html    10) <p>DRAFT IN PROGRESS</p>

gui-contest.html    11) <hr />

gui-contest.html    12) <a id="Overview"></a>
gui-contest.html    13) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Overview">Overview</a></h3>

gui-contest.html    14) 
gui-contest.html    15) <p>
gui-contest.html    16) Tor is a decentralized network of computers on the Internet that increases
gui-contest.html    17) privacy in Web browsing, instant messaging, and other applications. We

gui-contest.html    18) estimate there are some 50,000 Tor users currently, routing their traffic
gui-contest.html    19) through about 250 volunteer Tor servers on five continents. However, Tor's

gui-contest.html    20) current user interface approach --- running as a service in the background

gui-contest.html    21) --- does a poor job of communicating network status and security levels

gui-contest.html    22) to the user.

gui-contest.html    23) </p>

gui-contest.html    24) 

gui-contest.html    25) <p>

gui-contest.html    26) The Tor project, affiliated with the

gui-contest.html    27) <a href="http://www.eff.org/">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a>, is

gui-contest.html    28) running a UI contest to develop a vision of how Tor can

gui-contest.html    29) work in a user's everyday anonymous browsing experience. Some of the
gui-contest.html    30) challenges include how to make alerts and error conditions visible on

gui-contest.html    31) screen; how to let the user configure Tor to use or avoid certain routes
gui-contest.html    32) or nodes; how to learn about the current state of a Tor connection,

gui-contest.html    33) including which servers it uses; and how to find out whether (and which)
gui-contest.html    34) applications are using Tor safely.
gui-contest.html    35) </p>
gui-contest.html    36) 
gui-contest.html    37) <hr />

gui-contest.html    38) <a id="Goals"></a>
gui-contest.html    39) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Goals">Goals</a></h3>

gui-contest.html    40) 

gui-contest.html    41) <p>Contestants will produce a work of <a

gui-contest.html    42) href="http://www.opensource.org/">Open Source Software</a>

gui-contest.html    43) that will

gui-contest.html    44) provide a user interface to the Tor system by way of the <a

en/gui-contest.wml  45) href="<cvssandbox>control/doc/howto.txt">Tor Controller

gui-contest.html    46) Protocol</a>.</p>
gui-contest.html    47) 
gui-contest.html    48) <p>We are looking for a vision of how Tor can work in a user's everyday
gui-contest.html    49) anonymous browsing experience.</p>
gui-contest.html    50) 

gui-contest.html    51) <p>Entries will:</p>

gui-contest.html    52) <ul>

gui-contest.html    53) <li>Allow the user to fully configure Tor rather than manually searching

gui-contest.html    54) for and opening text files.</li>

gui-contest.html    55) <li>Let users learn about the current state of their Tor connection
gui-contest.html    56) (including which servers they are connected to, and how many connections
gui-contest.html    57) they have), and find out whether any of their applications are using
gui-contest.html    58) it.</li>
gui-contest.html    59) <li>Make alerts and error conditions visible to the user.</li>
gui-contest.html    60) <li>Run on at least one of Windows, Linux, and OS&nbsp;X, on a

gui-contest.html    61) not-unusually-configured consumer-level machine.</li>
gui-contest.html    62) </ul>
gui-contest.html    63) 

gui-contest.html    64) <p>In addition, they may:</p>

gui-contest.html    65) <ul>
gui-contest.html    66) <li>Provide detailed information about which

gui-contest.html    67) applications, ports, or packets are (or are not!) passing through Tor,

gui-contest.html    68) including accounting for both Tor- and non-Tor traffic.</li>

gui-contest.html    69) <li>Provide
gui-contest.html    70) additional statistics about the Tor connection.</li>

gui-contest.html    71) <li>Give users more control over how their Tor behaves at certain times
gui-contest.html    72) of day or in other contexts (like operating as a server).</li>

gui-contest.html    73) </ul>

gui-contest.html    74) 

gui-contest.html    75) <p>Some examples of useful features include:</p>

gui-contest.html    76) <ul>

gui-contest.html    77) <li>How much bandwidth is Tor using? How does this compare

gui-contest.html    78) to the overall network traffic to/from the computer?</li>
gui-contest.html    79) <li>Is there network traffic from ports or applications that the user
gui-contest.html    80) intended to be anonymized?</li>
gui-contest.html    81) <li>What Tor servers does the user know about on the network? Where are
gui-contest.html    82) they? How available are they?</li>

gui-contest.html    83) <li>An interface for displaying or controlling Tor paths:

gui-contest.html    84) "show me the network from Africa by way of Asia". Think of the global
gui-contest.html    85) satellite map from the movie <i>Sneakers</i>.</li>

gui-contest.html    86) <li>Configure other running applications to use Tor (for example,
gui-contest.html    87) by modifying or working through the network stack, and/or by altering
gui-contest.html    88) application configurations).</li>

gui-contest.html    89) <li>Provide an elegant installer for Tor, your GUI submission, and

gui-contest.html    90) other supporting applications.</li>

gui-contest.html    91) <li>Make your GUI manage the Tor process and other supporting applications
gui-contest.html    92) -- start them, stop them, realize when they've died.</li>

gui-contest.html    93) <li>Provide meaningful defaults for a good Tor experience.</li>

gui-contest.html    94) <li>Provide application-level anonymity -- that is, not just paying

gui-contest.html    95) attention to transport anonymity on the level of Tor, but also paying
gui-contest.html    96) attention to the anonymity of the http headers, cookies, etc.</li>

gui-contest.html    97) <li>Let the user specify different Tor config option sets depending on

gui-contest.html    98) time of day (e.g. daytime vs. nighttime).</li>
gui-contest.html    99) <li>Provide useful controller functions for Tor servers too --

gui-contest.html   100) for example, walk the user through recommended bandwidth configurations
gui-contest.html   101) and exit policies.</li>

gui-contest.html   102) <li>Have a "minimized view" of your GUI for common use, and then a more
gui-contest.html   103) detailed view or set of windows when the user wants more detail.</li>
gui-contest.html   104) <li>Provide a button or some automatically updating interface to let

gui-contest.html   105) the user learn whether Tor is working currently, perhaps by accessing an
gui-contest.html   106) external what's-my-IP site and seeing if it thinks you're a Tor server;
gui-contest.html   107) and give useful messages and recommendations if it doesn't seem to
gui-contest.html   108) be working.</li>

gui-contest.html   109) <li>Provide a way to automatically configure local firewalls (ipchains,

gui-contest.html   110) Windows firewalls, etc) to let Tor traffic out (and in, for Tor
gui-contest.html   111) servers). As a bonus, configure it to prevent non-Tor traffic from
gui-contest.html   112) leaving (and notify when it tries).</li>

gui-contest.html   113) </ul>
gui-contest.html   114) 
gui-contest.html   115) <hr />

gui-contest.html   116) <a id="Categories"></a>
gui-contest.html   117) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Categories">Contest Categories</a></h3>

gui-contest.html   118) 

gui-contest.html   119) <p>

gui-contest.html   120) The design contest will proceed in two phases: first sketches and then
gui-contest.html   121) working code. You are invited to submit to either phase, or both phases.
gui-contest.html   122) For each phase, our panel of judges will recognize the

gui-contest.html   123) best submissions. All qualifying entries will receive an EFF Tor T-shirt
gui-contest.html   124) (subject to availability). The best sketches and working implementations
gui-contest.html   125) will be published on the Tor website.

gui-contest.html   126) </p>
gui-contest.html   127) 
gui-contest.html   128) <p><b>Sketches:</b>

gui-contest.html   129) the goal of this phase is to produce a mock-up of a functioning interface.

gui-contest.html   130) This should include design documents describing how the interface should
gui-contest.html   131) function. If you want, it should also include graphical elements that
gui-contest.html   132) can be used by programmers.
gui-contest.html   133) </p>

gui-contest.html   134) 
gui-contest.html   135) <p>
gui-contest.html   136) A qualifying sketch will present an informal specification for a
gui-contest.html   137) design. That is, it will present with some degree of thoroughness all
gui-contest.html   138) of the major interfaces that we might expect to encounter, all of the
gui-contest.html   139) major functionality for the interface, and a reasonable story about
gui-contest.html   140) how it would be integrated into currently-existing tools (if, indeed,

gui-contest.html   141) it would be). One example, with more detail than we would require, is

gui-contest.html   142) <a href="http://ui.netbeans.org/docs/ui/junits/promo_f.html">the NetBeans
gui-contest.html   143) UI for JUnit</a>. Note that it walks through multiple interfaces,
gui-contest.html   144) highlighting the features and functions of the various buttons.
gui-contest.html   145) </p>
gui-contest.html   146) 
gui-contest.html   147) <ul>
gui-contest.html   148) <li><b>Most featureful interface</b> will be awarded to the graphic design
gui-contest.html   149) that would provide usable, clear access to the most aspects of the Tor

gui-contest.html   150) system, covering many or most of the categories on the "useful features"

gui-contest.html   151) list.</li>
gui-contest.html   152) <li><b>Most usable experience</b> will be awarded to the graphic
gui-contest.html   153) design that would provide the most unobtrusive Tor experience while still
gui-contest.html   154) covering all criteria (working, perhaps, on the "no news is good news"
gui-contest.html   155) theory).</li>
gui-contest.html   156) <li><b>Clearest implementation guidance</b> will be awarded to the
gui-contest.html   157) graphic design that provides the cleanest package of graphic elements
gui-contest.html   158) and design documentation to aid would-be implementers.</li>
gui-contest.html   159) </ul>
gui-contest.html   160) 

gui-contest.html   161) <p><b>Code:</b> the goal of this phase is to produce a working

gui-contest.html   162) implementation. You may use any of the sketches, graphics, or ideas from

gui-contest.html   163) the first phase (with appropriate credit to

gui-contest.html   164) their authors), or you can make your own. See the <a
gui-contest.html   165) href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/ContestSamples">Contest
gui-contest.html   166) Samples</a> wiki page for some other images you can reuse.
gui-contest.html   167) </p>

gui-contest.html   168) 
gui-contest.html   169) <p>
gui-contest.html   170) An acceptable entry will be a package of free software that builds and

gui-contest.html   171) runs. It can be a stand-alone application, or it can act as an extension

gui-contest.html   172) or plugin to other broadly-available free software. The entry will

gui-contest.html   173) demonstrate the points in the Goals section: that is, it will be able

gui-contest.html   174) to control, display, and maintain awareness as discussed above.
gui-contest.html   175) </p>
gui-contest.html   176) 
gui-contest.html   177) <ul>
gui-contest.html   178) <li><b>Most featureful interface</b> will be awarded to the application
gui-contest.html   179) that provides usable, clear access to the most aspects of the Tor system,
gui-contest.html   180) covering many or most of the categories on the "additional" list.</li>
gui-contest.html   181) <li><b>Most usable experience</b> will be awarded to the
gui-contest.html   182) application that provides the most unobtrusive Tor experience while
gui-contest.html   183) still covering all criteria (working, perhaps, on the "no news is good
gui-contest.html   184) news" theory).</li>
gui-contest.html   185) <li><b>Most flexible</b> will be awarded to the best system that runs

gui-contest.html   186) smoothly on all three of Windows, Linux, and OS X; extra points will be

gui-contest.html   187) awarded for additional systems.</li>
gui-contest.html   188) </ul>
gui-contest.html   189) 
gui-contest.html   190) <p>We reserve the right to award other awards as the entries deserve.</p>
gui-contest.html   191) 
gui-contest.html   192) <hr />

gui-contest.html   193) <a id="Submit"></a>
gui-contest.html   194) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Submit">How to Submit</a></h3>

gui-contest.html   195) 
gui-contest.html   196) <p>Submissions for phase one (sketches) should come as:</p>

gui-contest.html   197) <ul>

gui-contest.html   198) <li>Images in an html page. The images must be able to be viewed on an
gui-contest.html   199) ordinary browser (e.g. Firefox). You can submit proprietary formats too,
gui-contest.html   200) but if you do then you need to also export them to something we can
gui-contest.html   201) all read.</li>
gui-contest.html   202) <li>A design document (txt, html, pdf, or ps) as described in the
gui-contest.html   203) <a href="#Categories">Contest Categories</a> section above.</li>

gui-contest.html   204) </ul>
gui-contest.html   205) 

gui-contest.html   206) <p>Submissions for phase two (code) should come as:</p>
gui-contest.html   207) 
gui-contest.html   208) <ul>
gui-contest.html   209) <li>Source code, with appropriate makefiles or documentation explaining
gui-contest.html   210) how to build it. Must be licensed under a free/open source license, as

gui-contest.html   211) defined by <a href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/">OSI</a>. See <a

gui-contest.html   212) href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/ContestFAQ#DefineFree">this
gui-contest.html   213) FAQ entry</a> for clarification.</li>
gui-contest.html   214) <li>Compiled binaries or bytecodes for at least one platform of choice.</li>

gui-contest.html   215) <li>A design document (txt, html, pdf, or ps) providing an overview of
gui-contest.html   216) what major functions to look for and what functions were implemented.</li>

gui-contest.html   217) </ul>

gui-contest.html   218) 

gui-contest.html   219) <p>To submit your entry, make a web page with
gui-contest.html   220) all your materials on it, then add a line to <a
gui-contest.html   221) href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/ContestEntries">The
gui-contest.html   222) GUI Contest Entries Wiki</a>. (If you don't have a web page of
gui-contest.html   223) your own to put your entry on, find a friend who does, or mail <a
gui-contest.html   224) href="mailto:tor-gui@freehaven.net">tor-gui@freehaven.net</a> and we'll
gui-contest.html   225) put it up on a temporary page.</p>
gui-contest.html   226) 
gui-contest.html   227) <p>If you put it up on your own site, you can continue to update and
gui-contest.html   228) modify it. Remember that submitting early means you can get feedback
gui-contest.html   229) from Tor users and make it into a better submission!</p>
gui-contest.html   230) 

gui-contest.html   231) <hr />

gui-contest.html   232) <a id="Criteria"></a>
gui-contest.html   233) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Criteria">Criteria</a></h3>

gui-contest.html   234) 
gui-contest.html   235) <p>Awards will be granted on the basis of (in rough preference order):</p>
gui-contest.html   236) 
gui-contest.html   237) <ul>
gui-contest.html   238) <li>Usability (<a
gui-contest.html   239) href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/ContestFAQ#DefineUsable">what
gui-contest.html   240) does this mean?</a>)</li>

gui-contest.html   241) <li>Informativeness: can the user learn what they need to know, both in terms
gui-contest.html   242) of using the network and also in terms of security decisions?</li>

gui-contest.html   243) <li>Total user experience</li>
gui-contest.html   244) <li>Aesthetics</li>
gui-contest.html   245) <li>Responsiveness</li>
gui-contest.html   246) <li>Stability and robustness</li>

gui-contest.html   247) <li>Internationalization (multiple language support)</li>

gui-contest.html   248) <li>Installation experience</li>
gui-contest.html   249) </ul>
gui-contest.html   250) 

gui-contest.html   251) <hr />

gui-contest.html   252) <a id="Judges"></a>
gui-contest.html   253) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Judges">Judges</a></h3>

gui-contest.html   254) 
gui-contest.html   255) <p>Judging will be led by a panel of N prominent specialists in usability
gui-contest.html   256) and security (to be announced).</p>
gui-contest.html   257) 
gui-contest.html   258) <hr />

gui-contest.html   259) <a id="Timeline"></a>
gui-contest.html   260) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Timeline">Timeline</a></h3>

gui-contest.html   261) 
gui-contest.html   262) <ul>

gui-contest.html   263) <li>Phase 1 deadline (sketches): October 31.</li>
gui-contest.html   264) <li>Phase 1 judging: November 31.</li>
gui-contest.html   265) <li>Phase 2 deadline (code): January 31, 2006.</li>

gui-contest.html   266) </ul>

gui-contest.html   267) 

gui-contest.html   268) <p>Winners will be announced on the webpage and also at the SOUPS 2006

gui-contest.html   269) conference. (Here's a suggestion on one approach to <a

gui-contest.html   270) href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/ContestFAQ#AcademicResearch">academic
gui-contest.html   271) usability research on Tor</a>.)</p>

gui-contest.html   272) 
gui-contest.html   273) <hr />

gui-contest.html   274) <a id="Clarifications"></a>
gui-contest.html   275) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Clarifications">Questions and Clarifications</a></h3>

gui-contest.html   276) 

gui-contest.html   277) <p>Check back <a

en/gui-contest.wml 278) href="gui-contest.html#Clarifications">here</a>

gui-contest.html   279) periodically, and look at the <a
gui-contest.html   280) href="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/ContestFAQ">Contest
gui-contest.html   281) FAQ wiki</a>, for FAQ entries, clarifications, etc.</p>

gui-contest.html   282) 

gui-contest.html   283) <!--

gui-contest.html   284) <hr />
gui-contest.html   285) <h3>Testing criteria</h3>
gui-contest.html   286) 
gui-contest.html   287) <p>To check for basic acceptability, the contest will be judged
gui-contest.html   288) with several major tests. For example, the system designer should expect:</p>
gui-contest.html   289) 
gui-contest.html   290) <ul>
gui-contest.html   291) <li>A minimal test: does it work?</li>
gui-contest.html   292) <li>Several parameters, both obscure and obvious, will be configured. Is
gui-contest.html   293) it possible and easy to do so?</li>
gui-contest.html   294) <li>A network will be connected once the system is running. Can the
gui-contest.html   295) user tell that the network is now live?</li>
gui-contest.html   296) <li>The network will be disconnected or interrupted. Can the user tell
gui-contest.html   297) that the network has an error?</li>
gui-contest.html   298) </ul>

gui-contest.html   299) -->

gui-contest.html   300) 
gui-contest.html   301) <hr />

gui-contest.html   302) <a id="Technical"></a>
gui-contest.html   303) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Technical">Technical Notes</a></h3>

gui-contest.html   304) 

gui-contest.html   305) <p>Shortly before phase two begins, the Tor developers will release

gui-contest.html   306) a canonical version of Tor. This is the version that will be used for

gui-contest.html   307) judging the contest; please ensure that you use this version. Bugfixes

gui-contest.html   308) to this version of Tor will be announced to the contest web site.</p>

gui-contest.html   309) 

gui-contest.html   310) <p>The Tor developers will also release test rigs (libraries) in both Java
gui-contest.html   311) and Python that demonstrate Tor's controller protocol. Code submissions

gui-contest.html   312) may be able to save a lot of time by using this code as a skeleton. You

en/gui-contest.wml 313) can check out the <a href="<cvssandbox>control/">development

gui-contest.html   314) versions of these libraries</a> now.
gui-contest.html   315) </p>

gui-contest.html   316) 

gui-contest.html   317) <hr />

gui-contest.html   318) <a id="Legal"></a>
gui-contest.html   319) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Legal">Legal Notes</a></h3>

gui-contest.html   320) 
gui-contest.html   321) <p>By submitting your entry to be considered in the Tor GUI contest, you
gui-contest.html   322) hereby:</p>
gui-contest.html   323) 
gui-contest.html   324) <ul>
gui-contest.html   325) <li>(A) represent and warrant that (1) the entry was created by you and
gui-contest.html   326) that you own all rights to the entry or have the authorized rights to
gui-contest.html   327) submit such entry and grant the licenses below; and (2) that the
gui-contest.html   328) entry does not infringe on any third party copyright or other
gui-contest.html   329) intellectual property rights; AND</li>
gui-contest.html   330) <li>(B) EITHER (1) grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive,
gui-contest.html   331) perpetual license to reproduce, edit, perform, display, publish, make
gui-contest.html   332) derivative works, and otherwise use the entry as we see fit,
gui-contest.html   333) including without limitation, incorporating (in whole or in part)

gui-contest.html   334) into the Tor software, and to sublicense such rights; OR, (2)
gui-contest.html   335) provide the entry pursuant to a license that complies with the
gui-contest.html   336) <a href="http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php">Open
gui-contest.html   337) Source Definition</a>, such as the 3-clause BSD, MIT, or
gui-contest.html   338) GPL licenses, or (where applicable) provide the entry licensed under
gui-contest.html   339) the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/">Creative
gui-contest.html   340) Commons Attribution</a> license. If you provide the entry pursuant to
gui-contest.html   341) such a license, you must include the applicable information in your
gui-contest.html   342) submission.</li>

gui-contest.html   343) </ul>
gui-contest.html   344) 

gui-contest.html   345)   </div><!-- #main -->
gui-contest.html   346)