Criteria

Awards will be granted on the basis of (in rough preference order):

• Usability (what does this mean?)
• Informativeness: can the user learn what they need to know, both in terms of using the network and also in terms of security decisions?
• Total user experience
• Aesthetics
• Responsiveness
• Stability and robustness
• Internationalization (multiple language support)
• Installation experience

Judges

Judging will be led by a panel of prominent specialists in usability and security, including:

• Patrick Ball, Director, Human Rights Program, The Benetech Initiative
• Simson Garfinkel, Center for Research on Computation and Society, Harvard University
• Bruce Schneier, Counterpane Internet Security
• Adam Shostack, Informed Security
• Edward Tufte
• Ka-Ping Yee, University of California, Berkeley

Timeline

• Phase 1 deadline (sketches): October 31.
• Phase 1 judging: November 31.
• Phase 2 deadline (code): January 31, 2006.

Winners will be announced on the webpage and also at the SOUPS 2006 conference. (Here's a suggestion on one approach to academic usability research on Tor.)