New Features for M-Lab Internet Observatory
We launched the M-Lab Internet Observatory last week to provide a window into ISP performance, letting people see how ISPs in the US are doing compared to each other, and to view the way in which the connections between ISPs impact performance. We will be releasing additional features and views as we go, so keep an eye on the Observatory and the blog for updates about the features as we roll them out. This week, by popular demand, we’ve added some features that enable better interaction with and sharing of interesting views of M-Lab data:
Research Updates: Beginning to Observe Network Management Practices as a Third Party
Prior to the publication of our recent report, ISP Interconnection and its Impact on Consumer Internet Performance, we shared review copies with members of the research community, broadening the set of eyes on our methods and challenging our assertions. We received valuable feedback that allowed us to improve what we published, along with a list of research questions that we will be exploring and documenting over the coming months in our Research Updates series of blog posts adding insights to Research Reports.
ISP Interconnection and its Impact on Consumer Internet Performance: Introducing A New M-Lab Consortium Technical Report
We are happy to announce the release of a long-term collaborative research effort using M-Lab’s data to understand how interconnection impacts end-user performance. The report, ISP Interconnection and its Impact on Consumer Internet Performance examines years of network measurement data from across the United States to determine the effects of network interconnection on the Internet performance of customers subscribing to specific access ISPs. Alongside this report, we are also pleased to release the Internet Observatory – a dynamic data visualization tool that will allow consumers, policymakers, and researchers to better understand the impact of ISP relationships on their own Internet access and performance. The Internet Observatory will be updated regularly, allowing future monitoring and comparison against past performance.
Univ. of Michigan Students Join M-Lab for Alternative Spring Break
The Open Technology Institute hosted students from the Graduate School of Information at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, March 3-7, 2014 for an Alternative Spring Break program. Two students met with key internal staff interested using M-Lab data to help answer broad research questions. They worked with OTI’s team supporting M-Lab to develop case studies and documentation describing their role as data analyst/scientist: taking a Research Question, deciding on a technical scope for querying the M-Lab dataset in Big Query, and outlining the process they used to get at data that might answer or inform the original Research Question. For example, one question focused on how to search for M-Lab test data from specific geographic areas. Another looked at how to filter Big Query results by specific fields in the dataset.
M-Lab @ Google Summer of Code 2014!
We are proud to announce that the M-Lab has been accepted as a mentoring organization to the Google Summer of Code a third year in a row.