Dr Robert Ackland has been appointed a founding member of the Science Council of the Web Index project, run by the Web Foundation. Dr Ackland is a Fellow and Masters Coordinator with ADSRI.

Dr Ackland received an invitation from the Web Foundation's CEO Steven Bratt and founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee (the inventor of the World Wide Web), to join the Science Council, in recognition of the important contribution of his research on the Web and poverty analysis/index numbers.

From the Web Index project website:

The Web Index will be the world’s first multi-dimensional measure of the Web and its impact on people and nations. It will cover a large number of developed and developing countries, incorporating indicators that will assess the political, economic and social impact of the Web, as well as indicators of Web connectivity infrastructure. The Index will allow for comparisons of trends over time and benchmarking performance across countries, and should improve our understanding of the Web’s impact on humanity.

The Index will have two consultative bodies: a Steering Group and Science Council, which will consist of eminent experts in the various relevant fields.