The co-browser provides intelligent information spaces for groups to share.

Each space filters and collates its active members' anonymised clickstream data in real time, using it to map out helpful connections between the webpages its members have been visiting. Users can turn it on or off, remove links, delete their history, and setup, join and leave spaces. Space adminstrators control which domains to exclude or include, who can use that space, and mergers with other spaces. Various aggregated metrics are supplied so you can figure out what works best for you.

When the co-browser is switched ON, your clickstream data is being collected. This is a list of filtered URLs visited in a sequence. When the co-browser is OFF, nothing is recorded. Your data can be completely deleted from the co-browser and the server, either as single links in your co-browser history, or by clearing your data in the manage spaces section. For continuity between sessions, you can attach login details (a username and an email) to your data if you choose. Administrators cannot see who went where when, but they can see aggregated metrics for their space. A system of keys is used to identify users and spaces in the co-browser. Any site you visit that requires your login will not be accessible to others via the co-browser as you.

If you are looking at sensitive web-based information with the co-browser ON, you are potentially sharing a link to it in your co-browser space. You should turn the extension OFF on your browser whenever this is the case. Contact your space administrator and ask them to exclude the sensitive domains in question. Those links and any clickstream to or from them will then be ignored in the co-browser and not be recorded on the server. Any existing excluded links and any clickstream to and from them will be removed during the next normal garbage collection on the server. If you are using public computers, you can log in and out of the co-browser by pressing the little user symbol next to the ON/OFF switch.

Clickstream data is stored for a time in databases on the {!ctf} servers. As new traffic builds up and new URLs are added, old traffic and old URLs are continually removed. The stored data is simply a filtered history as recorded in bits on countless other server logs, but the co-browser is a way to make that data useful to you and others who share your space. It is anonymised, secure and will not be passed on to any other services. If you would like more security, contact us and we may be able to install it on your own servers.

The co-browser simply sends keys, URLs and page titles to a database using javascript that runs in the background of the Chrome browser as an extension. It uses Google's extension code to do this. Chrome sync storage is used as an alternative to cookies to store local variables for you. If you are logged into Chrome, sync storage and extensions should follow you around on different devices.

For more information: see Cookie Policy

Clickstream data makes dynamic connections between web pages, reflecting the bottom-up use of information rather than a top-down classification of it. The connections users make are combined and queried to provide personal recommendations, what's popular, intelligent search and so on. This helps users co-learn directly from each other in freely evolving shared information spaces.

Aggregated and anonymised clickstream data is used to map the connections between URLs in a given space. The results of queries of that map (e.g. what is close to where I am?) are shared by members of that space. Where a space administrator merges their space with another, a user's connections may be used in the merged with space. Similarly, when a user moves from one space to another, new connections to URLs open in their browser at the time may be formed. No information at all is shared with any third parties.

The point of the co-browser is to develop shared spaces containing links where members can benefit from each other. The idea is that this low level, high frequency way of sharing helps members act more collectively and efficiently in their use of web resources.

It should be clear to users that they are using the co-browser in order to co-browse. Users and administrators are given all the tools they may require to switch it off or to remove unwanted material and unwelcome users. Ultimately, a co-browser space self-filters as traffic moves through it.

Please contact us with any problems via the form on this page. We will endeavour to sort them out somehow as quickly as possible.

Should the co-browser extension by transfered, you will be asked via the extension whether you want your data transfered. If you do not consent, data associated with your account, including any spaces you are administrator for at the time, will be removed.

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. When this the case, you will be asked for your consent via the extension. Without that consent, no information will be passed from your browser to the {!ctf} servers. We encourage you to check this policy occaisonally.