How it works

The Webform

The Webform is the first of the three components of the Waterbear ecosystem. It is the first step in collecting reports or sightings of disinformation.It allows you to make detailed submissions of disinformation sightings, using a structured form designed to make the process seamless and secure. The more information you fill into the form, the more data an analyst will have to investigate and/or substantiate the claim of disinformation.

Sign in

The first step to make a submission is to Sign in to the platform using the link provided and your credentials, which will look similar to the image below.

The webform is currently designed with Cloudflare which provides an additional layer of security. All users must be authenticated before gaining access to the webform. This option can be removed or changed based on your project’s desired needs.

Once you Sign in, the Webform will load and serve as a guide to make sure your submission includes all the information necessary to create a submission which will be received in CDR Link as a ticket.

Sign-in page for the webform

Completing the Webform

The first page of the Webform asks you for the basic and most common information necessary to create a submission. Provide the description, any URLs or links, and media attachments.

  • The description. This is the title. It is a required field and you should make it helpful by providing context about the content of your submission. Keep in mind that the description will eventually become the title of the ticket on the second and third components of the Waterbear ecosystem. Filling in the description section will activate the ‘Submit’ button.

  • URLs or Links. These are the links to the websites where you saw or found disinformation. You can copy and paste into this field or type them in manually. If you are manually typing in the links make sure they start with https:// OR http://. You can add up to 30 links in one submission and the form automatically adds lines for more links.

  • Attachments. Click on the button to add attachments. Attachments are screenshots, images, files, videos, or audios of the disinformation you are reporting. You can add up to 15+ attachments in a single submission.

Initial webform data entry screen

Click to add detail about the incident

After completing page one you can either hit the ‘Submit’ button and be finished, or tap ‘Add Detail’ to provide more information about your submission.

Note: There has to be a description for the “ADD DETAIL” button to be enabled.

Add Detail

The second page asks for more details.

None of the fields on the second page are required fields, which means you do not need to fill all of them out to be able to make a submission. You can submit anytime. The more information you provide the more useful your submission becomes, but just fill in what you can.

Advanced fields for additional detail

Once you have completed all the questions you want to answer tap ‘Submit.’

Submitting a Ticket

One you click on the “SUBMIT” button you should see a confirmation screen like the one below, which means a ticket was created on the CDR Link component.

Thank you for your submission!

To make a new submission click on the “NEW SUBMISSION” button.

To Go Back to Page One

To go back to the first page or to make changes to page one, tap on the arrow in the top left corner of the second page above the question, ‘When did it happen?’.

Go back to page one

Note: All of the fields on the webform can be customized to fit your project’s needs. Contact CDR at [email protected] to learn more.