What is The Sieve ?

What is The Sieve? The Sieve is a computer program that allows researchers to assess audience perception of classical or vernacular texts of various kinds. The Sieve uses a set of elementary textbooks as a benchmark to determine the vocabulary recognizable to an audience with a limited level of literacy. The textbooks selected in The Sieve include The Hundred Surnames, The Three Character Classic, The Thousand Character Classic, The Elementary Learning, The Classic of Filial Piety, The Great Learning, The Heart Sutra and The Guanyin Sutra. After entering text in The Sieve, users can see which characters would have been legible to those who had read any of the selected textbooks. The software can also be used to compare two texts against each other.
The Sieve is a stand-alone piece of software available for download. The program was funded by the University of California, San Diego Academic Senate and was developed by Jenny Huangfu and Leo Tindall. The copyright is held by Joshua Day and Sarah Schneewind, 2013. For further information about The Sieve, please visit http://ctext.org/tools/literacy-sieve

What is The Sieve Online ?

The Sieve Online is an online reference service. It does not require installation but retains most features of The Sieve. The only difference between The Sieve and The Sieve Online is that the original program allows data export in HTML format, which is not provided by The Sieve Online.

Is it safe to upload my files to The Sieve Online ?

User files will not be uploaded to our server.

Can I download the textbooks selected in the Sieve ?

Yes, you can download the textbooks here.