The More We Know | Inventor Talks How World Wide Web was Created @TheMoreWeKnow | Uploaded March 2014 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
His invention was groundbreaking. A way for different people to share information using different computers. It was called the World Wide Web and it was invented by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee 25 years ago this month.
Not to be confused with the Internet, which is the network of globally interconnected computers, the World Wide Web is how people share information on the Internet.
The idea came to Berners-Lee while he was working at the CERN physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland.
"Well, it was in 1989 and the Internet already existed and you could send e-mail, but there were no websites. So there was no http, no html. There was no space of things you could click through. And it began because I was frustrated. It didn't exist. The existing systems you had to log on to. They were all different. They were hard. I imagined a system where you could just click from one to the other and that was so compelling that I decided that I wanted to build it," he explained to Reuters Television.
25 years ago, Berners-Lee wrote down his idea using a complex design of arrows, boxes, circles and bubbles. He proposed that idea in March of 1989.
In 1992, using a NeXT computer, the first website was published. It was called 'World Wide Web'.
25 years on, billions of people around the world share information, photos and status updates using the web. While the web has connected people from all over the world, it has also created new global challenges such as balancing openness, security and privacy.
"We need to think about the next 25 years and make sure that we've established the principles that the web is being based on; principles of openness, principles of privacy, principles of not being censored, for example," said Berners-Lee.
The ease of sharing information on the web has helped to empower people.
Recently, the world witnessed how websites like Twitter and Facebook were used to coordinate political protests in Egypt and other parts of the world.
"The difference in power for somebody who has got the Internet and somebody that hasn't is now huge. Also really important for democracy. If you are not connected to the Internet, how is your voice going to be heard? How are you going to make sure that the values which you think are important are being represented by all the governments out there?"
Berners-Lee said he would like the 25 year anniversary of the World Wide Web to motivate people to decide the future of the web.
He said the web was and will always be a global project.
"I'm proud of the spirit of collaboration which was the last 25 years. You know, it wasn't just me. I had the idea. I invented it. And then in fact it was taken up by all kinds of people all over the world," he said. "That spirit of international collaboration has been absolutely awesome for the last 25 years."
Berners-Lee said he would like to see the World Wide Web be accessible and affordable for everyone in the world.
He has established the World Wide Web Foundation and leads the World Wide Web Consortium.
According to the World Wide Web Consortium, only about two out of five people in the world are now connected to the web.
theshortpenguin.com
His invention was groundbreaking. A way for different people to share information using different computers. It was called the World Wide Web and it was invented by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee 25 years ago this month.
Not to be confused with the Internet, which is the network of globally interconnected computers, the World Wide Web is how people share information on the Internet.
The idea came to Berners-Lee while he was working at the CERN physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland.
"Well, it was in 1989 and the Internet already existed and you could send e-mail, but there were no websites. So there was no http, no html. There was no space of things you could click through. And it began because I was frustrated. It didn't exist. The existing systems you had to log on to. They were all different. They were hard. I imagined a system where you could just click from one to the other and that was so compelling that I decided that I wanted to build it," he explained to Reuters Television.
25 years ago, Berners-Lee wrote down his idea using a complex design of arrows, boxes, circles and bubbles. He proposed that idea in March of 1989.
In 1992, using a NeXT computer, the first website was published. It was called 'World Wide Web'.
25 years on, billions of people around the world share information, photos and status updates using the web. While the web has connected people from all over the world, it has also created new global challenges such as balancing openness, security and privacy.
"We need to think about the next 25 years and make sure that we've established the principles that the web is being based on; principles of openness, principles of privacy, principles of not being censored, for example," said Berners-Lee.
The ease of sharing information on the web has helped to empower people.
Recently, the world witnessed how websites like Twitter and Facebook were used to coordinate political protests in Egypt and other parts of the world.
"The difference in power for somebody who has got the Internet and somebody that hasn't is now huge. Also really important for democracy. If you are not connected to the Internet, how is your voice going to be heard? How are you going to make sure that the values which you think are important are being represented by all the governments out there?"
Berners-Lee said he would like the 25 year anniversary of the World Wide Web to motivate people to decide the future of the web.
He said the web was and will always be a global project.
"I'm proud of the spirit of collaboration which was the last 25 years. You know, it wasn't just me. I had the idea. I invented it. And then in fact it was taken up by all kinds of people all over the world," he said. "That spirit of international collaboration has been absolutely awesome for the last 25 years."
Berners-Lee said he would like to see the World Wide Web be accessible and affordable for everyone in the world.
He has established the World Wide Web Foundation and leads the World Wide Web Consortium.
According to the World Wide Web Consortium, only about two out of five people in the world are now connected to the web.
theshortpenguin.com
