Tim Berners-Lee
In 1980, Tim Berners-Lee saw the potential for a communication phenomenon. What began as a tool to communicate, facilitate, and update information among researches within a single organization has now become the quintessential means of communication throughout the world. Tim Berners-Lee has garnered many achievements in his career due to his invention of the World Wide Web. Some of these notable achievements include: The founding of the World Wide Web Consortium, to allow the utilization of the World Wide Web to be free and universally accessible, and the invention of the 1st web browser. However, much of Mr. Berners-Lee’s continuing results would not have been possible without his determination, persistence, and strong desire for universal communication. Tim Berners-Lee began his endeavor in 1980 after landing a temporary contract position with CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. There he wrote a program, Enquire, to remain connected and communicate information across the numerous CERN labs. Subsequent to leaving CERN and taking on similar positions among several companies, Berners-Lee submitted a proposal to
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CERN in 1989. The proposal was “to develop an information system that would create a web of information.” [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/lee.html] This system would allow researchers from around the world to communicate among one database. It would also decentralize the source of information, a key idea for later development. The following year Berners-Lee developed Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the URI or Universal Resource Identifier (URI aka URL), and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) - all key components of language that computers use to communicate across the World Wide Web. The “World Wide Web” [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/lee.html] was the first browser developed to retrieve and view hypertext documents. Although this prototype browser was not able to span across different types of software and computers, it was a major milestone in Web development because now all of the information could be communicated through one source. Berners-Lee also developed the first server, which allowed web pages to be stored on a computer and made accessible to others. As the number of users grew across many industries, a universal browser would be necessary for accessibility. Furthermore, such a growing online community would raise the question of regulation. In 1994, Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). “The W3C is a Web standards organization which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and
tools) to lead the Web to its full potential.” [http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Longer.html] The W3C has offices around the world with three host sites located in Massachusetts, Japan, and Europe, respectively. A major concern of Berners-Lee was the caustic competition that would prove to be harmful to the Web’s “Open Nature.” [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/lee.html] While he knew regulation of the Web was necessary to run smoothly, he believed the fundamental ideas and open character of the Web should not change. Therefore, in 1994 the first World Wide Web conference was held at CERN where Berners-Lee used the opportunity to share his vision of the creation of the Consortium. "[This] conference was the way to tell everyone that no one should control [the Web], and that a consortium could help parties agree on how to work together while also actually withstanding any effort by any institution or company to 'control' things." [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/lee.html, Berners-Lee, 80] In the recent light of the discussion of “Net Neutrality”, Berners-Lee was quoted at a Conference on Web Science as saying “"There's been a rash of laws trying to give governments and Internet service providers (ISPs) the right and the duty to disconnect people.” [http://www.topnews.us/content/226897-tim-berners-leeannounces-blight]
Berners-Lee went on to express his concerns with several European laws that have passed
enabling governments to cut internet service if there is any indication of any persons making illicit downloads.
Such an example is what the Consortium is trying to dissuade. Overall the elemental ideas of the World Wide Web are simple, Berners-Lee's vision was to combine them in a way which is constantly in a state of flux and moving toward its greater potential. “Perhaps the single greatest contribution was to make his invention available freely with no patent and no royalties due.” [http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Berners_Lee_Tim.html] When he founded the W3C in 1994, the organization decided that their standards must be based on royalty-free technology, so they can be easily adopted by anyone. With the advancement of smart and mobile technology, the Web is still only in its infancy with plenty of room to
advance.
Berners-Lee, Tim. (1999). Weaving the Web. San Francisco: HarperCollins.
http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Berners_Lee_Tim.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/references.html#lee
http://www.topnews.us/content/226897-tim-berners-lee-announces-blight
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Longer.html
CERN in 1989. The proposal was “to develop an information system that would create a web of information.” [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/lee.html] This system would allow researchers from around the world to communicate among one database. It would also decentralize the source of information, a key idea for later development. The following year Berners-Lee developed Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the URI or Universal Resource Identifier (URI aka URL), and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) - all key components of language that computers use to communicate across the World Wide Web. The “World Wide Web” [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/lee.html] was the first browser developed to retrieve and view hypertext documents. Although this prototype browser was not able to span across different types of software and computers, it was a major milestone in Web development because now all of the information could be communicated through one source. Berners-Lee also developed the first server, which allowed web pages to be stored on a computer and made accessible to others. As the number of users grew across many industries, a universal browser would be necessary for accessibility. Furthermore, such a growing online community would raise the question of regulation. In 1994, Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). “The W3C is a Web standards organization which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and
tools) to lead the Web to its full potential.” [http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Longer.html] The W3C has offices around the world with three host sites located in Massachusetts, Japan, and Europe, respectively. A major concern of Berners-Lee was the caustic competition that would prove to be harmful to the Web’s “Open Nature.” [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/lee.html] While he knew regulation of the Web was necessary to run smoothly, he believed the fundamental ideas and open character of the Web should not change. Therefore, in 1994 the first World Wide Web conference was held at CERN where Berners-Lee used the opportunity to share his vision of the creation of the Consortium. "[This] conference was the way to tell everyone that no one should control [the Web], and that a consortium could help parties agree on how to work together while also actually withstanding any effort by any institution or company to 'control' things." [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/lee.html, Berners-Lee, 80] In the recent light of the discussion of “Net Neutrality”, Berners-Lee was quoted at a Conference on Web Science as saying “"There's been a rash of laws trying to give governments and Internet service providers (ISPs) the right and the duty to disconnect people.” [http://www.topnews.us/content/226897-tim-berners-leeannounces-blight]
Berners-Lee went on to express his concerns with several European laws that have passed
enabling governments to cut internet service if there is any indication of any persons making illicit downloads.
Such an example is what the Consortium is trying to dissuade. Overall the elemental ideas of the World Wide Web are simple, Berners-Lee's vision was to combine them in a way which is constantly in a state of flux and moving toward its greater potential. “Perhaps the single greatest contribution was to make his invention available freely with no patent and no royalties due.” [http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Berners_Lee_Tim.html] When he founded the W3C in 1994, the organization decided that their standards must be based on royalty-free technology, so they can be easily adopted by anyone. With the advancement of smart and mobile technology, the Web is still only in its infancy with plenty of room to
advance.
Berners-Lee, Tim. (1999). Weaving the Web. San Francisco: HarperCollins.
http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Berners_Lee_Tim.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/references.html#lee
http://www.topnews.us/content/226897-tim-berners-lee-announces-blight
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Longer.html