Book Description
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has
been hailed byTime magazine as one of the 100 greatest
minds of this century. Hiscreation has already changed the
way people do business, entertain themselves,exchange ideas,
and socialize with one another. With new online businesses
andcommunities forming every day, the full impact of
Berners-Lee's grand schemehas yet to be fully known.
Berners-Lee's creation was fueled by a highly personal
vision of the Web asa powerful force for social change and
individual creativity. He has neverprofited personally from
the Web but has devoted himself to its continuedgrowth and
health. Now, this low-profile genius tells his own story of
theWeb's origins-from its revolutionary introduction and the
creation of the nowubiquitous WWW and HTTP acronyms to how he
sees the future development of thisrevolutionary medium.
Today, Berners-Lee continues to facilitate the Web'sgrowth
and development as director of the World Wide Web Consortium
and fromhis position at the MIT Laboratory for Computer
Science.
Berners-Lee offers insights to help readers understand the
true nature ofthe Web, enabling them to use it to their
fullest advantage. He shares hisviews on such critical issues
as censorship, privacy, the increasing power ofsoftware
companies in the online world, and the need to find the ideal
balancebetween the commercial and social forces on the Web.
His incisive criticism ofthe Web's current state makes clear
that there is still much work to be done.Finally, Berners-Lee
presents his own plan for the Web's future, one thatcalls for
the active support and participation of programmers,
computermanufacturers, and social organizations to make it
happen.
His vision of the Web is something much more than a tool
for research orcommunication; it is a new way of thinking and
a means to greater freedom andsocial growth than ever before
possible.
